Travel month #5

October 9, 2022December 1, 2022 edithted2 Comments

Another month of traveling comes to an end and I can tell you: it is not getting boring! We broke some records and we do have brand new things on our list – some of which we don’t want to repeat 🥴

One Surgery and nine doctors visits – don’t try this at home!

Fourteen trains this months and I keep practicing not to jump off them and tear another meniscus. I do have one meniscus left, though… – don’t try this at home either!!

We got kicked off one train – we got a cheap “Bavaria Ticket” (=Bayern Ticket), that allows to travel a whole day on regional trains through Bavaria from 9am until 3am the next morning. “By accident” we ended up in an ICE train to Salzburg 🤪, and the conductor rolled his eyes and explained the rules. A few minutes later we heard an announcement over the speaker that “this is not a Bayern Ticket train” and everybody who is not entitled blabla… we were the only cheaters getting off at the next stop when we heard another announcement on the platform saying that “this is not a Bayern Ticket eligible train” blabla. I had the feeling that everybody inside the train starred at us two cheaters once the train continued to Salzburg – with high speed of course! Public shaming Bavarian style! So we waited half an hour for the next regional train that took its sweet time, but we made it to Salzburg after all, no problem 🥰

Salzburg

We were in Spain, Austria and Germany this month, traveling by airplane, bus, train and car. We also enjoyed 2 boat rides, one on an underground river and one on a sailboat.

October was the month with the most travel changes: instead of Valencia (Atlas Obscura tour) -> Malaga (visit my brother) -> Portugal (Macs Adventures hike along the Algarve) -> Morocco we ended up with Valencia -> Germany -> Germany -> Germany. The hiking trip we postponed to next year in October and the Morocco trip we postponed to November this year. I have three weeks now to recover, then we’ll be back on the road!

Airlines we used so far since we left California (12 flights all in all): United, Scandinavian Airlines, Eurowings, Alitalia, Ryan Air, Easy Jet, Air Europa, Air France, Lufthansa

Museums we visited in October

Contemporary Art Museum in Vilafamés (Spain)
Silk Museum in Valencia (Spain)
Torero Museum in Valencia (Spain)
Prehistory Museum in Valencia (Spain)
Modern Art Museum in Salzburg (Austria)
Buchheim Museum in Bernried (Germany)

Best performance ever: Flamenco in Valencia

One surprise party for Ted’s names day

Color of the Month: Orange

More than 7500 visitors of our blog! We wrote 190 post with 32,000 words! You count the photos 😬

Valencia – Last Day

October 8, 2022December 1, 2022 edithted1 Comment

24 C, a warm breeze, sunshine. This is Valencia! Munich will be different: even when you add the high of 16C to the low of 4C, it is still lower than the low in Valencia (21C). And there won’t be sunshine. And the sunset without a sun will be very early, at 6.37pm, an hour earlier than in Valencia! So why do we do this, why not just stay here and enjoy this gentle breath and travel to the stiff wind? Doctors appointments. Two surgery preparation appointments, so I’m good to go on the 20th of October and get my knee fixed. 11 weeks of pain will be enough!

So what did we do on our last day? We visited the Central Market again and got sucked in to all those picturesque displays of meats, fish, fruits and vegetables. The Valencia Market is inside this beautiful Modernista building and super clean (but you know that already from our first visit, right?

Afterwards we went to an unusual museum: the Museo Taurino, the bullfighter museum. And man was I surprised! It was very educational, explaining everything from the breeding of the bulls to the preparations of a fight, bullfighter schools, the history of bullfighting and the rules and regulations during a fight up to the point how the bull gets killed. Brutal and fascinating at the same time!

A highlight that I enjoyed A LOT were the costumes the bullfighters wear. There were many of them on display, one more beautiful than the other!

So far, a great day until we came back to the apartment, which is on the 7th floor: the elevator was broken. So is my meniscus – darn! It took me a while to hobble up, but how in the world will we bring our luggage downstairs tomorrow morning? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Valencia – this and that

October 7, 2022December 1, 2022 edithtedLeave a comment

Valencia is beautiful. The streets are clean, the traffic is organized, the people are friendly. But I’ve never complained more on this trip about bad smelling street corners / sewers than here. I’ve never seen more beggars than here. Buying them a sandwich feels like a drop on a hot stone, but it’s a short reassurance to have done something right. Until the next beggar holds up their open hands in front of you.

Like many other old towns, people don’t live here anymore. You can tell by the amount of hair salons, shoe repair shops and little corner markets and their lack off, that nobody lives here anymore. Doorbell signs are empty, all the apartments are B&Bs now. There are boutique hotels on every corner and there is an overkill of bars and restaurants. Sprinkled with ATMs in-between. There is a lack of crafts-peoples workshops, you can only sense the past by realizing that a multitude of basket stores or silk stores are on a street, that in the past, that’s where those craftspeople had their workshops / studios. That’s what I loved about Napoli. People live in the old town; all their daily needs can be fulfilled there, craftspeople do work there!

Churchbells that we can hear at our 7th floor apartment right next to the Central Market

Silk Museum and a Spanish Haircut

October 7, 2022October 9, 2022 edithtedLeave a comment

Heaven is a feeling that is wonderful, soothing, gentle and satisfying. It makes you happy! And today, after coming back to Valencia yesterday and teaching the whole evening and sleeping in, we went to heaven: the Silk Museum in Valencia! 🥰 It is a fabulous display of silk production and the history of silk in the Valencia region. They have gorgeous samples of lace, brocade and whole garments in the traditional Valencia style. Heaven!

Silk cocoons are cooked, then spun, dyed,

It was really difficult to select those images out of a hundred photos I took today! We even took a break, because I was afraid of overstimulation-explosion (if that exists?!?). So we went to eat at a nice non-tourist restaurant right across from the museum…

…and we both got a haircut. A Spanish haircut. So far, we got a haircut in Germany, in Italy and in Spain!

After lunch and the haircut we went back to the museum to see the rest of the exhibition!

Atlas Obscura tours: Napoli vs Valencia

October 7, 2022October 9, 2022 edithtedLeave a comment

A month ago we took our first tour with Atlas Obscura, a website for the curious mind (www. atlasobscura.com) that we followed for quite a while now. They offer trips, experiences, courses, etc. And when we started planning our 8-month long trip, the food tour in Napoli was a must! It is organized by Culinary Backstreets and was called “Culinary Naples”; shortly followed by “Small Wonders and Good Eats along Spains Orange Blossom Coast”. Both tours were fabulous with art, nature, culture, history and food. Lots of food! Chiara was our main tour guide in Napoli, Alba in Valencia. Both were fabulous, very knowledgeable, caring and both spoiled us with anything we wanted. I can highly recommend both of those tours, the edgy, rough, extreme Napoli and the delicious, smooth Valencia! Napoli Chiara just send me a YouTube video about culinary backstreets in Napoli:

Flamenco

October 6, 2022October 9, 2022 edithted1 Comment

I love Flamenco! Always did, always will!!! When I was 19, I moved to Munich and one of the first “cultural” splurges I did was buying tickets for a flamenco performance. One guy, no music, just him and his rhythm, his movements, no distraction. Ever since, I love flamenco, either with or without music, female and/or male dancers, with or without singers!

And yesterday we were surprised with Flamenco at its finest: a female dancer, a singer and a guitar player! Wonderful and so personal, I was touched by her scarf – that close I sat…

Her footwork was so incredibly fast, precise and perfectly in rhythm with the hand clapping of the singer and the guitar music. Mesmerizing! I was immediately thrown back to Munich, when I “invested” my first paycheck in a flamenco performance! 💃🏻

Real Paella, orange orchard, sailboat

October 6, 2022October 9, 2022 edithtedLeave a comment

A “real” paella is made with pork ribs, duck, rabbit, chicken and rice. No seafood, no fish! Ted’s heaven. This real paella is cooked on Thursdays or Sundays over an open fire made with wood of orange trees. The rice gets cooked with Safran until it sticks to the pan and gets crunchy (best part!). The whole family or group is attending, drinking beer, wine, whatever. Lots of talking, laughing. Kind of like an American Thanksgiving dinner! Once you sit down to eat, you eat for several hours, just like an American Thanksgiving dinner. BUT: they do that every Thursday and Sunday, their days off work! Imagine!!!

Alba’s dad Paco loves to cook paella – and he definitely knows what he’s doing!

This paella was cooked for us at Rosa’s house in the middle of her orange orchard. Rosa is an artist and her house is proof of her creative minimalistic taste! Best thing: her studio, that she rents out on Airbnb!!! I will come back

After a delightful day at Rosas orchard we headed out to the Ebro delta to go on a sailboat tour. Which was supercool, because we actually “sailed”. Using the wind as a form of transportation is the oldest form of alternative energy I can think of and it is magic!

The “butterfly” is 12 meters long and can sleep 6 people!

A few bites to eat and a gorgeous sunset rounded off this 3-hour long trip. Sailing is fun! another hour on the bus and we were back at our hotel in Benicàssim

Valencia – Shutters

October 4, 2022October 9, 2022 edithted3 Comments

Every day around noon people start their siesta. That means stores will be closed for a few hours. And that means the shutters will be pulled down. And that means beautiful artwork – streetart – comes to life!

Templar Castle, Hermitage, Quicksand and we almost lost Ted 😬

October 4, 2022October 9, 2022 edithtedLeave a comment

First the good news: we visited a castle in Peñiscola, a seaside town where – way back when – the Templar knights build a castle…

Another hermitage we visited on our way was Sant Llucia, high up in the mountains with an incredible view!

And now the bad news: we almost lost Ted today, but I better tell the whole story: We went to a beach today that has an unusual secret. More than 80km inland there are rivers that disappear underground and they reappear all over that beach we visited. It looks like the surface when you cook chocolate pudding. Bubbles everywhere!

Ok, maybe more like vanilla pudding? Anyway, when my dear husband Ted tried to walk into those bubbly areas, he immediately sank in, quickly! Up to his thighs and – because everything is so soft and unstable – it is difficult to get out! I immediately jumped into action – seeing him disappear – and screamed: “Ted, quickly, give me your wallet!” And he did! And everything turned out good: He handed me his wallet, his passport and his phone 🤩

Ted survived. Nobody was harmed.

Don’t try this at home!

Paella that is not a paella 🤪

October 4, 2022October 9, 2022 edithtedLeave a comment

Paella is a very traditional Spanish delicacy that is cooked in a shallow pan, either over an open fire or – if you don’t want to burn your house down – on the stovetop. The main ingredients are rice, seafood, fish and meat. And today we were treated to a paella that turned out not to be a paella, but a cousin of a paella. Her name is Fideua! And the main ingredients of a Fideua are pasta, seafood, fish and meat.