Valencia, Spain - Puerto de Sagunto

 I have just sorted through the 100 photos I took today, cropping some, deleting some. I am now pretty tired so the description of  today's activities may be spread out over a number of posts.

 I set the alarm, had a coffee and banana and set out for the bus stop intending on a trip to Valencia.

No bench unfortunately but I sat on a low wall across from this palm tree. Heather had asked me about the very shaggy palms in one of my earlier posts and I had explained that that is how they look if they have not been trimmed (great for birds to nest in).

 

Behind me was one that has recently had a trim.

 The bus came right on time and I stood up and flagged him down. The driver saw me but waved me off and continued driving. OK, so I had the timing right but had assumed that they stopped at every point on the route - I guess not. Next time I will try the other stop near me and I will take a closer look at the timetable photo on my phone to see if I can understand it better.

Well I was already prepared for the day so decided to walk south along the sea path to the next community,  Puerto de Sagunto.

The high waves had bought sand up over the roundabout nearest the sea

 

and water up over where the river empties.

There were a few intrepid surfers taking advantage

 

of the leftover

rollers.

The waves had also tossed debris up on to the pathway but we just picked our way though it: dog walkers, bike riders, scooter riders and those of us walking. It's not far and very pleasant with the waves crashing for accompaniment. 

Water across the path at the Segunto end meant

we had to pick our way across the stony beach.

Where Canet is a pretty sleepy place in the winter, Sagunto is not! Far more people, far more occupied accommodations, far more cars, far more open restaurants and bars.

Still a nice, wide

walkway between the road

and the beach. I walked for a while and then saw a restaurant, full of people, right next to the beach and realized that I was hungry.

Desayuno - fresh squeezed orange juice (and here it really is), cafe con leche and a croissant. 4.50 Euro.

with this view from my table. Priceless.

That's enough for tonight. Tired, and the glass of wine isn't helping, and I still need to make dinner. More tomorrow.

Valencia, Spain - further exploration of the village.

 Still drizzling when I got up so no bus trip today. When if cleared later I decided to go looking for the museum in Canet den Berenguer village. 

Rather than taking the farm road, I took the main road, flanked on both sides by orange groves

 

with steep hills in the background.

I thought this might be a farm building until I saw the cross on top and

around the corner I found the entrance to the cemetery. 

It was right on the outer edge of the village. Many of the tombs had plastic bouquets.

Cemeteries in Spain became separate from churches primarily due to 19th-century public health concerns, influenced by Enlightenment ideas, which viewed church burials as unsanitary, especially in growing cities

. Laws were enacted to move graveyards to city outskirts, leading to the creation of municipal cemeteries for all citizens, rather than just churchyards, though this process faced resistance from the clergy and was also driven by the need for space and managing non-Catholic burials. From AI summary.

A modern cross.

 

and a more traditional one

over a tombstone with a list of names, dated Aug 21, 1936. This may have been something to do with a battle in the Spanish Civil War.

The Spanish coup of July 1936^{[nb 1]} was a military uprising that was intended to overthrow the Spanish Second Republic, but precipitated the Spanish Civil War, in which Nationalists fought against Republicans for control of Spain. The coup was organized for 18 July 1936, although it started the previous day in Spanish Morocco. Instead of resulting in a prompt transfer of power, the coup split control of the Spanish military and territory roughly in half. The resulting civil war ultimately led to the establishment of a military dictatorship under Francisco Franco, who became ruler of Spain as caudillo.  from Wikipedia

Roses and Bird of Paradise in front of room for more.

 

Angels Trumpet.

A tile of one of the stations of the cross on the sidewalk into the village. I wonder if they parade from the church to the cemetery at Lent.

Well I found the museum,

nothing on the door,

faded posters advertising exhibitions in 2015.

I will save further village pictures for a "slow news day".

Valencia, Spain - random pictures

My plans to take the bus into Valencia went out the window when I awoke to a downpour. By the time it had stopped, early afternoon, I no longer felt adventurous. So this post just has some random stuff.

There was a coastal weather warning today (in Spanish, but I think it referred to waves or flooding). There wasn't a lot of wind but the waves were really rolling in and I could hear them thundering from inside the apartment.

 

They built during the course of the day.

So I settled in for a leisurely, 2 cups of coffee, morning. It took a while but I have figured out how to get a coffee I like out of the machine. Fill a third of the cup with milk and put it in the microwave for a minute, then use one pod of expresso and one pod of decaf. One teaspoon of honey.

Not exactly the same (I can't make the pretty heart shape in the foam) but pretty close to my flat white order at Starbucks.

The coffee cups in the apartment are rather small so I bought 2 larger ones.

When the rain stopped I headed out to the grocery store, checking out the waves on the way.

No beach to be walked on today as the water had come right up to the dunes.

Found another place where the feral cats are being fed. They all look in pretty good shape.

The supermarket (Mercadona) has an area where you can get ham cut right off the leg, or prepackaged. It is a Spanish specialty.

 Jamón ibérico (Spanish: [xaˈmon iˈβeɾiko]; Spanish for "Iberian ham"), known in Portuguese as presunto ibérico ( Portuguese: [pɾɨˈzũtu iˈβɛɾiku]), is a variety of jamón or presunto, a type of cured leg of pork (primarily Black Iberian pigs) produced in Spain and Portugal, in the Iberian Peninsula. from wikipedia

Not always easy to find anchovies at home but no problem here.

 

You can pay 2Euro for wine here, and you can pay 10 Euro. I have been taking the middle of the road at about 3 to 5 Euro ( still under $10)

One finished, one just opened, both under 5 Euro. Both lovely.

After lunch (Gazpacho, I bought a jar of it) I started working on my next painting. I love Bird of Paradise. It usually takes me a couple of days to finish a painting. When I leave it and come back to it I can see where it needs work.

Valencia, Spain - bus schedule and boiled eggs.

 As usual, a minuscule agenda: more cash for rent and check out the bus schedule. I went to the nearest ATM and, now I have been taught how to use them, was annoyed with myself that I didn't figure it out the first time. Worked fine.

Just a bit further along the road is a bus stop. Looks like it is on 2 routes.

 

I took pictures of the routs on my phone and of the schedules. Hopefully they are accurate for the winter. Either tomorrow or Wednesday, I will go and stand at the bus stop and hope for the best. I have tried to look up schedules, costs etc but so far the website has not been helpful.

Walking back I passed an area with "workout equipment". I tried them out and all seemed to be working though more about movement and stretching than any resistance or weights.

Parks in Spain commonly feature workout equipment, especially for calisthenics and bodyweight training, with setups like pull-up bars, parallel bars, monkey bars, and sometimes cardio/strength machines, often made robust and weather-resistant, reflecting Spain's popular outdoor fitness scene. You'll find dedicated street workout parks (parques de calistenia) and fitness trails (circuitos biosaludables) in cities like Valencia and across the country, focusing on strength, cardio, and flexibility for all ages from AI summary.

Coming back along the beach

 

there were some good rollers coming in, so time for more potential painting photos.

 

I grabbed these eggs last time I shopped. Didn't bother to read them, just thought "oh good I can get a half dozen"

I decided to have an omelette for supper tonight. Fried up some pepper and mushroom and went to crack the eggs only to discover they were hard boiled. Brilliant, you can buy already hard boiled eggs. So I had a deconstructed omelette for dinner: 2 hard boiled eggs, fried mushroom and pepper and a couple of pieces of cheese.