This is A story of our trip August – November 2023. The first month+ are the previous two blogs of our stay in the USA, https://neuage.me/battle-creek and https://neuage.me/chicago.
This first part is our two-weeks in Washington DC, followed by our home-exchange for a month in Valencia, Spain. At the end of this is a summary of our three months trip. Cheers.
As always, the italics is Narda’s writing and whatever else are my scribbles. We have given ChatGPT the flick (politely) “to refine and steer our conversations towards a desired length, format, style, level of detail, and language”, really, what nonsense. (BTW, the italics in this past sentence are Google’s words and not Narda’s). Our clips are YouTube links but should open fine, as to have them embedded would make the page too slow to load.
One other small thingy, some photos I had a bit of a play with in Photoshop and their AI enhanced features - so if a kangaroo or koala happens to be spotted hopping around in an American or Spanish scene or in the aisle of an aircraft, it is possible that it is not real. All photos were taken by us - what happens to them afterwards is anyone's guess.
WASHINGTON DC
On September 9 we boarded train 50, the Cardinal, bound for Washington DC. We were in car 5000, room 3, a roomette. The "ette" part is significant as you can see from the photo. 😀
Video clip https://youtu.be/FVKC8HFBzvg
The top bunk can be easily pulled down.
The meals were free, choose from the menu and get a takeaway meal with dessert and a drink. Pretty OK, though I missed access to a dining car. Sleeping was OK too for me. Poor Terrell only managed about 2 hours. I got a bit more but the horn sounding made it difficult, plus lots of movement; bouncing around. Still, all part of the adventure. I have a tentative theory that you sleep better when the beds go across.
Next year, when we go to India, I will test this one more and hopefully eliminate my advancing age as a factor!
With no sim card, finding Chris at Union Station took a little while. We spent our last day in Chicago trying unsuccessfully to get one.
I had advocated for the train for months before leaving. Taking a sleeper was an expensive item ($598 USD) compared to a flight or even driving. But I always wanted to travel across the States by train. I had gone across Canada, Vancouver to Montreal in 1972 and forgetting that I am now fifty-one years older than then (I often forget these minor details) it seemed the system for us. However, twenty-four hours of a train whistle every five-minutes and a rather bouncy ride (compared to the smoothness of European trains) prevented sleep from coming my way making me feel old, haggard… now I need ChatGPT, - well at least I tried. I think the meals were OK – do not remember, as I was too tired and probably ate some of the furniture instead. We had good views coming through Virginia and some of those other states.
Stopped at a few nifty little towns too for fifteen or so minutes. Not have Wi-Fi was like trying to laugh underwater for me – how would I survive 24-hours???
Arriving in DC could have been exciting. However, due to a lack of any means of communication to Chris to collect us at the station we were a bit miserable, on top of being exhausted. Back in Chicago, our 30-day sim card had ended its partnership with us about a week earlier. We have gotten it back in Clifton Park, New York from Walmart and were told how easy it would be to renew it online if not at one of their many big boxes. Neither of which would work. Walmart in Chicago didn’t sell or service the one we had, online would not do it and other retailers suggested we go back to using smoke signals or perhaps landlines if only they still existed.
DC Union Station did not have ‘free Wi-Fi, though they now claim they may have it (three-months later). Chris was supposed to meet us – the train was heaps late (surprise surprise) and we had no way of notifying him. We stood on the curb outside of Union Station for quite some time and to move the story on eventually he saw us in our withered and frantic way, driving us to his home and a few days of rest.
September 11
It's wonderful to be here now. Little Josiah, AKA Jojo, AKA (his own name for himself) Siah. He has grown into a very special little boy, with lots of energy, liveliness, and a pretty good grasp of communication, including English, also using AUSLAN sign language. The kids all learn this in daycare! Very entertaining. Liam is a beautiful, gentle soul, who loves his little brother to bits, and has formed a gang at school, for "protection from the girls". He can also wax elegantly about ancient Greek mythology, which seems to have taken over from the dinosaurs. And he plays a nice tune on the piano, including his own compositions.
I came across a wonderful sign to live by…
I saw an ad on the side of a bus that made me wonder…. Maybe a career move is in store for me. It is something to do with Bush...what could go wrong?
We are enjoying exploring DC, which always has new treasures. This time we took a risk and entered the museum of modern art, which I thought would be full of pained squares and circles but was definitely not that. It was a really interesting visit. I enjoyed an installation of 6 screens playing a 62-minute presentation of images, representing life and death, our destruction of the planet and more. Another wonderful exhibit was a room full of pithy sayings. This was the Hirschhorn Museum
[The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden presents the largest museum installation to date by American conceptual artist Jessica Diamond. “Wheel Of Life” filling the Hirshhorn’s second-floor inner-circle galleries with 15 text-and-image-based artworks to highlight the inventive nature of the artist’s practice.] BTW, this display wrapping around hallways will be on tap to see until mid-June 02, 2024, so there is still time to grab a look over at the museum.
Below images are from Laurie Anderson. "Laurie Anderson is one of the leading multimedia artists of our time, and her innovative work in performance, music, technology, and visual art has profoundly influenced popular culture for more than forty years. In 2021, as part of The Weather—her largest US exhibition to date– the Hirshhorn invited Anderson to create a new work on site. Anderson worked ten-hour days at the Museum for more than two weeks to paint directly on the walls and floors of this large gallery, covering nearly every inch with stories, song lyrics, jokes and commentary on current event. Painting in a stream-of-consciousness manner without preparatory sketches, she created an enveloping and intensely personal installation that takes visitors on a journey through her mind. The installation’s title, Four Talks (2021), refers to the four sculptures—a raven, a parrot, a canoe, and a shelf—at its center, each accompanying by a pithy story or text passage. Monumentally scaled, conceptually rich and visually captivating, Four Talks, currently on long-term view on the second floor outer, represents a key achievement in Anderson’s career." - from the museum's webpage https://hirshhorn.si.edu/
There was also this groovy display on walls...by Mark Bradford
“Politically and socially, we are at the edge of another precipice. I’m standing in the middle of a question about where we are as a nation.”—Mark Bradford
"Philippoteaux’s cyclorama depicts Pickett’s Charge—the final charge of the Battle of Gettysburg, which historians cite as the critical turning point of the Civil War and, consequently, of American history".
We've also started pretty regularly on our "beginner core exercises", a la Aussie YouTube. 20 minutes a day.
The train and bus system are great. We still have our seniors’ cards from the trip before, just load it up occasionally and travel easily. We headed up to Columbia Heights, where there are ample shops just a short bus ride away. Even a Lidl…..new.
Saturday
An interesting day, we went to Roosevelt Island to watch the filming of a documentary about Jess' role as a climate scientist, working hard with the conservatives. It was a real professional thing, a cameraman on a Segway, all geared up and the director (Nadia) who had interesting stories to tell.
It's fun to be here for all these special experiences. The next week was spent buying a new suitcase at Target…a fancy one with 4 wheels. 😀
We also decided on our bi-annual iHop experience, taking the train to a suburban one. Not bad. We both had Eggs Benedict, not quite our favourite Cafe on the Parade back home, but OK
Then a day trip to George Town where we were lucky to find a Canal Boat tour. Interesting story about its construction.
I just feel at home in DC. Perhaps I should have gotten into politics and had one of those fancy offices in the capitol – or a nice brownstone house in Georgetown. We were only there for two-weeks but, it was a nice taste. I always like the museums and walking around Georgetown - or anywhere for that matter. We took the one-hour boat trip, see https://youtu.be/TnBxxrLHq0g . I have wanted to do this for a long time. We have been here several times though in winter seasons when everything was boarded up. The canal was completed in 1850 and goes for 184.5 miles to Cumberland, Maryland. The Georgetown Heritage site will tell you more @ https://www.georgetownheritage.org/
In the evening a nice walk to Rock Creek Park with the fam.
Precious. We also got to watch the soccer game which they lost 9 to one but no-one seemed to notice…or care. ….as it should be :)
Our tour of the Capital was great. After a rather moving introductory movie about American democracy we were guided through the Capital with all its interesting stories, told by our guide.
see our short clip here https://youtu.be/hWDi_JmO4z8
The last few days we have been in charge with the parents off on a well-deserved short break. Blimey these guys work hard! We decided to introduce Josiah AKA Jojo AKA Siah ….his name for himself to a buses and train. He loved it. Liam, with his experience, was in charge of the stops. Bless.
Here is a minute’s ride on an escalator – riveting stuff https://youtu.be/wYcqMFOn7ws
They loved it, so did we.I got to hold Jojo on my lap, but on the return trip he insisted on "Rell" as his person. ❤️….as I do
The capital tour is well worth it. Chris' friend set us up with it through a senator as that seems to be the way in. I told him later I really enjoyed the tour the only issue I had was that the senator was Maro Rubio from Florida - a Trumper, need I say more? Of course, the person said, "I work for him, that is how I got you tickets for the tour". Oops - my bad.
Narda and I made a flick several years ago - Maggie and Mabel go to DC to meet Liam. Called "Liam's Secret". A must watch thingy....
What’s not to love about Washington DC? It has always been one of my favourite cities. I lived in Baltimore 1976 – 1979 and would often go to DC. Back in my distant past I was a street artist in various cities (New Orleans – Jackson Square, Honolulu, Baltimore, D.C. and still in the 1980s after moving to Adelaide I would setup in a park and sell my stuff – or try to). This is an excerpt from my book ‘Leaving Australia, “Before the After” – available in paperback, hardback and on kindle from Amazon)
‘Most Sundays for the months of July and August, I went to Washington D.C. and set up in the park across from the Smithsonian Institute. I had made large frames to hang my picture-poems on. I made the frames from seven-foot long, two by two wood boards nailed and hinged together. I put a wire mesh on my frame and using clothespins, I hung my pictures. I had hundreds of picture-poems all together with several boxes full sitting on a table nearby. It was a lot different from setting up in New Orleans. I was no longer in my early twenties. Now at the mature age of 31, reorganization of my self-perceived incredible talent was but a formality that the cosmos was waiting to bestow upon me. I knew that by the end of the summer of 1978 I would be rich and famous.’
Well life turned out to be different than what I imagined then – but I am happy, so what more can a guy want at age 76?
SPAIN – Madrid
Leaving the family is always hard. We will miss this beautiful family. We took our time with a bus and then a train ride to Dulles on Tuesday Sep 26. They have finally finished the complete route, and it's great. The entrance to the airport is new and efficient, taking you straight in the airport.Flight to Madrid, easy, just 6 ½ hours overnight
A short clip of our dasy through Madid https://youtu.be/dJOrr58XQ4o
We stayed there for 2 days. It was a small apartment but functioned like a hotel. A grumpy staff did not let us enter until 2 but we found another much more friendly person who checked on the progress of cleaning…it was done and we got access at 11 ish.
Great location right opposite the subway line. We purchased cards and enjoyed a short look at Madrid.
We stayed at apartamentos Juan Bravo, Juan Bravo, 58-60, Salamanca, 28006 Madrid https://www.apartamentos-jb.net/en/index.html In the Salamanca district, which seemed like a fashionable space. People eating on the footpath – or outdoors which looked like they were eating on the footpath.
There was an outdoor pool, we didn’t use it.
We took the train/metro. Seems as if they have 16 lines and 300 stations – probably because that is what I read. We got lost frequently as the sign posting is confusing (perhaps if we knew Spanish the signs would have made more sense.) Example of Narda’s reaction to our getting lost is best illustrated in this photo.
A beautiful building opposite where we were. I believe it was a retirement home, based on the conversation I had with an older lady who told me in Spanish with a nice smile and hand gestures that it was quarto. I believe she was telling them that there are 4 retirement complexes….the fences also gave a clue in which older folks can live very nicely……that was from the smile.
We tried to have lunch in the market but were unable to get close to an actual seller of food. We did find a very nice sidewalk café. The market (Mercado de San Miguel), opening in 1916 is situated in the heart of the area known as Madrid de los Austrias (Hapbsurg Madrid). Not dissimilar to The Adelaide Market – our wonderful local place back home, the San Miguel market has a large variety of stuff priced for the trendy boutique shoppers, as they do in Adelaide. Of course, we buy the same stuff at the local Aldi’s for much less because that is who we are, then stop in the local park to sample our prizes. (BTW, below image is Valencia, not Madrid - just too lazy to move it)
The place was amazingly crowded, see our little video clip mentioned above. Don’t understand the attraction of bodies being shoved together so one can appear cool with tapas dribbling out of the mouth. As you can note from the photo above as well as our video, the main inhabitants of this place are not our age (few are). However, it is fun when one has a lot of time, to bump and grind their way through a noisy crowd of young people with their mouths full. Well maybe not fun, but an experience, once to do.
Then there was the high-speed train to Valencia. Pretty modern and nice.
More time in Madrid another time. We managed to walk a lot which was good after a six-hour time difference from DC. I am sure there is more I could say but our video and photos pretty much tell our visit. Being in a foreign place is always good in that I have no idea what people are saying which makes the time agreeable.
Some notes on these days: I was fascinated by the sellers of (fake) designer bags. This occurs everywhere but here what makes it different is the seller has the merchanise on a large materialwith ropes on it. When the police arrive they quicky pick it all up and disappear into the crowds or down a side street. I missed a couple of times video tapping it but this photo is the basic premise.
Narda was so lucky, to discover an exact piece of jewlery that she wanted to buy, and did so…
As in The Netherlands we filled up on yogurt drinks/Keifir.
Narda was fortunate to be able to engage in an enhanced meaningful discussion with a local lion in the town square.. I would not be surprised if she came out with a deeply moving novelette based on this discussion. Perhaps, even a crime laced Madrid style Noir fiction. Who knows?
Not being a meat guzzler, I am not quite sure why pieces of animals cost so much. Narda says something about cured meat or smoked meat…I mean hundreds of Euros per kilo is out there.
Perhaps the bulls that are made to suffer by ridiculous matadors in funny Halloween drag are chopped up and sold as high-end meat. Maybe those are the actual legs of the matadors that have been defeated by the glorious bulls. Now won’t that be a stroke of master-karmic justice manifest?
Of course, being a week or so before Halloween, and the terrible Halloween traditions having filtered into the psyche of normal countries, like Spain, there are hints of this silliness everywhere…
VALENCIA
We found our way over to the Madrid Atocha Train Station (Madrid Estación de Atocha) to get a high-speed train to Valencia. A bit less than two-hours – very comfortable. The landscape in this part of Spain, or perhaps all of Spain is this way, looks a bit like South Australia, see short clip below.
We arrived at the Estación Joaquin Sorolla a bit out of town from where we were to stay but where the fast trains hang out –
the train station we would take often during our month stay was Valencia Station North which we took bus #81 from our local stop, to there. Later more on that. Perhaps. Not having much luck with the local Uber-type of apps we grabbed a cab to this groovy building. Our flat is on the fourth floor of an 18-story building with a glass elevator going to the top. Narda was nervous about the ride up, but I loved it giving a view out to the sea.
A short and well-priced taxi ride (10 EU) took us to our stay in Calle Del Serpis 68. Anais, our host's daughter showed us through the apartment. It's a nice place, newly renovated on the 4th floor of a tall apartment block.
All the mod cons……..
Our sleeping patterns are way out of whack. Off to bed after 10pm then awake at midnight, take a pill and sleep til 9am.
Repeat.
My sketch of the lounge window.
September 30
We have discovered that bus 81 serves us well. 1.50 EU per ride, 5 Min walk then all the way to the old centre.
Today we walked the whole distance…. about an hour. The centre has an interesting linear greenbelt with walking trails. There are seriously old bridges at intervals. We were to find out later that it used to be a river which caused regularly flooding, so the water was diverted to a Canal, and it is now a very nice dry park.
The Turia river bed gardens is about 9 kilometres. The original river was diverted after a flood in 1957, and the former river bed now houses those groovy images above, and more. Read about it at https://veryvalencia.com/things-to-do/attractions/old-river-bed.
Walking further, with the help of a kindly local we found the famous old market. Really spectacular.
We were both wide awake @ midnight, even though we had two days in Madrid to get our time zone correct. We took sleeping pills and slept till 9 am. Being quite hungry and having yet to buy groceries we took bus 81 to the centre of town, old town. Lots of history going back forever. We will probably add some of those dates along the way. Because Spain did not participate in World War II one would have thought it would have been spared. No, Franco made a mess of the place and a lot of the old building were turned to rubble in the 1950s – 1960s. There has been a lot of unhappy events over the decades with various factions wanting to have their bit of land independent from other bits of land. However, this seems to be a time of happiness and folks are functioning well from a political point of view. Though recently (Mid-November 2023 – this week) in Madrid there has been huge crowds of unhappy people rumbling about the place due to some political thingy which we don't understand. Luckily for us, Madrid was peaceful last month when we were there.
Anyway, back to our story, we got to the old market – a most beautiful place, well over a hundred years old and had a wonderful street breakfast. Bread dipped in oil as the Spanish like, coffee, and an egg. We found other nibbles in the market.
The next day we returned, found the bull ring
The stadium built between 1850 – 1860 is quite the site. Not equal to the one in Rome which is really old, but it is OK. There was a bull fight while we were there though being so opposed to it that we would have been on the side of the bull we decided to stay away. The thought that men would stick spears into an animal and cheer for its painful death is almost beyond belief.
And the lovely old train station, currently being renovated, though still functioning.
October 2
Walking the other way towards the beach we passed through an interesting area of old narrow streets with all kinds of houses, from quite derelict to 70s blocks, to a gorgeous collection of old renovated little house, right on the street. If I had been to Cuba, I might have said it looks like little Cuba. https://youtu.be/iWsefE2-oro
A nice little story about this district that I found on a few websites – probably Wikipedia - In the Poblats Marítims district, the mainly residential neighbourhood of El Cabanyal-El Canyamelar, the old fisherman’s quarter of El Cabanyal backs onto a string of sandy beaches with a palm-lined shorefront promenade. It seems to have had its heyday in the 1800s and eventually became a dump. On 24 July 1998, the local government of Rita Barberà, of the conservative People's Party approved a plan for extending the Blasco Ibáñez avenue to the sea. The plan implied the destruction of 1,651 houses all located in the whole neighbourhood. After Barberà's team lost the local elections in 2015, the new left-leaning local council with the mayor Joan Ribó paralysed the plans of demolition and prolongation of the avenue Blasco Ibáñez. Instead, the local council has the revitalization of the Cabanyal district as one of its main flags, through the rehabilitation and increase of public services in the neighbourhood. So, there you have it, if it wasn’t for the left-leaning folks (woke folks?) what a mess the world would be…oh wait!!!
A couple of photos out of a hundred plus of this area we snapped.
That's my pub. I discovered, both from reading a book set in Spain (was it "Love in the age of cholera"?) and from a conversation with our apartment concierge, that the long version of my name, Bernarda, is quite common in Spain. They even pronounce it correctly, like my parents did. 😀
Who knew.
Not sure if it was in ‘the age of cholera’ with a Bernarda – read it too long ago. There was a Bernarda in Carolos Ruiz Zafon’s book – forget which one – one of my favourite series. I think she was the maid in “The Angel’s Game’, or ‘The Shadow of the Wind’. There are a couple of other books in the Spanish writer, Zafon’s series – if you read them let us know. Don’t have the time to read them now, taking too long to do this blog – it’s all these bloody photos I have to resize for WordPress.
Our trip home was by tram. We were helped by 3 young Spanish kids, a guy and 2 girls, who insisted on making sure that we got our tickets from the (bloody) machine. Very nice. I called him a prince for helping us, he said I was also a prince. We got onto the tram not realising you are supposed to validate the date before coming aboard, Dutch style. So now we have a "virgin" ticket for the next trip. If you decide to share this story with others, please do not disclose our identity. 😀
We met Fred, the pyromaniac, in town where insisted we must experience these wonderful fireworks during the day, an intro to the festival no doubt. I was nervous, having been told it was going tobe extremely loud, that in past times, 2 or 3 folks were killed when something went out into the onlookers instead of straight up to the sky. I had a head scarf on so figured I could stuff it into my ears and probably survive. Watch our short video clip https://youtu.be/W2XeU1nYzt4
October 09 is Valencia Day – people generally go nuts, we left town to visit Ian Gale and – in their country home. However, the day before we went to the old town, City Hall Square, caught up with Fred and Chantel to watch the daytime fireworks which were not actually fireworks but instead noisy firecrackers or whatever is so loud.
October 4
We met Fred, Chantal (our Dutch friends) and her brother Paul at “Little Venice”, a nice seaside town just north of Valencia. The commute there was a bit of a pain, after sitting on a concrete gutter for over an hour, we realised we were at the wrong place…the bus stop was around the corner. Good one Google. So we took a taxi (a rare thing for us) but it was worth it. We started with a nice meal with sangria to drink.
Then Fred and his brother-in-law tried some fishing (the fish were microscopic, not sure what they expected; they said their hooks were too big), but the company was nice and the weather and alps colours of the village.
See our one-minute video at https://youtu.be/rL6U7YVep2w
We discovered the area where all the white modern architecture is. A museum, an opera house and some more.
We found a nice second-hand shop on the way back. Bought a long skinny skirt and a scarf. The folks were very friendly. Told us how they started the shop, in a city where this type of thing is not common.
The City of Arts and Sciences is what Narda said above about all the white modern architecture. I will try to expand a bit. It is the most important and modern tourist destination in the city of Valencia and one of the 12 Treasures of Spain. You can catch up with that here – we have only been to one other of the twelve - Guggenheim Museum Bilbao – you can see our blog for that here, https://neuage.me/spain – quite groovy I must say.
The project began the first stages of construction in July 1996, and was inaugurated on 16 April 1998 with the opening of L'Hemisfèric. The last major component of the City of Arts and Sciences, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, was inaugurated on 9 October 2005, Valencian Community Day. The most recent building in the complex, L'Àgora, was opened in 2009.
Originally budgeted at €300 million in 1991 for three structures, but as things go it cost more – I believe about a billion euros @ the end of the day. Of course, that is just peanuts compared to what our local hospital cost, The Royal Adelaide Hospital cost 2.44 Billion Yankee bucks or about 2,229,464,600.00 euros. Much more than two times the little set up over there in Valencia for three big groovy buildings.
“The new hospital is the most expensive building ever built in Australia, and the most expensive hospital ever built anywhere in the world, at US$2.44 billion in construction and equipment costs.” I know because I go there for my liver doctor and other stuff and the food at the restaurant is so overpriced. Of course, being Australia I don’t pay for any of the medical so I should not complain and be happy with the low-carb vegan sandwiches I pack and take with me.
The City of Arts and Sciences is situated at the southeast end of the former riverbed of the river Turia, which was drained and rerouted after a catastrophic flood in 1957. The old riverbed was turned into a picturesque sunken park. I have more on that above or below.
Snapshots today of a Saturday walk through Valencia Spain
Seeing such spots as Palace of the Generalitat, breakfast at Mercado Central de Valencia, Lonja de Seda, Barrio del Carmen - located in the heart of the old town of Valencia and is one of the largest medieval quarters in Europe, Valencia Cathedral of Santa María and went for a walk through theTuria Gardens.
October 7
Another walk to our favourite area on the way to the beach, which I call "little Cuba". Cafe con leche and some chocolate buns.
Then bus 31 to the Cathedral. There is a claim that the actual Holy Grail (from the Last Supper) is there. That it has been passed down all these generations. The art on the inside is stunning.
It’s a big claim but there it is…
Documentation and archaeological studies lead us to think that the Holy Grail of Valencia is the one used by Jesus in the last supper. The Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI used this relic when celebrating the Eucharist on their visits to Valencia. (the internet) there is heaps about this on the WWW if you want to take a wander through these claims.
Valencia Cathedral, at greater length the Metropolitan Cathedral–Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady of Valencia is a magnificent most must see thingy. It is a tad bit old, consecrated in 1238 then the Moors turned it into a mosque but as things go around the Christians grabbed it back got it up to snuff in 1262. There is heaps of history to this place – none of which I remember except that it a nice place to sit and chill in.
October 9
Off on the train to visit Ian and Kees in their country house near Lliria, in a village called Casinos. They call it their country hut. We had a lovely day. Ian made us a nice lunch, and we enjoyed their wine. The house is a marvel, built on a rocky hill, using a older house and completely remodelling it. It is also running exclusively on solar.
They have washing machine, fridge, TV the whole array anyone would have. They are unable to run the dish washer and clothes washer and a few other things at the same time, but they generate all the electricity with solar and save it with batteries. Lliria, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ll%C3%ADria, the nearest city was one of the most important Iberian cities in Spain during pre-Roman time, originally destroyed by the Romans in 76 BC. Nice people. It has lots of history if you are so inclined to check it out.
We took the metro out to there, the last stop on the metro. Ian and Kees live outside the small village of Casinos. We attended their wedding back in 2010 in the Chateau Thermes de Cugnon, Bertrix, Belgium. Three days of partying. I had a frozen shoulder so was unable to participate in the archery, however, Narda was able to show off her skills by having arrows fly over the castle walls and into a distant paddock – probably knocking a few knights off their horses. What I remember the most was Narda and Ian (a fellow Aussie, they worked together in the music department of St Ignatius College) drinking heaps (I stopped drinking in 2005) and singing, with a couple of other Aussies loudly well into the morning side of the night before.
It was a great stay and good to see Ian and Kees happily living in the countryside of Spain thirteen years later.
Oh, and Lliria is the musical capital of the region - look it up. I did.
October 10 and 11
The next day we took the tram to see their flat, following by an enjoyable bowling session. Terrell, being the oldest won!!
Just a short sidenote to the bowling - I only won by about a hundred points, that is because I have not been bowling for more than twenty-years. The last time I was bowling was in early 2000s with Narda's family (I won then too, "probably") and before that perhaps I have been bowling a dozen times as a teenager. I just like sports. And blimey, I was just old compared to those in their 40s. Next time I hope to do better.
And our last meal together at a cafe.
This is Cafe Beruit, a great little outdoor place we went to with Ian, as Kees had to go to the Netherlands for family reasons. The food was great. For 12 EU/ person we had a starter, main and dessert (or coffee) Really nice food and good company.
The way home turned out to be a marathon. First, an enjoyable stroll through this lovely neighbourhood with its corners cut into a diagonal.
Then we took a local bus back into the town centre, and connected with bus 71, which we had seen in our own area. BIG MISTAKE. This bus may at some time in its route come closer to our area, but we were at the completely opposite end OT town, and when we realised the bus had take the route twice….we saw a lathe hospital out of the indoor, twice….an hour apart, we got off and decided to regroup. A cafe leche did the trick and a visit to the banòs.
Then we decided to take the Metro, so after a conversation with the bus driver, we hot footed it to the Metro. The whole return trip took just under 3 hours. ……including coffee and loo….in the interests of full disclosure.
Next day was cleaning lady day….luxury!....and we decide to leave her to it. Back on the bus to the Mercado Cenrale. We love that place and at 8 am it's the only place e in downtown Valencia with any human activity. We ate a nice brekkie in the outdoor area, survived the waiter's coffee spill which I moped up with soda water, which they promptly brought to me, and enjoyed a longish walk through a new area behind the market.
Then on to a garden recommended by Ian and a short visit to a nearby mall.
On Sunday I inherited a concert ticket which Kees could not use. Ian and I enjoyed a really great concert in the Opera house. An orchestral program with Mozart and Stravinsky (wonderful music).
Terrell met us afterwards and we had lunch at an Argentinian cafe, Ian and I stuffed ourselves with meat….a pork steak and a beef steak. Blimey.
October 17
We both woke up well and early so we decided on a train trip to Xativa (pronounced chativa). First the 81 bus to the city central. We bought a card from a friendly train person, which for 12 EU gave us 2 return trips by proper rail. Bargain.
An hour later we were in this lovely city, roads lined with plane trees, lots of cafes (which almost all closed for the afternoon) and a tourist office.
Lots of little narrow streets.
The castle which we wanted to visit….Terrell mainly…..was on the top of a very steep mountain.
I had plans to take a shuttle bus to the top, but no, this was only offered on Sundays. After Terrells pleading and my grumpiness, we made to the top on foot.
It was OK, actually it was surprisingly easy. I think the core exercises we have been doing has helped.
Not sure if I remember Narda claiming it was easy as we walked up with lots of stops. We followed the rocky mountain path going up and came back down following the road which would have been much easier going up.
Here is Narda once she reached the top...
We had an overpriced snack and beer, and then we explored the castle
The castle was originally a fortress dating back to the the 3rd century BC, where Hannibal's son was born in 218 BC. In the medieval period, in 1092, it it was conquered by theMuslim dynasty from an area that is currently modern day Morocco. Then the Christians, under King James took it 1244, following a 5 month seige. They signed the treaty of Xativa to avoid more bloodshed. (Hello Hamas and Israel)......the treaty did not last long. King James spent the next 2 years forcibly slaughtering and expelling a portion of Muslim and Jewish settlers, and resettling local Spaniards. (the internet)
Not to change the narrative – just saying about the images. Most of the photos taken at the top – around the castle, were with 300mm zoom and at 4K – reduced for WordPress. And because I was editing the photos on a rainy day with lots of time on hand, I may have played with some of the new photoshop features in their program so maybe sometimes a bit exaggeration or whatifs. A bit of AI slipped into perhaps. Who knows? BTW, we took hundreds of photos, mostly of and around the castle as it was so photogenic – I chose a few dozen of what I thought at the time, today, were my favourites and have them divided sort of in the slide shows above. Feel welcomed to pause the slideshow and marvel at the image if so inclined.
In my view, it was at this point that women should have taken over all leadership positions. Perhaps the world would now be a better place. Just saying.
Anyway enough about that.
note from the other writer...not sure what Narda meant by those lines - she sends me her blog and I fit me + images in between.
The symbol for Xativa seems very similar to the new X that Titter uses and now calls themselves.
Speaking of Twitter – I think the Spaniards dislike Musk – saw this graffiti on a wall in Valencia recently.
Gandia
Back on the train again, this time to Gandia, a coastal town further south. This one was also interesting. After walking the completely wrong direction and seeing car repair shops, and some industry, we did and about turn and found the old town.
We ate our first paella. It was really nice. We had it for lunch which is the correct Spanish way. We are told.
When we got to Gandia not knowing where to go, I led us through a very long tunnel beneath river, roads, and whatnots. Narda was not too secure and worried we would be abducted by wild kangaroos or something or the other, but I assured her we were safe in my leadership. And to prove I was right we are alive today.
For no reason at all outside I did this image as I was going over the images from today and thought I would toss it into here for no specific reason at all.
Gandai was a cool town. Take the C1 train there from Valenica North. We went here because it was sort of free, well, not exactly. We got a senior’s train pass which for 10 Euros we got eight trips anywhere within section A, B and C which was quite a way away. Everywhere we went was within section A, B. or C except for one time, not knowing better, we got off in Xeraco which was in section-D. We had consultations in broken languages, with understandably misconceptions of what to do, climbed over some gate thingy and managed to get off and back on without much to do and not paying the extra – because we are old tourists, and such things are easily forgiven as far as we are concerned. We explored this very old town, came across a very old convent, The Convent of Sant Clara from the 1400s
– and their main to go to church, The collegiate church of Santa María, “Its construction, faithful to Gothic rules, was carried out between 1250 and 1520”.
We had our paella that Narda mentioned above in the courtyard of this church. Obviously, I had the vegetarian paella which was really excellent. Narda had the one with roadkill and she seemed to enjoy the experience.
As we just were here for a day we missed going to the beach and wandered around town looking at old shit. According to those who try to influence us on social media we didn’t go to “the Costa de Valencia, a beautiful section of the Mediterranean coast where the mountain landscape reaches almost down to the sea.” I missed this gem too…” Those looking for a more intimate environment should go to the most northerly part of the coast, where, surrounded by dunes, lies the quiet nudist beach of L’Ahuir, with about two kilometres of sand.”
They even had Crossfit here. Narda’s many sons are all doing this. All bulked up. One of them, I won’t identify which, but the one living in Adelaide, recently broke his hand doing a headstand at Crossfit. I think they all have had injuries of one or another from this gentle means of getting to know oneself.
We explored a museum of paintings which I forgot to write down the name of...
We wandered thorugh this groovy little city - finding as always, everything was closed between 2 - 5
- so we took the train back home. We went through Valencia North train station, built 1906 – 1917, several times. So many people rushing through, few seem to notice the room alongside it – not sure what it is for, but it was quite grand. The difference between being retired, slowed down, usually lost, spaced out staring at everything and busy rushing through life not seeing much is rooms such as this get bypassed.
20 Oct ober
The next day 2 large cruise ships came into port. Valencia host the most cruise ships in its port…in Spain…maybe in Europe…not sure.
This one is the Costa Diadema. You may remember the sister ship, Costa Concordia being rammed into the coast of Italy causing it to sink.
Yesterday we went to a couple of lovely museums…..the first one was a silk trading building. One of the best we have seen so far.
The Lonja, the Silk Centre, is in the centre of the old section of town - in front of the Central Market. At the end of the 13th century, because of the prosperity in Valencia at the time, the old Lonja became insufficient, and it was decided to build a new Exchange. The first stone was laid in 1492, although the construction was started a year later. Pere Compte, a Valencian engineer, and architect was the principal figure involved in its construction, as we all would know. It is a great place – we didn’t pay to get in, not sure how much it was, but there was a long, blocks long, line to get in so we went in the exit where there was no one in line, obviously, and somehow could not find where to pay to get in so we kind of missed paying. Sorry Valenca. These things happen in foreign places, like when we could not figure out how to pay for the tram – besides, it was in a language we were not familiar with – non-English, and unfortunately were unable to pay that either, thanks for the rides, Spain – we love you. Oh, BTW, all you cheapskates, the wonderful and amazing Ceramics Museum is free on some days – forget which one, it was free on the day we went, I think – anyway, we didn’t pay to get in. thanks again Spain – you’re the best.
See our short clip https://youtu.be/7d5fF2_ACO8
Then on to the Ceramic Museum.
A display of small ceramic figures explaining the civil war in Spain, which broke out in 1936, resulting in 500,000 deaths. The cause was ideological differences. A conservative military (the reds) tried to overthrow the progressive government (the whites) of the popular front. After 3 years of bloody fighting general Franco took power and remained a brutal dictator until his death in 1975.
The march of the empty pots 1971
Cacerolazos began in Chile in 1971 in protest at food shortages during the Salvador Allende administration, with the empty pots symbolizing the difficulties of households in obtaining enough food to feed families. According to the internet. The statues represent these protests. the internet
I still have a vague memory of that, knowing that you could not go to Spain as a tourist.
At the ceramics museum original Picasso stuff
lots of groovy dishes and statues
The palace was built in Gothic style in the 15th century and then extensively remodelled in the 17th century in Baroque and Rococco style. The exterior is lavishly decorated and includes a doorway surrounded by carvings of Ignacio Vergara, a Valencian sculptor of the 18th century. the internet
La Nau
This historic building, which was declared Asset of Cultural interest in 1981, is the oldest and most emblematic facility of the Universitat de València. It was the head office of the university since its foundation in the 15th century to the first half of the 20th century. In 1488, the General Council of the city agreed to gather all the superior studies imparted in the Valencia into a single “General Study” and promoted it to university status. As a result, several houses and plots were acquired in the surrounding area of La Nave Street and Pere Compte was hired to remodel the site. In 1499, the representatives of the city wrote the first statutes of the new institution, which started its activity in 1500. The papal bull (Alexander VI) and the royal grace (Ferdinand II the Catholic) gave university status to the studies that started in 1501 and 1502. The building was an example of Valencian neoclassical architecture, particularly the façade and cloister. The current architectural design of the building is the result of continuous refurbishments that have been adapting the building to different functions and necessities throughout 5 centuries, since Pere Compte’s original design to the last refurbishment (1999 and 2012) that updated the facilities to transform the building into an essential cultural centre in Valencia. Dinner at Taberna La Samorra in the historic centre.” The internet.
Sueca and the Chocolate Factory. -
Train trip to Sueca, about an hour and a half south of here.
Video at https://youtu.be/roJIRH1WhGg g
You arrive and there is this remarkable building on the other side of the tracks. It's actually a series of buildings enclosed in a formidable wall. The building features bricks as ornament, quite unusual, almost looks like it could be built with Lego.
We tried to find out what it was, asking a group of young people, who seem to be the best English speakers. They said it was a place for old people. OK. Upon further research, done by Terrell, we discovered that it is owned by the Catholic Church staffed by the "Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly". How lovely.
My "research" = Wikipedia...
The Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly is a religious institute of pontifical right whose members profess public vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience and follow the evangelical way of life in common.
Members dedicated themselves to the care of the elderly.
This religious institute was founded in Barbastro, Spain, in 1872, by Saint Teresa of Jesus, and her collaborator Saturnino López Novoa.
For more information on this groovy town go to "Sueca: A Small Town Near Valencia With Some Real Gems of Modernism" @ https://medium.com/@li.lib/sueca-a-small-town-near-valencia-with-some-real-gems-of-modernism-60be366dd006 with better photos than we have. Apparently, Modernism in architecture began in Sueca and there are some great examples, though having seen better days, in Sueca.
Then onto the chocolate factory where we had booked a tour. This was interesting, they are a small concern, importing cacao from Ecuador and keeping the business small. One of the things we learned was that 100% cacao, 100%, no sugar, no added rice flour etc is very good for you and one is recommended to take a gram or so each day, in the mornings for all sorts of benefits. Great for diabetics, lowers blood pressure, gives you an energy boost and more.
100% cacao, 100%, no sugar, no added rice flour etc is very good for you and one is recommended to take a gram or so each day, in the mornings for all sorts of benefits. Great for diabetics, lowers blood pressure, gives you an energy boost and more.
Loved the chocolate factory – we did a short video of it – not allowed to film the folks making it – got some excellent samples. Learned that 100% chocolate was not only good for diabetics (of course it is the new selling point of food – “great for diabetics”) but…also, good for hair growth. Now that is the selling point to get me – tell me it is good for my hair growth, and I am all yours. [reason being…my hair has not grown for a year and a half due to thinning which is nothing to do with ageing, OK, perhaps a bit – 76 years-old and all, but I believe it is because I used Ozempic and Trulicity for a year and a half for diabetes, but I lost too much weight – going from 76 kilos to below 70 which is not good for six foot two – like way underweight – and my cardiologist told me now to quit it as my pacemaker is almost popping out of my skin – they have to move it further back behind muscle tissue – ouch – so back to trying to gain weight – carbs here I come…yeah – downside my sugars go back up. Please, someone come up with a cure for diabetes – and don’t say losing weight as I have never been overweight in my life – I have a pancreas issue probably due to having to use interferon years ago for hep C. All these medical drugs are so bad for me – what happened to good old LSD and all those wonderful drugs in the 1960s we feasted on long before big pharma came along and messed with our bodies? Where was I, oh, chocolate is good for hair growth – 99 – 100% chocolate which is hard to find. I have 95% from Foodland so that will do. At Comes Chocolate – yes, that is their name, I got a bag of 100% chocolate – so I have one piece every morning with my coffee - chocolate medicine, how good is that? BTW I will let you know if I get hair growth and thicker hair in a few months.
The town was nice, featuring some Art Deco buildings
The next train ride came 2 days later, this time it was…surprise…another castle. Must admit I was a little grumpy about another walk up a mountain, being basically lazy in these things, but when Terrell is so enthusiastic what are ya gonna do. It turned out to be great. The castle was much more interesting than the previous one and the town was quite spectacular.
So here we go, in Cullera.
The first thing we checked was. “Is there a bus to the top where the castle is?” In the summer on Sundays, was there answer so I said to Narda it really is only a short walk up the hill. She didn’t believe me but being the good sport, she is we tromped up eventually getting on a bit of a steep climb thought there was a roadway which made it much easier (I thought) than the overgrown rocky straight up path we did for the previous castle. We did our stops and an hour plus later got to the top. Toured the castle, saw the seaside town part of Cullera on the other side walked down a very long road to the seaside – got a drink – took a rest – got a bus back to the train. See our video - https://youtu.be/UTZoqIgakKE
The town on one side of the mountain
Then the castle and the two on the other side. Beautiful.
After a coffee in town we made the hour trek up the mountain path...
(from the internet) https://visit-cullera.es/ Built in this strategic location in the 9th century, the fortification was tasked with monitoring and protecting the coast and key roads.The curtain walls are punctuated with towers that are still standing today, namely Torre de la Reina Mora, Torre Miranda, Torre del Racó de San Antonio, Torre Desmochada and Torre Octogonal.
castle images
We walked back down to the other side…..got to the ocean and had a Radler with chips.
The bus home from the beach side took us back to the railway, around the mountain following the river.
A very interesting day.
The next day we caught up with Kees and Ian and three of their friends. Interesting conversations, lots of wine and food, tapas style. We got home at 2am after not being able to find our bus stop, then finding a taxi for 8 bloody euros. Bargain.
It was really fun. What can I say. Me, hubby and 5 handsome gay guys. Absolutely fabulous!!!!
We got there, hungry, at nine pm for dinner – which I foolishly believed meant we would be full and home not too much after our bedtime (nine pm). Kees and Ian and tribe rocked up at about 9.30 ordered din din about 10:15 and to make a long time shorter, ordered another bottle of wine at 1.45 am. Of course, I don’t drink alcohol and that makes my observations different than others who are on their multiple bottles of wine. It was good though. I need to get over being old and set in my ways – like eating sometimes before passing out.
We got lost in the old section one old street looks like another old street to a couple of old people. We were unable to find where to get our bus home and luckily saw people getting out of a taxi and in my frantic way was able to get us a taxi home. The next day we were very proud of ourselves for staying up so late and said we should do it again someday, of course we won’t but we felt cool for a while.
We left home early, taking a bus to town in hopes of getting to Albufera, a freshwater lagoon and estuary on the Gulf of Valencia, early for the boat trip and Paella we ha paid online for. When we got to centre of town to take bus 24 out to El Palmer where the lake is we got stuck in traffic due to a marathon.
Walking through town to where our bus was to leave from, we saw huge lines of people waiting for buses as so many buses had been cancelled due to the bloody marathon. Our next bus was an hour wait. Bottom line, we got to the place to grab the boat ride with moments to spare. The boat was already filled with people, so we were lucky to get ourselves seated. Bottom line (again) it was well worth the trip. We sat next to a few Germans who could speak English and translated what the boat driver said.
“The Albufera Natural Park (La Albufera). The rice fields located in the Natural Park are the origin of the Spanish dish, Paella. Valencia was actually the first place rice was brought to Spain due to its fertile wetlands perfect for rice plantations. It was brought over by the Moors. It is one of the most important wetlands in Spain.” Internet.
We took the boat ride through it. Come along with us. Cheers our video clip, introduction to this place: https://youtu.be/T9SE4I0DNzI
Afterwards we walked through the fishing village of El Palmar and the rice fields on the way to the bus stop.
There were not too many people waiting at the bus stop when we got there, I had to go to the toilet and walked quickly to a nearby restaurant thinking there was plenty of time to get the bus. When I got back there was the bus, with a very long line. Narda being Narda thought if we went in the back door, we would get a seat which made the bus driver very cross and he almost was not going to let us on. Fortunately, we were able to squeeze in the front door and stand packed in for more than an hour. We sort of apologized to the driver for our oversight, thinking we could get in the back door and all, but he was too grumpy to even look at us again.
“The Albufera Natural Park in a nutshell,
Located some ten kilometers south of Valencia, the Natural Park is named after the Albufera (from the Arabic البحيرة al-buhayra, ” the small sea” ), a freshwater lagoon separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a narrow strip of land dotted with dunes. Spreading over 2,100 hectares, it is one of the largest lakes in Spain. ”The Albufera Natural Park is home to incredibly rich flora and fauna. The variety of its landscapes (dunes, pine forests, reed beds, rice fields, etc.) makes it one of the highlights of the region of Valencia. Fun fact: the famous Valencian paella was created here! “Fishing was legally recognised in year 1250, when regulations were laid down for the El Palmar Fishing Association. “ https://www.ulysses.travel/en/albufera-national-park-valencia/
The boat ride took some getting to. Waiting for an overdue bus which took us down the coast to a rice field where the paella tradition began. Terrell had purchased a package deal, including a boat tour of the large lake and the meal with dessert and a beer.
We met 4 young German travellers and made a nice connection, we had lunch with them and also met them again in their area back in town, enjoying some really interesting conversation.
Then it was time to head home. Our last dinner was a buffet in the city, where for 12.50 Euros you could eat everything. It included all drinks, beer as well, dessert and a whole range of food. We gorged ourselves for lunch for a couple of hours and missed dinner………so time to head home. Our last dinner was a buffet in the city, where for 12.50 Euros you could eat everything. It included all drinks, beer as well, dessert and a whole range of food. We gorged ourselves for lunch for a couple of hours and missed dinner………
MALAYSIA
Food Street - https://youtu.be/tCnzZh5xK0A
Narda walking in the rain - https://youtu.be/bChIKiEK8ps as always here, it rains/pours, every afternoon 3 - 5 pm.
Then on to Malaysia. This was a very challenging trip. Turkish air seemed to have been hacked worldwide. This affected all the boarding passes and seating allocations. We waited in Valencia, mostly in an exhausting queue for around 3 hours. Then finally we flew, had to choose our own seating….not a hardship, and then Istanbul. Another massive queue. As far as you could see, and then 3 persons thick. We stayed in that one for an hour or so, then we were told to go through security without a boarding pass, or we would miss our flight. By the time we got to board….,which was 4 hours late, they had the boarding passes printable. Blimey!
We stayed at the same airbnb as earlier in the year. Then we were here for about a week, this time only three-days. Great view from the balcony, 15th floor.
The stopover in our favourite Airbnb was fantastic. We discovered a nice new eatery down the road, coffee, brekkie…all good. The second day Terrell got all his camera issues solved by a generous and skilled guy recommended to us by our previous camera shop. The guy found the issues, gave each lens a solid clean and it's good as new. No charge!
The highlight was a full body massage at the new “Wellness Centre" right across the road.
The trip home was easy, we still managed to catch up with our Spanish hosts, as planned. They drove our car to the airport and then left for Perth. It worked well. Easy for us.
Now I am writing this, complete with jetlag at 3am.
Happy to be home.
The massage was great, as always. Just feet and head for me - because I have a pacemaker/defibulator shoved into me I have to be careful there is not a lot of pressure put on my back that would loosen wires. In January they are putting in a new battery and moving the device further into my body because I have lost too much weight. Hopefully, we get to leave for Pakistan/India for three months three-weeks after my operation.
Of course, food street, two blocks away, was amazing...
WRAP UP – THREE MONTHS AWAY
Valencia
This writeup is about Spain. However, it was a third of our trip. We left home August third and got back home November 3rd. What stands out for me (written extensively in our previous blogs) was turning 76 years old with my sister and niece at their home in upstate NY. Susan had just bought a new 200+year old house so we got to see her in her new home soon after she bought it. Being adopted I did not find my sister until 1987 – back when I was a young 40-years old. From there we drove for a couple of days to Battle Creek, Michigan, home of Kellogg’s cereals, where I was born – then taken to upstate NY and adopted when I was three years old. (blog: https://neuage.me/battle-creek/)When we were in NY, before I got to see my sister, our friends from our teaching days in China; Sean and Jean, took me to where I was adopted from in Troy, NY. After seeing my sister, we visited Sidhee in Ithica, NY where she had just completed her master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence and had gotten a job there in that field. She was a student of mine in China, and we had visited her and her family a few years ago at her home in Puna, India. From Battle Creek we took Amtrak to Chicago where we had our house exchange - https://neuage.me/chicago - then Amtrak 24-hours, we had a sleeper – to DC for two weeks as discussed at the top of this blog then on to Spain, as above. Loved Spain. Would like to go back again. We had a house-exchange in 2019 in Noja – northern Spain see our write up and snapshots for that over at https://neuage.me/spain
The stopover in KL was great as usual. We used the same Airbnb as our previous stay earlier this year https://neuage.me/kl-2023/ As Narda mentioned above I was quite happy getting our Nikon fixed. It had been on the blink for a year – a piece of plastic from my zoom lens had broken off, there was dirt from years of carting this camera around the world on beaches, polluted places, air, dropping and all the other factors that befall one such as me. I had found a few workarounds to take pictures, but I was not that happy with it. This dude spent 45 minutes on finding the cause of issues plus cleaning the three lenses I used – including my expensive you beaut wide-angle lens then saying there was no charge as it was just cleaning. We offered several times to pay him but to no avail. The camera works so good now we will just have to go on another trip to use it more…oh wait, in two months back to Pakistan and India for three-months. Oh boy, photos and videos here we come.
Took a long time to finish this writeup – now mid-December. Our next trip will be February 8 – May 8th 2024 – two months from now. Pakistan and India for three-months. Cheers.
