Viva Valencia

After a four hour car trip from Barcelona I arrived in Valencia in the afternoon. I had managed to find another couch to stay on for free, this time with a Spanish guy sharing his apartment with three other guys. He and his uncle picked me up in the city centre and after having installed myself and my backpacks in his living room, we went out for a wonderful Valencian dinner. My host also showed me around the old quarters of the inner city, Barrio Carme, where narrow cozy streets full of cafés, bars, restaurants and small shops crossed each other between churches and monuments. 

Apart from beautiful buildings and sunny plazas, I saw a lot of street art, which is very popular and often quite good in Valencia. Otherwise the city was posher than any of the other places I've been to so far - and I unexpectedly ended up in the cultural circles of the city during my short stay.

My very friendly and overly social host knew a group of actors, who just finished the Valencian Theatre College last year, and had formed a theatre group who had received prizes and scholarships for its work. They were now playing The Good Soul of Sezuan by Brecht in a village nearby, and my host arranged a free special invitation for me as well. The play was purely performed in the Valencian version of Catalan, so I did not get every word of the dialogue, but knowing the story of the play and with knowledge of both French and Spanish, it was not hard to follow the main intrigues. Even though the theatre was a small rural one with poor lighting (this bothered the actors more than the audience), I just loved it! The scenography was super clever and very stylish, the acting carried out in a truly Brechtian combination of comedy and melancholy, and accompanied by smart and lively danced choreography.

We were then driven home by one of the actor's grandparents (also his biggest fans, according to my host), a fancy elderly couple playing Italian opera in the car all the way back to the city.

My second day in Valencia I spent on the beach - everyone I had talked to convinced me it was an ugly urban beach, but being Swedish and coming from snow and cold quite recently, I didn't really care... Only coastal Spanish people can afford to be so picky! Far stretched sand, an open blue sea, palm trees and sun is really all I need to feel I am enjoying beach life. Even the Mediterranean is a bit too cold for me this early in the Spring, but being able to walk barefoot on sand, feeling the warm breeze in my face and doing some yoga while listening to the slow waves reset my energy levels.

My last day in the city I spent working, and then after saying goodbye to my funny and culturally well-connected host in the evening, it was time to get into yet another car, heading for Granada.

Which turned out to be an ever as lovely Spanish city... Exactly how lovely you will soon get to see.