Monday 23 April 2012  - following the seaside tourist hot spots.

Day 11 and 147 to go – RIP Buzz

Paul woke me at 7.30am today to see the sun rising over the Mediterranean. It was beautiful and worth getting up for but I retreated back to the warm bed soon after not surfacing again until 9am. 

Our night by the beach had been relaxing with Paul having a good night’s sleep thanks to the medication. We drove back into town, played with a gorgeous huskie pup and then walked to the local supermarket to replenish our supplies before heading on down the road to Castellon. Our intention was to stop but it was so busy that we made a beeline for the exit and the quick road to Valencia. We figured if it wasn’t listed in the lonely planet we were not missing much.

The road we took had us meandering through many orchards of oranges what this region is best known for. They are everywhere along with artichokes.

Valencia was only an hour down the road. Instead of heading into the city centre we found the main beach and parked up before heading to HJ’s to use their free wifi. After checking in with the rest of the world including all those poor teachers that returned to work today, we went back to the van for a quick bite. 

Paul is still not 100% and as such our ability to get out and about is somewhat hampered. We did walk along the main beachfront where there are expensive hotels and restaurants. We saw a couple of sand sculptures being created, one in particular was awesome. The beaches were busy with tourists I imagine. There were cute blue and white tents set up and palm trees everywhere. The beach was a fair walk from the main path, something like Scarborough.

After our walk in the sun we returned to the van to decide on what next. With Paul under the weather we decided not to head into the main town centre of Valencia but rather head on to our campsite in Cullera about 30min further south.

Cullera is a summer getaway. The beachfront is lined with multistorey complexes just waiting for tourist season. We found a parking spot on the front and set up camp. Paul and I walked a small distance before returning to the van. 

I left Paul to recoup while I wandered up the beach. There were a few brave souls in the water. I paddled my feet but it was like an icebox. The sun however was warm and I enjoyed sitting on the beach for some time.

After returning to check on Paul. I read up on the next few places we would visit putting together an itinerary of sorts for the next 2 weeks. We then walked the main beach strip. We watched the old boy play Petanca (boules) checked out the restaurants, which don’t open til 8 and some 10pm. We reached the end of the strip locating so more campers and we decided to up stumps and join the others so we walked back to the van and made the move to a spot off the beach front and a little more secluded. 

By now it was 715pm. We had a drink before thinking about finding something to eat.

We had to walk a fair distance before finding an open restaurant. All the seafront ones were closed so we headed into the backstreets and found a quiet place to enjoy dinner and that we did. Afters tumbling through the menu with the Spanish waiter we ordered seafood paella. While waiting the 30min for it to cook I enjoyed a glass of wine. It was perfect but the paella was even better when it arrived at 915pm. 

We devoured the dish scraping up every last morsel. I want the recipe, as I will try to recreate it when we get home.

Our walk back to the van was welcomed encouraging digestion before bed. The large fortress like building on the hill was all lit up and looked stunning. Our van was now surrounded by other campers, it seems to be the way. Safety in numbers I guess.

Time for sleep.

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