Valencia, Spain

Alright, I clearly remember my last post, as I was writing it on the train from Granada to Madrid. This one is being written on an ocean going vessel from Barcelona to Livorno. How I got from A to B follows. So I was on said train to Madrid, which was a nice ride. We arrived in the Madrid station and I had a half hour or so to relax and get a pastry before boarding the high speed train to Valencia. I ran in to two Americans who gave me a bit of travel advice and helped me find the shuttle from our arrival station to the one where a friend of a friend (and soon to be just friend) was waiting to meet me. A couple of my friends have been studying in Valencia this spring and they were great hosts during my time in Spain. For those of you paying attention, these are the same friends I was with in Granada. I stayed with them one night before finding a hostel of my own for next three nights. After dropping of my stuff I got a great tour to begin orienting myself to the new city. I made it back in time to meet my friends from Granada who had taken a bus back and we got dinner and relaxed a bit. Over the next four days (Mon-Thu) I did the following: A lot of wandering around Valencia, 2 Spanish classes, midnight chat with Americans studying at Oxford and vacationing in Valencia, several trips to El Mercado Central (giant farmer's market), found the Holy Grail, climbed the tower of the ancient cathedral, explored some Roman ruins, took a siesta, bought a bus ticket, changed said bus ticket, visited the City of Arts and Sciences, danced salsa, ate crepes, ate kebabs, witnessed a strike, ate stir fry, ate a milkshake, ate southern food, and of course chocolate and churros. I think that's a pretty good summary of my activities for the past few days. My interesting travel challenge was navigating around the strike. It was a general nationwide strike, so pretty much everything was shut down. I had originally intended to get to Italy by train but there were none running or with available spaces to get me where I needed to be in time. So enter the ferry I'm on, not a bad way to get across the Mediterranean, and I've got a cabin to myself. Just so people know, my itinerary for the near future is to catch a train to Venice and spend a few days there before heading down to Florence and Rome. So, Italy week, it begins. As for pictures, I'll try to pick out a few of the best ones so I can upload them quickly the next time I have internet access