Spain Day 8 - Valencia_Barcelona

School's out!!! For those of you who're sick of me blogging about the bentos .......... you won't have to see another bento till a month later :p

We've finally come to the last bit of my Spain journey. Phew ..... it definitely took me a long long time to get around to it. We were still in Valencia but since it was our last day in Spain, we needed to manage our time wisely. There were some, who like me wanted to see more of Valencia & there were some who wanted to do their last minute shopping in Barcelona. But I was glad that we came to a consensus quite easily. We'll spend the morning touring the markets before heading back to Barcelona.

I can't get used to seeing myself in this pic ....... too demure??!

Valencia contains a dense monumental heritage but its landmark is undoubtedly the City of Arts and Sciences an avant-garde and futuristic museum complex. This is L'Hemisfèric (Imax Cinema, Planetarium and Laserium) at the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències.

We had almost given this place a miss but the tour manager thinks that we shouldn't & I'm so glad we listened.

Designed by Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava, it is an impressive example of contemporary architecture.

I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record but the sky is soooo amazingly blue!!!

I looked so short & stumpy standing beside the tall, lithe Dionne :p (Haha .... but guess that's also cos I'm in actual fact short & stumpy!)

♥ the rays of the sun shining through

Paul & Dallas - one of those few shots I'm really happy with

We're all aiming high for the sky - have to, if we want another incentive trip next year. Let's go get them!!!

L'Umbracle (Walkway / Garden) with my twin (albeit a few years younger than me :p)

Dae, another tall lithe babe ......... (Geez ....... I'm in a short/stumpy crisis!)Partially blocked in the background - El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (Opera house and performing arts centre)Cutting-edge stuffs, isn't it?

Like I mentioned before, every major city in Spain has a bullring & here's the one in Valencia.

After the tour of The Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, we embarked on our hunt for CHURROS (Spanish doughnut).

We can never seem to get enough of Churros throughout the entire trip either!

I've forgotten what drink this was but the tour manager swears by it - he introduces it as the local tau hua jui (soya bean drink). Hahaha ...... eating churros with that drink is reminiscent of our Singapore breakfast - Dou Jiang You Tiao.

But of course the setting is far far different. It was so idyllic, I could have gone on sitting there forever just people watching. It was just like the scenes I'd read in books & wanted to try it for myself. But alas as with all tours, we're always hard-pressed for time. :(

Now, we get to experience the hustle & bustle of Mercado Central - one of the largest market in Valencia

It really was huge & had the most amazing array of produces on sale. There was everything! On a side note though ...... there was also rabbit meat ....... I had no idea what it was when I walked past it at one of the meat & poultry stalls & so I craned my neck for a better look. It was hideous with 2 large bulging eyes staring back at me. I had almost gagged when realisation dawned upon me (after all I have a rabbit aka Seraphina back at home waiting for me). Taras took a photo of it but I'm not about to look at it again. You guys can go look up the world wide web yourself, if you want to know what raw rabbit stripped of it's fur looked like. Nasty ........

And with that, we were done with Valencia & once again back to Barcelona, where we had started out from. And it was a mad dash from there, as everyone hurried to finish whatever unfinished business in Spain (mostly shopping :p). As for the 4 of us ......... make a guess, where did we bolt for? TAPAS, of course! Wahahaha!!! Unbelievable, right?

This was nothing like what we tasted in Alicante but magnifique, nonetheless.We had a real good time sitting in there chilling out, cam whoring & enjoying the food. It was a good way to spend our last day in Spain. What you wouldn't believe & was not captured on film was that while walking back to meet the rest of the group, we were lured by another tapas shop! From one shop to another! We walked in, sat down (all the time looking at our watches cos we knew we were so out of time) but no waiter paid heed to us because it was so crowded. And in the end, we walked out without eating anything because in our heart of hearts, we knew we were late to meet the group! Tsk ...... Tsk ....... Tsk ........

Hee ..... and after meeting the group, it's back to hotel then dinner!

How could I possibly stomach so much in a day?!! But yes ....... I did ........ and regretted every moment for not exercising restrain when I was in Spain. How else can you explain the size that I am now?! *wails*

And since we had to get up at 5 in the morning to catch our flight, we decided not to sleep & go check out the night scene instead. We had been wanting to go to a disco since day 1 but never managed to cos the Spaniards operate on a totally different time set. It seems their party only starts at 1am (regardless of weekdays or weekends). They then party till dawn, get ready for work, then a short break around 10am, back to work then siesta (can't remember at what time), back to work then head off for home around 7pm. So at around 7pm, you'll note the streets are not as crowded. But around 10pm, they'll head out again for dinner then party! And the cycle starts again! They're really something, isn't it? So you can see where the difficulty was ....... at 1am, we were all in dreamland.Can't remember what's the name of this club but remembered that it's right bext to a casino & I won 25 Euros there before heading out to party! Woohooo!!!Just to let you have a feel what the scene was like

Fairly good music at 1st but got kinda boring later on. Amazingly, no cute guys either. You'd be imagining the place teeming with exotic hunks, right? Sorry no offense but none to be seen. Weirdly though, all their hunks seems to have taken up positions as cab drivers! Haha ...... but honestly, in all the cabs that we've taken, the drivers were so cute! In fact, there was one that we couldn't resist telling how handsome he was. But due to language barrier, we told him he looked like Beckham instead! Haha ...... but I think he understood & he was grinning from ear to ear. (Note: This episode didn't take place with the young swinging single babes but rather with a bunch of married 'aunties', me included - haha ..... not so flattering now, is it? :p)And there we have it. My incentive trip to Spain. I'm not too sure if I'll ever set foot there again. Not too much that'll bring me back but perhaps maybe for their Tapas. Just perhaps.
Adiós Amigos!!!