The change in landscape driving along the coast from Xabía (Javía) was dramatic.
Leaving the high mountains behind, shrubs and wild herbs suddenly gave way to the deep green of orange groves as far as the eye could see. This part of the coast is suitably called “Costa del Azahar” (orange blossom coast). The orange farms are neatly laid out, sometimes being terraced with stone walls up the hills. Oranges actually hail from China originally: while the Seville orange, being bitter, is mainly used to make marmalade; the sweet Valencian orange is used for juicing. The deep, orange juice (not the usual yellow colour I’m used to) is so sweet, it tastes almost syrupy. We stayed in a hotel for 4 nights, right on the beach. From there we had easy access to cycle ways in all directions. We did a particularly pretty 40 km cycle ride from Valencia to Puçon – a new, modern village built in the traditional style. The smoothly paved cycle path was painted red and was again a dis-used old railway line, passing small patches of farmland. Most farms were the size of an average suburban property, so (small) tractors are a rare sight. Work is done manually, or horses are used. We saw a number of horse carts pulling various hand-made farm implements. Very eco-friendly!
The tiger nut farms deserve a special mention. Called “chufa”, these grasslike plants are grown field upon field, the farms separated from each other by low walls and narrow water channels. In the summer, the fields are flooded using a sluicing system, then the grass is allowed to dry out. The fields are then burned down and the subterranean nobbly little bulbs of the plants are collected and made into the popular Spanish drink of “horchata de chufa”, made in exactly the same way as almond milk, just with a lot of sugar added. Country-wide, every bar, café, ice-cream shop and even bakery sports a large transparent container on their counters slowly turning the white tiger nut milk. Although it’s vegan, this is too sweet for me!
We had some delicious dinners in Valencia. At one restaurant on the beach I had two courses, consisting of a starter (white asparagus and olives) and a main of variously grilled vegetables (to which I added my own vegan soy sausage, chorizo-flavoured, of course!
For all your ingredients to make a typical Valencian paella (many restaurants do offer a vegetarian “Paella”), head to Mercat Central. This architectural masterpiece is one of the oldest markets in Europe, with over 8 centuries of history. Although an enormous covered market, I still preferred the one in Barcelona. The ‘La Morhada Organic stall’ has organic produce.
Valencia is a wonderful cycling-friendly city. Pavements had been reconstructed to include cycle ways, or cycle paths were painted on the pavements in special dual lanes. Just like Seville, Córdoba and Barcelona, Valencia operates a cycling rental scheme. One has access to these bikes 24 hours a day by simply registering with your credit card at one of the bike stations. The 3-gear, heavy but easy-peddle bicycles can be taken and deposited back at nearly a hundred stations around the city, at a distance of no more than 2 blocks from each other. We used them constantly – the first half hour being free – with no worries that our own bikes might be stolen.
One evening while a thunderstorm was lumbering in the distance we cycled to the Oceanography park. It’s an aquatic centre on a massive scale. There were huge and very deep pools with large glass frontages. We watched white beluga whales play and in another were walruses. I bought myself a large plastic container of popcorn – this was not made with the usual butter addition. At 10:45pm the show started we came to see: synchronised swimming with dolphins. Eight women swam in pattern formations with 10 dolphins in an elegant performance accompanied by music and lights. Well after midnight we grabbed a pair of city bicycles from the nearest bike station and cycled back to our hotel, about 6 km away, along well-lit cycle paths.
The following evening was just as special: we went swimming in the luke-warm sea in front of our hotel early evening, and decided we’d stay in the water until sunset. There were still lots of people in the sea. It was so beautiful to watch the colour of the water turn a silky orange. It was also good timing: as the sun was setting, the full moon rose like a blazing yellow beach ball. We finally dragged ourselves from the water, feeling rather peckish – no wonder, because it was 9:15 already!
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