Valencia

A day and a half in Valencia after being in L'Alfas del Pi for 4 days, see the city and have some nice food and wine. Just one thing, it is pissing rain:(

Got into the city around 6 ish in the evening to be told our hotel had to give us a room in another hotel as they had overbooked. Well that can happen and when they bump you up from 3 star to 4 star and it is just 5 minutes walk away I don't mind at all. So we stayed in Reina Victoria which is a part of a hotel chain called Husa Hotels ( so was the original hotel we had booked). This chain is again a part of World Hotels which means I get Eurobonus points on our stay, wiiiiiii.

As we arrived a little bit late at our new hotel we just decided to go out for some dinner. Wasn't much else to do because by the time we had parked out car, changed clothes and was back out it was 9 pm. 

So we walked around in the city center and we saw loads of restaurants and there was no problem to get a table. The only problem is, when you haven't researched in advance, that you have no clue of what is good and what is not so good. However, we just found a place and it turned out to be good and cheap. 

The restaurant was called Nederland 1814 and they had all kinds of dished on their menue. Price range from 10,5 euros to 45 euro. We actually went with the chef's choise and that was very good and only 10,5 euro included dessert and coffe. Can't complain about that.

One thing I just have to say about this place is that the ladies restroom was so funny, it had a shower! Who takes a shower when they are at a restaurant?

After dinner we went to a cocktail bar next to Plaza del Ayuntamiento called La Casa Blanco. If ever in Valencia go there for cocktails. 

Funniest glass I have ever seen, I want one of those!

The day after we had big plans to see the city, but mother nature had other plans. It was raining so much that it just wasn't nice at all. We couldn't lock ourselfs in the hotel room so first purchase of the day was an umbrella. Now we could walk around a little bit and see some of the historical sites. Valencia is defo a city for those who are interested in old buildings and cultural things. 

We had forgotten to ask at the reseption at our hotel for a city map so we ended up walking around in a circle. Saw some nice historical buildings and found a cute little cafe in an ally where we paid 3,5 euro for a glass of wine and a beer. Now this is really a number 1 rule, always go to the ally cafe/bars, it is so much cheaper than in the middle of the tourist puddle. But we needed to go and see the Cathedral.

After walking around in s circle we found ourselfs back at the hotel so we did what any normal person would do, asked for a city map. We found the Cathedral right away, we lived very close to it and we had passed it earlier, even took a picture!

Well as we say in Norwegian, it's not only only, but but.

It is a very nice Cathedral but I had imagined it to look different, don't know why because it was really beautiful, especially on the inside. 

You can pay about 5 euros and walk all the way inside the Cathedral, but we were happy just seeing the freebee part of it. Guess it is for those who are really interested to see the whole thing inside. We did walk around it outside through. 

Later that evening we were due for dinner. I have started using Tripadvisor as a guide for good restaurants, and we ended up in a really good place. It was just amazing. Ranked as number one was Appetitte, and that was suppose to be so good, but further down on the list you have La Cantina de Appetitte. Ranked as number 8, and the reviews from people were great. That was where we went. 

 I sent an email to the restaurant the night before and got an answer back within an hour or so. We had reservations for 20.00 and that made us the two first people in the restaurant. This turned out to be a fantastic experience. The food was so good, and the service was great and all of this for an extremely good price. This I can go back to;)

We decided to go for the banquette, that was for minimum 2 persons and then you got 3 tapas dished, 1 entrada, 1 plato and 1 dessert. All made for 2 people. 

The first dish we had was roasted duck in an own special, home made bun.

The next tapas dish was thai fishcakes.

The third and final tapas dish was a type of prawn wrapped in noodles and wasabi.

The three tapas dishes was so good and well presented and of course I was getting stuffed already. But we still had more food to come and it was time to start on the main courses. The first was chilli and basil rockfish, served in a bowl for us to share. Although rockfish is not my favorite, this was really good and I am so glad that I picked that from the menu. As we got to pick two entradas we chose one each. I was actually so stuffed after the tapas that I forgot to take a picture of the food when it was served, but this is what it looked like after we finished it;)

The next main dish was one of Liam favorite dishes, Nasi Goreng. It is a traditionally Indonesian dish that is made of rice with different vegetables and an egg on top. I'm not too fond of rice so I just had a little bit. By this stage I was so full that it didn't matter at all. 

Again I am so stuffed that I am glad I have a second stomach for dessert ;)

Yes that's right, I did manage to fit in some of the delicious waffel with banana and chocolate. 

It was the perfect finish for a perfect dinner. I can't begin to tell you how great the food was and the service was just as great. I would just love to go back there again if I ever come back to Valencia, one of the best restaurants I have been to this year.

Being very full and satisfied we had a night cap and watched a Barcelona vs. Atletico at a pub near our hotel, then after that it was straight to bed and get some sleep before we head towards Barcelona the next day.