Las Fallas lighting ceremony in Russafa

Hello to you from Sunny Valencia. It’s been a week now since we landed in Spain. It feels like a lot longer, I think because a lot has happened. We spent a couple of days in Madrid after we landed to get past the worst of the jet lag. Had to rent a car last Sunday to get to Valencia because no other transport would accommodate our luggage, each of us having two 50 lb bags plus carry-ons. We did the three hour drive down on Sunday and met with Issac, the owner of our Airbnb for the month.

We’re now parked in our sixth floor walk-up flat, getting the bags up was fun, and have begun the process of finalizing our paperwork and finding our apartment, plus familiarizing ourselves with the town. The flat is about the size of our living room back home but it’s comfy enough.

So many stairs

We have decided to cheat by employing a “gestor” who will help us navigate the bureaucracy and language barrier while we set up a bank account, rent an apartment and acquire our TIE, the residency card we extrañjeros must get within a month of arrival. It’s all tricky enough that we’re willing to spend some coin to avoid screwing it up.

We’ve already looked at one apartment that would be very suitable and we like very much, in the Eixample area just outside the old core of the city. It’s very pretty with all we need within walking distance and close enough to the core that we can walk there in about 15 minutes. We want to see a couple more places next week before we decide.

Our neighborhood, maybe?

We have walked all over the inner part of the the city to get a feel for it and to see where we might like to end up. Valencia is a bit scruffy, attractive but not spectacular like some European cities. Most of the buildings are 5 or 6 stories tall which is a good human scale, and many have pretty facades. We like the place. The Turia Gardens, formerly the bed of the Turia river and turned into a 9 KM park, are a beautiful oasis in the middle of the city and utterly unique.

The old city core has just a handful of buildings dating back as far as the tenth century; they’ve rebuilt a lot of it in the 19th and 20th centuries. They kept the old narrow crooked streets from back in the day though, which gives it that feel. Much of the old city’s businesses are tourist oriented although there are many apartments and permanent residents. There is a fresh food market there that is spectacular and sells locally grown food year round.

Details of la Lonja de la Seda, the silk trading building from Valencia’s heyday

It’s the height of allergy season here so I’ve been sneezing and my eyes have been streaming but NO FEVER. I’ve found that wine does help with the scratchy throat. Very good table wine is available everywhere, for a very good price.

This being the month of Las Fallas, Valencia’s signature event for the year, the locals aren’t about to let a little thing like the plague get in the way of their celebration. Crowds of thousands gather daily for fireworks displays and street lighting ceremonies, standing cheek-by-jowl to enjoy the show.

Macleta (fireworks for sound) in the square outside City Hall

Street lighting ceremony in Russafa, where we’re staying.

It’s an interesting contrast to the news coming out of the US and the rest of the world, what with events being cancelled and a sense of panic in the reports. I don’t feel I can judge others’ response but I do kind of appreciate the Spaniards’ insouciance in the face of it all. I suppose I would change my tune if we were in a group having a higher risk level than we do.

Today was a down day for us. We’ve walked miles and we were tired so we took the day off. Which is why we wanted to move over here in the first place. A guy could get used to this.