La Mestalla

When we returned from Xátiva, one of our group leaders informed us that the Valencia professional soccer team had a game that afternoon. I naturally seized the opportunity to do so and a few friends and I decided to go to the game. The name of the stadium and/or the neighborhood it is in is called Mestalla, and the team mascot is possibly Las Murciélagos, which means the Bats. A bat is sort of the symbol of the city and there are bat wings everywhere all over the city.

This is the east side of the stadium, if I remember correctly. 

Crowds of people walking to the game.

We didn't actually know where to buy a ticket or how much they cost, so we wandered around looking lost for a while. Eventually we found the booth and bought them for 10 euros each, as this was the cheapest price we could find. Valencia played Almeria, a city to the very southern end of Spain. 

Warm ups. 

The scoreboard.

Game time.

Valencia scored in the 11th minute and man does that stadium get loud. Everyone starts whistling and screaming and the acoustics of the stadium are such that it sounds like you are being swarmed by bats. Coincidence? Hmmm.

Me, Brittany, Nicole, Chris, and Jenna up in the nosebleeds with some raucous fans. Photo cred to Jenna. 

Valencia ended up winning 3-2, which put the cherry on the top of a great day. And I couldn't resist buying myself a cheap Valencia scarf. 

More Xátiva

The castle at the top of the hill in Xátiva was quite interesting. In order to get to it, we had to walk up the side of the steep hill on a path that seemed to be older than the castle itself.

The path pretty much disappears into the side of the hill.

Steeper than we expected.

There were some great views going up.

Still pretty steep, though.

After about 10 minutes of hiking and stepping along uneven rocks, we reached the top. Apparently there was a road leading up to the top the whole time and it is even possible to take a trolley up there, but I guess we decided to take the more authentic approach. We walked through a sweet stone gate. 

Through the gate there was a museum and even a restaurant with a beautiful patio on which we sat and checked out the view.

More view and castle walls. 

They even had gardens.

This is the view from the side of the castle that doesn't face Xátiva.

My Valencia neighbors eating at the top.

I'm not exactly sure what this says. Something about housing prisoners in the 13th century and surviving an earthquake in 1718.

Entry to prison cell.

View of the city.

The world traveler.

We walked into the cathedral in the bottom right of the picture where the bell tower is. That's the one with statues of gold. 

You can never have too much view. 

I really like these type of roofs. I'll have to find out what they are called. 

The city. 

Here's that restaurant patio I was talking about. 

It was a great trip and a good opportunity to see some Spanish history. I'm glad we got to go and see some truly old buildings and artifacts, plus it was the perfect day for a mini hike. More good times to come!

Don Felipe V

When King Felipe el Quinto (Phillip V) assumed the Spanish throne in the 1700s, not everyone was on board with the idea. Felipe was a French Bourbon, and his grandfather was Louis XIV. As Xátiva was a town of Popes and cathedrals, the residents felt more inclined to take orders from the Vatican, and basically ignored this new Frenchman claiming to be their king. I don't need to get into how Felipe had the claim to the throne, but it helped start the War of Spanish Succession. During the war, Felipe had a victory nearby and ordered Xátiva to be burned. As you can imagine, the residents were a little sour about that. To this day, any portrait or painting of King Felipe is hung upside down as a bit of a humorous jab.

In the top left corner it says Don Felipe Quinto, Rey de España

This next picture is a model of what the city looks like. I took a panoramic shot of it (in Spanish they don't say take photo, they say that one makes a photo) and I don't really know how blog friendly it will be. But you can see the city at the base of the hill and what appears to a castle type fort at the top, which was the best part of the trip. 

Stay tuned. 

Xátiva

About 45 minutes south of the city of Valencia lies Xátiva (sort of a sha-tee-bva sound) This town has been around since before the 12th century and looks like it is straight out of a movie. We piled onto a bus at 10:30 and drove down there to be met by a tour  guide, where we were shown around the historic streets. 

The picture above is the oldest public water fountain in Spain. People would bring their animals to it and let them drink, and I suppose it started a trend. The older buildings in the town are made mostly out of this stone brick and the streets are all smooth and cobblestoned. They feel worn down under you shoes, which is what hundreds of years of walking can do to a rock. 

The buildings and streets are all smushed close together like someone built them all before realizing he didn't have enough space. I came a couple inches from being grazed by a van because the sidewalks are basically nonexistent. 

Xátiva is also famous because it is the the birthplace of two popes, Callixtus III and Alexander VI. So naturally there are large churches and bell towers. Inside the big cathedral of the city are huge paintings and statues of religious icons. In this next picture, our tour guide told us that everything colored gold in this part of the cathedral is made out of real gold. 

This kind of mural is a common sighting on the walls. 

We did a lot more in Xátiva, so be sure to stick around for part II. I took a lot of photos on this trip, so the ones that don't make it into these blog posts will probably end up in a Facebook album. 

-_-

Didn't take me long to step in dog poo.

In the City

3000 miles and many long hours later, I have arrived in Valencia. The trip wasn't too bad, although Madrid was pretty cold. I flew from JFK to Madrid to Valencia, went through customs twice, and got a sweet visa stamp on my entrance into Spain. Though it took a while, I was comforted when my first view of Valencia was palm trees, sunshine, and 67 degrees.

I'm actually on my second day here, but most of the first day was spent in a post-travel comatose state. I live with a 60 year old host mother named Julia and her son, Adrian, who is 23. The apartment I have is on Carrer Guillem de Castro, and has a very nice view of the city. If you click on the link, you may notice that there appears to be a castle across the street. In reality, it's half a castle and is called Las Torres de Quart. My host mother has informed me that it was used to defend the city against invaders many centuries ago. 

I snapped that photo from standing on the balcony. I really like the view we have. The dining room has a wall of windows that look over the street and out over some rooftops. I haven't walked up to the top of Las Torres yet, but I plan to. I've pretty much been tired since I got here, but hopefully the jet lag will go away in a few days. Other than that, it's been a great start to the semester. 

Arrival

Well I guess I should get started on this blog.