Caves and Hot Springs- another awesome day trip from Valencia

So, summer is here and what to do on a 32C day? Anything that involves water is a good idea. With Tristan and Erica we went north of Valencia ~ 1 1/2 hours to bask in the summer day and eat ridiculous amounts of fruit.

Our trip route

Before I get into touristy stuff, some weird/new to me fruits I have discovered since living here. Valencia and the surrounding areas do no just grow oranges (and lots of delicious cherries, different plum varieties and so much more). I am amazed that everything grows here and is delicious and fresh and incredibly cheap.

1) Loquats: These fruits need to be peeled and have three very smooth, slippery pits. Not too sweet but delicious and a bit different.

2) Spanish melon = Green Tendral melon = Elche honeydew which the internet tells me are difficult to know when they are ripe. Luckily it is melon season here and any one you pick from a market/fruit stall/supermarket will be because the locals know. Super delicious and sweet!

3) Saturn peach or paraguayo peach: firmer and sweeter (but still super juicy) than a regular peach. And now is the season!

Now I'll leave food blogging as there are enough of those blogs so I leave it to the experts- I just get excited about delicious ripe fruit that is reasonably priced and readily available (I do love Canadian apples in the fall and the short berry/peach season but it's nice to have more variety than in Eastern Ontario too...)

Our first stop was the underground river in Vall d'Uixo, the Grutas de San José. For 10 euros you get a 40 minute ~1.5 km roundtrip boat tour with a short walk (no spelunking required) of the caves and if you don't understand Spanish, and extra euro will get you an audio guide in your language of choice. A relaxed experience, and neat due to the extent of the caves. For those who hate bats don't fear- these caves have been bat-free for the past 30 years.

The main event of the day was, of course, Montenejos, with its hot spring fed river. We didn't know where exactly along the river was "the best" and since we arrived at 2:30, the tourist office was closed (like most tourist offices in Spain it is closed 2-5pm every day for lunch). We swam in many beautiful spots in the river until we got to the north? end and saw what folks rave about. A "super chulo" super chill day that I would definitely recommend to anyone!

The north end of the river where you can swim up and encounter waterfalls and pools of different temperatures. This internet photo doesn't really do it justice.

Tristan enjoying a chorizo bocadillo between swims

Us swimming at another spot along the river.

Post-swim

Post-swim

A trip to "España profunda": Cantavieja

The town of Teruel

For this trip with Sue and Jake we decided to go to a location less visited, less generally touristy but of course, with a trip that required navigating many windy roads. We went to Cantavieja, in the region of Teruel north of Valencia. This is the largest of the area's rural towns and while small, we did manage to watch an important soccer game (there seems to be one a week here) in a hippie collective bar!

We came the week before the town's bull festival. All small towns in Spain have a festival on one weekend a year. It sounds like a riff on the running of the bulls because anyone can jump into the main square and pretend to be a bullfighter, but here you light the bulls' horns on fire at night.

Some photos from the interwebs for your interest:

This mountainous region is gorgeous and we were shown around by Ezequiel, whose house we stayed in.

Our accommodation! A house built into the old city walls (hence the windows for guns on the top floor)

Walking home at the end of the day

There were lots of long hikes to be had, but what with my waddly ways we did short walks, along which Jake took many a fantastic photo, including many Hipster band album covers. Now we just need to learn some instruments and get some talent and we're set to go!!

(Actually in Morella, another wonderful town in the area-more touristy with a giant castle you can visit)

Rome in April

So we went to Rome, a first trip to Italy, between Easter and the double-canonization of the popes. Papa Francisco was in town, the weather was lovely and the tourist season had begun. It was a ladies and Matt trip.

Matt taking a photo of his lady travelling companions.

We ate lots of tasty foods, including an amazing amount of gelato and some wonderful pizza and pasta. One particularly nice pizza was in our Travestere neighbourhood (yay staying in apartments and not hotels- airbnb to the rescue).

Ai Marmi, with a great giant outdoor patio on the sidewalk and very efficient service. The diner of pizza joints.

We hit the major tourist sites, including the Spanish steps (we got there by accident), Colosseum, St. Peter's square the Vatican museum and many a church. All I can say about the Vatican museum is that I have heard it is always very crowded but it seemed to have reached a new level while we were there. I have never seen so many people rush by Matisse and Dali (and many other incredible artists) to get to the end of the tour, or had security guards yell at me for trying to stop and look at art in a museum "keep moving" was the chorus from the museum guards. We entered the Colosseum from a quiet entrance with no line and felt like telling everyone in the long lineup at the major entrance "There's a better way!" Basically, Rome is a smallish city with the "tourist" locations being insanely busy but with it being a pretty chill city once you get two blocks away.

Pretty view of Rome from a random park

Another view of Rome

Trevi fountain surrounding by insane numbers of tourists!

Trying to take an inconspicuous photo of funny cop hats.

St. Peter's square with my mom (did not wait in the insanely long line to get into the Basilica- get there early in the morning for a visit)

The Forum

The Colosseum

A selfie

Deep conversations at the Colosseum

Inside one of the million churches in Rome- all with amazing ceilings.

Trastevere neighbourhood

Trastevere neighbourhood

Random cheese shop- we bought some cheese (but not that much) which stank up our entire luggage when we got home. But it was worth it. FYI to other cheese lovers, you can bring hard cheeses across borders-little known fact.

Bir and Fud- a hipster joint full of delicious microbrews

For some less touristy/busyness we went to another neighbourhood, Testaccio and discovered a very cool collective of coops, restaurants etc. combined with a modern art gallery offshoot of MACRO, all housed in the grounds of an old slaughterhouse. Of note, the gallery is only open 4pm-midnight.

We also took the train one day to Bracciano, a town on a large lake with an impressive castle.

Odescalchi castle. Fun facts: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were married here. Funner fact: in the 16th century, Princess Isabella had lovers in her room, then opened a secret door and pushed them into the hidden well with sharp blades and lime at the bottom to a grisly death with no remaining evidence.

Even in the small town of Bracciano, the Euro way is all apartments all the time.

Good times were had by all.