Spain 2020: Diary – Day 3

NOTE -> This trip occurred pre-COVID-19 and feels like 100 years ago

We slept in a little and had a filling breakfast which would be our last at the hotel since we were leaving first thing the next morning to head to Valencia by train. The breakfast buffet was quite good and we made the most of it. We decided to go to Ciutadella Park. There wasn’t a taxi available as many surrounding roads were closed due to a half marathon event.

Walking to the Park

It was only a 25 minute walk so we decided to get some exercise. It was an easy walk, though once we got close to the park, we realized the race course finish was blocking the road we needed to cross. We back tracked along the race course in hopes we could find a place to cross the street. We found a place about half a mile from the finish and were able to sneak across and eventually make it to the park.

The boys found some open space and passed their football back and forth. When they got tired I tried playing Frisbee with Tomatico, but realized that was a bad idea with so many dogs around.

We made our way to the lake where we could rented a rowboat for 30 minutes. The boys took turns rowing us around the pond where we got close up views of swans, ducks, geese, and seagulls. I can imagine that it’s quite peaceful and probably crowded in the summer. This was a great value for only a few Euros and the boys loved it.

The Beach

We walked around the park some more and found a place where it was safe to play some frisbee, dog-free. From there we decided to head to the Barceletta Beach area. We were going to walk but found an empty taxi on the way. Unfortunately we got caught in traffic due to the closed roads from the marathon and it took us almost half an hour to get there. It would have taken less time to walk. Oh well. At least taxis are cheap.

After getting some lunch we walked down onto the beach and the boys played some more football. The views of the Westin hotel reminded us all of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. It was windy and chillly so we only lasted about an hour before deciding to head home

The Show

We caught a cab home to rest and prepare for the evening show we had booked earlier in the day. We were going to Palacio de Flamenco to see a traditional Spanish Flamenco dance show. We took a taxi to the show and arrived about 40 minutes before the showtime. The ticket said to arrive at least 20 minutes before, but when we went inside we found that there was a “pre show” which described Flamenco and it’s significance in Spain’s cultural history. We caught the last half of it but would have liked to have been there for the beginning. Oh well.

We were seated at a table one table away from the stage so we had a great view of the action. Our tickets came with a drink for each person (alcoholic for the adults). The show started on time and it was definitely interesting. The performers seemed to be out of sync at times and some visibly missed their cues. It wasn’t a great performance overall, but I’m still glad we went.

Afterwards we went got dinner at a restaurant Tomatico found and then walked to another nearby place with churros. They were fresh and the kids were quite impressed. They are getting to develop a discerning taste for them.

We grabbed a taxi back to the hotel. We had lots of packing to do to get ready for our early checkout in the morning. We had asked at the front desk if we’d have a problem getting a taxi that early and they assured us we would not. If there wasn’t one there they would be able to call to have one dispatched to the hotel in just a few minutes so we didn’t have anything to worry about. We have an early train we se need to get up and out before the sun comes up.