Sunseting

It was actually the cloud cover that led me to think renting a bike was a good idea this morning.

Valencia is a huge, sprawling, but flat, city – so it’s great for bikes and they have an enormous network of separated bike paths. I rode a long, long way to the port and then to the beaches. There wasn’t too much direct sun, but there was heat and humidity – it was 32 degrees but the ‘feels-like’ temperature was 40. By the time I made it back to the aircon in my apartment I was a walking puddle of sweat.

So it was much later that I caught a bus an hour South of Valencia to Albufera. Valencia is known as the home of paella because it has a very long history of growing rice. Albufera is a wetland area surrounded by rice paddies. The main game is to catch a boat on the central lake and I had lined up what I was assured was the least touristy option – a boat ride with local farmer, Ernesto.

I have to admit to a bit of pride about this little adventure. The cheapest organised tour was around 80 Euros and involved a large group. I got the local bus for a couple of Euros and then Ernesto was 7 Euro. And I got to choose where to eat and drink while waiting. That was a cute bar on a little piazza.