July 22: Voyaging through Valencia province

Straight up, this was not my most favourite day of the trip. First, we had to check out of probably the nicest and most comfortable of all places we have stayed so far. Second, we had to do another long drive that was exhausting and sometimes pretty dull. Third, we had trouble finding an available condo to rent in the Valencia region, and had to settle for a couple of adjacent overpriced hotel rooms another 1.5h drive further than initially planned. Apart from those things, the day was great!

Breakfast was quite tasty; eggs and cheese, plus really unique Oikos green yogurt flavours (caramel, apples & cinnamon, and blueberry pie) that we wished we could get back home. Checking out on time was a bit of a scramble, as our laundry had not all fully dried overnight.

We left La Manga for another leg of driving up along the Mediterranean coastline. The most direct line toward Valencia would take us inland, so I opted to aim for a city called Gandia, which would keep our route along the coast.

This 4 hours of driving was witness to some of the most dramatic of landscapes we have yet seen. Rolling foothills - almost mountains - on either side, with impressive tunnels and avalanche control measures like you see when driving through the Rockies back home. Often the hills are extensively terraced, held back with stone retaining walls that appeared to have been placed there by hand, generations ago. Fruit orchards all along the way, growing oranges we think. White and sandy buildings carved right into the sides of the hills, making us wonder how they could be accessed as they seemed to be too steep for roads. And at the peak of many of these hills, we would regularly see the ruins of another Moorish fortress or outpost; we saw at least 10 of these along the way! (Photos from internet; hard to take good shots from the car window)

We ate lunch in Gandia at a beachside buffet restaurant; good place for cheap eats, and many locals and families appeared to enjoy it. The salt, sugar and deep-fry content was right up there...

Our destination after driving was a beachside hotel in a town that has an unfortunate name if English is your first language: Peniscola.

(If this is a soft drink option on the menu, don't order it!)

Dinner at another beachside restaurant (La Fontana) serving Spanish fare and American, French, Italian options. The Spanish options like paella and salad were the best; Faith’s noodles were gross.

Looking forward to exploring the area more tomorrow.