11 August 2025

I went to a different beach on Thursday. From the bus stop, I had to walk through a national park to get to the beach. l’Albufera is one of Valencia’s treasures. It was a hot, humid day. And I passed this interesting plant and I had to share it with you. The copper/ metallic seed clusters were different from anything I had seen before.

Friday night, I joined Vicente and Cooper for a picnic in the Turia park. Afterwards, we enjoyed, La Casa, a film set in the Valencia countryside. This is part of a summer series of films shown in the park through the month of August.

On Saturday, we went shopping and Vicente bought snails. So, we made caracoles (Spanish for “snails.). We also made fresh gazpacho.

That evening, a couchsurfer arrived from Colombia. Estaim is 27 and a journalist for a state run news website.

On Sunday, we did a lot! We started with a cup of coffee from a Colombian style coffee shop. He told me the coffee was personally grown by Juan Valdez. And he introduced me to a new pastry: milhoja.

Then we started our tour: the Lonja de Seda, the cathedral, we climbed the 207 steps to the top of the Cathedral bell tower, and we walked to the top of the Torres de Quart, one of only two remaining city gates to the old walled city of Valencia.

And we found our way to the Botanic Gardens. Despite the heat and sun, there were still plenty of flowersj blooming.

Afterwards, we stopped for pizza. Then came home, took a short siesta and left for the beach. After so much walking, climbing and sightseeing, we were both exhausted and only stayed an hour or so before we came home and went to bed early.

That night, a bright light shone through my window. I had to take a pic of the full August moon.

Estaim left this morning, when I left for school.

Tonight (Monday), I’ll take a bus to a small town in the south of Spain. My friend Medi (from Paris) has rented an apartment and invited me to join him for a couple days at the beach. Unfortunately, Vicente is working and not able to join us. There’s so much of Spain that I have yet to see.

I hope life continues to bring you joyful surprises. Stay cool. 😎