“I appreciate a lot in this life; the things you cannot buy. Life is only once.”
– Rafael Nadal (famous Spanish tennis player)
Originally, my friend’s itinerary is just Madrid & Ibiza for this trip, and like I mentioned on my previous post (Madrid), I hesitated at first but when I found out that her trip would partly cover the last Wednesday of August, I just said yes because it will coincide with the La Tomatina Festival dates!
My previous Spain trip plans always cover going to Valencia, because for one sole reason, Valencia is my middle name. Now I know the reason why my previous Spain trip plans kept on not happening, because I have to go there around August during the La Tomatina Festival! It makes sense now 😉
I decided to do a separate entry for La Tomatina Festival alone, so click HERE to see my story and few tips that I have NOT read from anywhere but based on my own experience 😉
Right after the La Tomatina Festival, I think almost everyone was exhausted. After a proper shower and quick power nap from our hotel, we went straight away to see around Valencia city centre. It is a walkable city centre except if you are going to the beach or to the City of Arts and Sciences, then you have to take cab.
To be honest, I was surprised with what I saw because I wasn’t expecting much at Valencia so I didn’t really bother to read anything about it. All I know is I want to go there because I have to because of my middle name, I know it sounds silly now, and I’m sorry Valencia for that now. It is a combination of quaint and modern city that is vibrant and culturally rich. I saw a lot of interesting street art as well!
Apparently, Valencia is the 3rd largest city in Spain and is the birthplace of Paella! These are among the things I’ve only learnt when I was there already, and with the help of our good local host, Victor, who is very knowledgeable and is so passionate to share it with us (and very patient with us too lol!). It’s always good to be with a local when you travel around because they can give you bits of information you cannot read elsewhere.
We arranged several meet-ups with him but he always missed us at the meeting point, so on our last day he tried his best to make it up on us by taking us to the City of Arts and Science and to the beach! Victor not only showed us around but he also introduced to us the typical Valencian food, tapas, and drinks.
We ended our last day with sumptuous dinner with him because we had an early flight to Ibiza the next day, but he took the boys to bar hopping around Valencia until 7am haha! I guess Valencia night life is almost similar with Ibiza already, as what kids nowadays say, YOLO 😀
You. Only. Live. Once.
I’m one of those who raises their eyebrows every time the youngsters of today overuse this phrase or the acronym YOLO, with hashtag to make it worst hehe. For me, this is just their excuse to do the things they like without thinking of the consequences of their action. But let’s admit it, it’s a very good phrase. A positive phrase that perfectly defines all you needed to know about life: That life is short and you are only given one life to live, how will you seize it?
