12 January 2025

Monday was Epiphany, the Feast of the Three Kings. That meant almost everything was closed for the day. There were no classes. And after all the activities of the last few weeks, my friend Mike from Denver and I planned a quiet day. The only thing on our agenda was a local “experience” learning about the discovery of King Tut’s tomb. This experience included two virtual reality demonstrations. The first was an imagining of what an ancient Egyptian believed they would experience immediately after death, and going towards their judgment. The feeling of flying, floating and being small in a very big place was tangible. The other virtual reality demonstration included walking with Howard Carter as he first walked into the tomb and found the piles of gold and artifacts. Again, it provided a very real sense of being there.

Tuesday, Mike left. I returned to school. That afternoon, I helped my friend Travis move his bicycles to his storage unit before he returned to the US for a few months. It was my first time riding a bike in Valencia. It’s a very walkable city and it’s a very “bikeable” city. It was fun having another “new” experience.

Wednesday evening, after my session with Dima, my Ukranian English student, Travis came to spend the night before he caught his plane on Thursday.

Thursday night, Vicente and I went to see the new Daniel Craig movie, “Queer.” It’s very well acted. It has a great musical score. But I wouldn’t say I really liked the film. It was dark, slow and sad. But it’s getting some really good reviews.

On Friday after school Vicente and I left for the weekend in Bocairent. This little town in the mountains dates back to the 9th Century when the Moors founded it. The Christians came in the 1300’s. After all these centuries, Muslims and Christians still live together peacefully in this quiet little town.

Here are some of my favorite photos from this weekend.

On Friday, we checked into our hotel, a former train station.

We walked through the town and got a sense of things before enjoying a delicious meal near the town center.

On Saturday, we took a hike (about 6 miles) to the spring that starts the local river.

Bocairent is famous for its blanket production. That afternoon, we toured this studio where blankets are still made by hand by a second generation craftsman.

I tried on a one-of-a-kind coat that would cost 700€ to buy. (I didn’t.)

Then the owner draped this blanket/ wrap over my shoulders.

Notice that these 100% wool blankets are one piece, with a distinct pattern on each side.

From there (because we hadn’t hiked enough), we started up the hill to the Hermitage.

Between the long hike, the trek up to the Hermitage and walking around the city, we logged nearly 22,000 steps. I was tired but happy.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner and I slept like a log!

In Sunday, we had a a coffee and then ventured off to see the caves of the Moors. When the Moors settled the region, they stored grain in a network of caves around the city.

Then, we went to see the church, where I was just in time to get a tour of the bell tower.

Vicente stayed in the ground with Cooper.

Afterwards, we stopped for something to eat and began our way home to Valencia.

It was a fun, exciting weekend.

Monday, choir rehearsals will resume and life will be fully back to normal after the holidays.

I hope your week is filled with joy.