Valencia and the MotoGP race.

We left Seville November 8, early in the morning. It was just dawn when we walked over to the nearest bike station to check out our ride to the rail station. We didn't factor in that there may not be any bikes available.  Luckily we got the last 2 available bikes and cycled the 30 minute ride to the Santa Justa station.  The day before our departure we took our one larger suitcase to the station and left it in the concierge, so we only had a couple of smaller back packs to carry on the bikes.

Since we had purchased rail discount cards, we upgraded to first class for the 7.5 hour trip to Valencia.  It was nice to have the more spacious reclining seats. There is a dining car and food trolley service but we had picked up food and drink for the ride.  The fare for this trip was 42 euros each.  We chose to travel by train partly because our hotel in Valencia was located 3 blocks from the station. It was a pleasant and comfortable ride.  Although this was not one of the "high speed" trains we reached speeds of 175 kph at times. The speed was displayed on the TV monitors along side the movies, with sound tracks in Spanish, Catalan and English.

In Valencia we stayed in the Sweet Continental Hotel. It has only a 2 star rating but is was clean and comfortable. A great location on the edge of the old town area, close to both the train and metro station.  The staff were very friendly. Breakfast was available for an added fee and they had a fleet of bicycle for rent.

This is the second time that we have been to Valencia to attend the MotoGP race. This time we had  more time to explore the city, both on foot and by bicycle.

On our first full day we walked to the beach. Valencia is divided by a long river park. The park is about 8k in length and 400 plus metres wide. The river actually runs underneath the park. There are walking, running and cycling trails throughout the park. Also there are several exercise and sporting event areas as well as the Palau de la Musica, a covered music and event space, the Palau de las Arts Reina Sofia, an opera hall and the Valencia science museum.  

As previously mentioned we first walked to the beach. The beach is located about 5k from the centre of town.  An easy ride on the metro but a good walk. We stayed in the park until we reached the marina. From there we moved onto the streets until we reached the beach strip. There was hardly anyone on the beach but the restaurants were busy. After stopping for a snack and a drink we walked back and though old town Valencia. 

The weather was perfect for walking.  About 20 degrees.  As we wandered though the historic centre, we came upon the Plaza del Rey. There were several busy cafes. We picked some seats in the sun and ordered a couple of glasses of sangria. We spent a pleasant hour, people watching and chatting with other guests. Then I asked for "la cuenta". When it arrived I thought that I had the wrong bill, but I soon found out that it was mine...  16 euros for 2 glasses of sangria!  That's $12. Canadian each! The normal price, out of the main tourist areas is 2 euros or less, each.  

Should have asked the price. Won't be going back there again. 

 Here are a few city photos. 

This is the train station (Estacio del Norte)  The bull ring to the left.

Plaza Ajuntamiento.  On Friday night there was a stage and band playing rock and roll.

Old town... Plaza of the Virgen

Pretty fancy mailboxes!  at the main post office.

On the second day we rented bikes and spend the day exploring once again. We spent quite a bit of time in the park again. It is a very nice space.

Looking back across one of the older bridges toward town centre.

We rode about 20k, mostly within the confines of the park. We stopped twice at a nice cafe,  once for coffee and once for lunch. 

We rented a couple of folding bikes that were  available at the hotel. I had been curious about them and how they would perform. They were fun to ride. They are light and manoeuvrable. Perhaps a little too manoeuvrable. almost twitchy, compared to a mountain bike.  However they worked well for our purpose.

The photo on the right is of the park area looking back to the bridge above.

Throughout the park are play areas, exercise areas, sports fields, activity areas, cafes and restaurants, fountains and some interesting buildings, including a music centre, opera house and the science museum.

This is a huge play structure about 50 metres in width. It is GuliverGuliver's Travels. 

The photo to the left is a 3d mural on the wall of one of the university building. It is not located in the park but it is really cool.

There are so many nice outdoor spaces in Valencia.

Here is Linda along side one of the bike paths, on here little bike.









Below is a photo of the science museum.

The main reason that we came to Valencia was to attend the final motogp race of the season.

Normally the individual rider championship is decided before the last race of the season. This year the championship was still up for grabs. Two riders had a chance, albeit a slim chance for one for them. This made for an interesting and exciting race. There were in excess of 110,000 fans in attendance.

The fans are dispersed over a large area during the race so it does not feel too crowded. However. getting to the track and then back to Valencia is challenging.  We took the train. It was packed full,  both on the way to and from the track. 

Taken from the stands. This is one of the motorcycle parking lots. Vendor area in the foreground.

We spend a couple of days in Valencia after the race, relaxing and looking around for accommodation for next year. We found a nice apartment.   We flew from Valencia to Frankfurt, overnighted there and then caught a flight back to Calgary.

All went smooth except that I accidentally left my GPS in my backpack when it went though the scanner. I was suppose to separate all the electronics.  My backpack was separated from the other luggage, opened and swabbed.   To my surprise it tested positive for explosives!  Police were called and one stood beside me and the other one stood behind me, while the contents of my pack were examined. Every thing was removed from the pack and checked. Once it was determined that there was no threat, the police left and the guard helped me repack the backpack.

It was a little tense, but I have to say that I was treated very courteously. The guard told me that false readings from hand cream or sunscreen are common. I had been carrying a tube of sunscreen in a pouch in the backpack all the time we were travelling.

Now we are back in Kaslo. It is nice to be back to see family and friends. Mid January we are off to Antigua, Guatemala for a month of intensive Spanish lessons, then back to Lo de Marcos, Mexico until Easter.

5 days in Seville

We have put the moto in storage and are now travelling by train. A better option than the bus. At least that's my opinion. I'm prone to motion sickness, especially on buses on winding roads.  We left Olvera on November 3rd. and took the train from Setenil, a small town about 20K from Olvera. There isn't a rail line running through Olvera, so this was the closest station. With a change of trains along the route it took about 3 hours to reach San Bernardo station.  It was nice comfortable ride.

If you are 60 or over you can apply for a rail discount card. The card, which costs 6 euros,  gives you up to a 40% discount, depending on the route. Our fare from Setenil to Seville was 17 euros each. We bought the tickets before learning about the discount card but we will benefited from the card on the next train from Seville to Valencia.

Once arriving in we took a taxi to our rented apartment. We could have taken the metro but didn't figure that out until later.  We rented a one bedroom apartment in a residential area, called Triana, located just across the rive from the main centre section of Seville.

Our nice little apartment, which we found on Airbnb, was located on a narrow street two blocks from the river, close to one of the bridges. It was in a typical Seville courtyard apartment. These apartment blocks have a common locked gate entrance from the street with a hallway that leads to an open courtyard.  This apartment building was 4 stories. All apartments face into the courtyard with common balcony walkways to access each apartment.   We definitely prefer an apartment over a hotel room. It is nice have the extra space and laundry facilities. Many apartments have a washing machine. Few have a dryer but usually there is a line, generally located on the roof top, that you can use to hang the washing.

Walking over the bridge near our apartment.

 Below is a view of Avenida de la Constitución. It is a pedestrian area, as is much of the old town.

The churches are huge. Often initially constructed as mosques and later converted to to catholic cathedrals.

 On many of the streets, cars are prohibited.

   However, you do have to pay attention to the trams! 

Most of the time, we walked around town but we also rented the bikes (shown below).  There is a network of bicycle trails throughout the city (over 100 Kilometres worth). The maximum distance between bike stations is 300 metres, so there are a lot of stations.  It costs 13 euros for one week access or 28 euros for a year access.  You buy a ticket at any station terminal with a credit card. Then use the ticket number and pin number to get a bike at any station and drop it off at another.  We used the bikes to explore and also we used the bikes to get to the train station the morning we left Seville.

Here are a few more photos of Seville.

Even though Seville is roughly 100 K up the Guadalquivir River from the Mediterranean coast, it is the port from which Columbus sailed on his quest to find the Indies.

I don't know that much about sailing but it seems to me that sailing 100K down a winding river would be a challenge. Perhaps he just drifted with the current?

On the right is a photo of a dual column structure built in honour of Columbus's adventures. 

There are plenty of parks in Spanish cities. Below are photos of Parque de Maria Luisa and Plaza de Espana

   



Ice cream, & lots of it!  This is a common sight in the tourist areas. It seem impossible that they could sell all the ice cream on display. This photo is only a small part of the selection.

They like to make the fancy!

There are not a lot of parking spaces in Seville (or most cities for that matter). In order to maximize parking space, cars park a lot closer to each other than would be normal in Canada.  The photo below shows an extreme example of close parking. The drivers don't seem to give any consideration as to how the other car driver is going to be able to get out of his spot.

We have noticed a very different attitude, here in Spain, regarding a person's concept of their public space. The attitude we have observed is that people move or stand or park where ever they like and everyone else has to wait for them or finds a way to go around them.

For example; Three people are in conversation and blocking passage on a narrow sidewalk.  Others walking on the sidewalk will either wait for them to finish the conversation or walk out onto the road to go around them.  Seldom would the people in conversation move to make room for others using the sidewalk.

Queuing for a ticket or a coffee or a bus is not normal practice. It is normal practice to walk toward the counter (for example) and squeeze your way to the counter, if you can.  If you cannot reach the counter, then fit yourself into any available space as close to the counter as possible.  Hence, the waiting people stand close together in these situation, so as to not allow someone to get in front of them.

For Canadians, this is very curious behaviour.  At first observation we thought that this was very discourteous behaviour but Spaniards are very courteous in other situations. We believe that it is not a matter of courtesy. It is just the way it is in Spain. It is the same in Mexico.

That's it for my sociological comments.... 

Next we are off the Valencia for a week before flying home. We will be attending the final race of the 2017 MotoGP season.