valencia.

(apologies for the long haitus in blog posts. getting access to a computer, when you're not staying with friends, is harder than we thought it would be! we have some serious catching up to do.)

after having such a fast paced long weekend in madrid with tyler and sara, it almost seemed like a blessing that andrew bailed on meeting up with bryndia in granada and instead, they got to enjoy a long week in valencia with chrissy and caitlin. these girls are the epitome of perfect hostesses. what was initially going to be a two night stay turned into a week - and they were so gracious and welcoming and wonderful about it. especially after letting bryndia crash out during las fallas! these girls are the best.

bryndia has gushed about valencia a little bit before, but that was when they went during las fallas, the craziest time in the city all year. this time, bryndia arrived to a really quaint city. beautiful tiled squares, huge fountains on every corner, lots of old stone churches looming over the pink sky. the city is a hidden gemstone of spain. honestly.

when bryndia arrived, caitlin was in barcelona, seeing her mama off, so it was just chrissy who met them. chrissy took bryndia out to the most amazing spanish meal they had had thus far, at a tapas bar called Bodeguilla del Gato. the waiters greeted chrissy with kisses and jokes, and bryndia sat back and let chrissy do the ordering. fried cheese with blueberry sauce, wine soaked chorizo, fresh tomato and mozerella smothered in olive oil. and lots of wine. delicious. the tapas way of eating is a favorite of bryndia - they're real into sharing the goods.

the next day, chrissy had to go to work, teaching english to the high schoolers of valencia, who all had really bizarre hair cuts and a major attitude when bryndia walked past them on the streets. to entertain themselves, bryndia took chrissy's advice and went and rented some bikes. they rode their orange cruisers to the big indoor market and stocked up on bananas, oranges, apples, pita and hummus, and then took off for the river, the long park that, weirdly enough, used to be an actual river that ran thoughout the entire city. bryndia rode for miles (or, kilometers, because that's what they measure with over here,) and discovered gorgeous art, huge buildings, lots of trees, and an endless amount of puppies playing in fountains. at the end of the river, the park opened up into a huge white mosaic area called, someting like, arts and sciences city. here, the equivilant of the OMSI, the childrens museum, and the aquarium were, all looking like giant spaceships, really modern and bright and bizarre. an attempt to find the beach was foiled, and bryndia gave up and picniced at the end of the park, played some cards, took a nap in the sun, reveled at how SPRING HAD FINALLY ARRIVED, and loved valencia for it.

the next day, caitlin returned from barcelona, and chrissy welcomed her brother brendan visiting from seattle. san diego, seattle, portland. they were like some sort of west coast gang. that night, they overtook the irish bar in town, drinking pints and cheering on the football game with a bunch of british bros. after, they made their way to a restaurant where when you ordered a drink, you got a free slice of pizza. while munching down, chrissy and caitlins fellow bilingual friend angela pointed out that the table of teens sitting behind us was badmouthing us in spanish. when the group stood to leave, angela waltzed over and, in perfect spanish, asking snarkily "so, are you visiting from mexico?" apparently this is a bigtime burn for spaniards, hinting that they have a mexican accent. the west coast crew left with their heads held high. feeling on top of the world, the group headed to la claca a club, where the dj bought them shots and played every song they requested. they stayed there till closing time once again then left for the Radio City, they continued dancing til 6 am. this became a nightly occurance.

bryndia kicked their hangovers with hardcore runs in the river every morning, stopping at a halfway point for a drill of ab workouts & pushups to keep the 12 pack aka cheesegrader aka washboard otherwise known as hardbody in tact.

the week passed quickly, the days full of bright sunshine & activities, the nights of red wine & goodtimes.

one day, the group rented bikes again, since brendan had yet to see the park and cycled out to the beach, this time actually finding it with help from chrissy and caitlin the best hosts ever. avoiding families on the boardwalk & nigerians selling there "real" guccis & louis v's they made it! the bike gang enjoyed the miles and miles of clear ocean and they braced themselves against the wind while picnicing in the sand eating grapes and cheese. the men indulged in spicy mustard & meat filled sandwiches. bryn, energized from the meat(that's what she said) climbed all over the jungle gym like a monkey, almost plunging to his sandy death 30 feet below.

after a long day of biking, cafe con leches were needed and enjoyed by the ancient gates to the city, when valencia was surrounded by a wall. the whole bunch climbed the towers and had a good old fashioned americana photo shoot on top to conclude massive bike trip around the city.

bryndia decided that a visit to Valencia would not be complete without a trip to the giant cathedral that housed the holy grail. yes! the holy grail! montey python! indiana jones! the fritzin holy grail. no big deal, jesus just drank out of it. Errbody at the last supper gettin tipsy (uh oh, bryn's trying to freestyle again) although bryindiana jones thought it was amazing to see it was sort of difficult to tell when its displayed behind thick glass, fifteen feet behind velvet ropes. but what the duo thought was even cooler were the infamous goya paintings that adorned the wall. moments of these 'i didn't know this was here' revelations have been frequent and appreciated during the journey.

bryndias last night in valencia was celebrated with pad thai and drinks at the corner bar, laboratoria, where the mojitos were cheap and the bartenders knew their names. they kissed goodnight and goodbye to their lovely hostesses that evening and woke up at the crack of dawn to catch a train to barcelona. twenty four hours back in their spanish starter city were spent playing cards in a cafe during a thunderstorm, visiting the barcelona cathedral, and watching some sweet street performers breakdance hard. the following morning, they hopped the cheapest flight to italy they could find.

to venice? sure! wherever the wind takes them.