I arrived at my accommodation in Valencia on Wednesday afternoon after 30 hours of travel via Dubai and Madrid. A taxi took me to my B&B at 30-32 Carrer de Pere Aleixandre. The apartment was on the third floor and there I was given a warm welcome by Susana who it turned out has not a word of English, and my Spanish doesn’t extend beyond olé. I was shown my room and bathroom in the three bedroom, two bathroom apartment. I even had a shelf to myself in the fridge. I guess I hadn't realised that I would be sharing the space quite so closely with Susana and her partner Louis who spent a lot of time watching TV. They slept in separate rooms. She left at 6:45 am to get her patisserie ready for business and returned late in the afternoon and retired to her bed.
It was late afternoon so I quickly headed off to locate the City of Arts and Sciences to explore and see where the best places were for photography. I took a few shots of the opera house and the general shot above.
For dinner I went to Bar Monte Luna, a restaurant just around the corner from the B&B. I ordered a beef dish from a picture on the menu. It made me resolve to not eat there again. The location seemed to be a popular place for the locals to eat, drink and socialise. They probably knew what not to order. There was a little playground nearby that kept the kids busy. In one corner the ground was dark and a pungent whiff of urine assailed my nostrils.