This week we were pleased to welcome some new guests who were visiting Valencia province from their home near Montreal in Canada. Marco and Claudia and their 12 year old son Michael arrived on Tuesday, and stayed with us for 3 nights, and they wanted to spend most of their time acquainting themselves with Valencia City. They did not want to stay in the city itself, however, but preferred to find accommodation in a rural setting which still gave them convenient access (preferably by public transport) to Valencia. It therefore seemed the perfect answer for them to stay with us, drive the short distance to the train station, and travel into the city with no parking or navigation worries.
However, when they arrived on Tuesday in the late afternoon, they settled in to their rooms and soon made good use of the swimming pool, as they had had a long drive from Barcelona and wanted to relax in the beautiful sunshine for what was left of the day. They were having a touring holiday in Spain, but concentrating on the Costa Blanca, and also the Costa Brava further north, having originally picked up their rental car in the south of France – so a relaxing couple of hours in our pool were very welcome! That evening they made use of our evening meal service before having a reasonably early night – still slightly adjusting themselves from Canadian to European time.
The next day was slightly overcast – but perfect for their plans, which was a trip to Valencia City, spending time in the historic centre, as well as taking a trip on the touristic bus to get an overall impression of the town. They spent the whole day enjoying the sights of Valencia, and were surprised just what a beautiful, clean and elegant city it is. They only returned to us in the late evening, but found the train service to and from Valencia both reliable and inexpensive to use – and far better than trying to drive and park in a strange city.
Thursday was also to be a day spent visiting Valencia, but this time the emphasis was to be on the City of Arts & Sciences (Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias), as well as seeing some of the Formula One route that is used for the European Grand Prix. Their son Michael is a big fan of Formula One racing, so this was part of the agenda not to be missed! Most of their time at the City of Arts & Sciences was spent at the Science Museum section, although they also enjoyed looking at the entire complex from the outside in order to appreciate its striking and iconic architecture. Once again, they were enjoying their time in Valencia so much that they only came back in the late evening – just in time to enjoy a drink, tell us about their day, and go on-line to find accommodation for their following night’s stay, as – sadly – they were due to leave us the next day, on the Friday morning.
It had been a real pleasure to welcome our visitors from Canada to our part of the Costa Blanca, and we were glad that they had enjoyed their stay with us as much as they did. If ever they come back to our part of the country, they said they would most certainly visit us again. Since they are of Italian descent and come to Europe frequently to visit family in Italy and see other parts of the region at the same time, it is possible that we will see them with us at some point in the future – it would be a great pleasure to welcome them back.
