VALENCIA, SPAIN

last week my friend aimee (who happens to be from utah) asked if cedar & i would want to go with her & her two kids, evie & wells, on a little trip. her husband had a job interview in the states & was going to be gone most of the week & austin had finals going on & was constantly at school studying so it sounded was perfect timing for everyone. we settled on going to valencia, a beach town that's an hour & forty five minutes away by train. aimee found us a really great apartment that was a short walk to the beach & the boardwalk. valencia has so much to offer, amazing museums, animal parks, awesome architecture & it is over all just a really cool looking city, but i'd be lying if i told you we did any of that. we parked ourselves at the beach on day one & didn't change gears the rest of the trip, which was pretty great.

the little babes looooooooved the beach. the more i go to the beach with cedar the more i'm convinced that it's the perfect place for kids to be, which you'd think i would've already known since i grew up going to the beach, but it's a lot different going with your own kids. it was cute watching cedar & evie play with eachother, they have so much fun & are such good little playmates & cedar adores her, which is so sweet to watch. they ran around the entire beach after each other, built sand castles, chased after the beach ball, they wore themselves out on the daily.

valencia is in catalonia, which is an autonomous community within spain that is made up of 4 different areas, one being barcelona. even though it's in spain going somewhere that is in catalonia has a pretty different feel from traditional spain & i felt that pretty strongly in valencia. besides the slight language differences (spelling & some pronunciation is different) the entire vibe is different & seems to be more laid back. at least that's what i've gathered from going to valencia & barcelona.. haha.i'm instantly drawn into most places that have a beach but i really fell more in love with valencia on our last evening there. we took it easy & just walked around our little neighborhood taking it all in & it was all so cute, the walls are so many different, bright colors, strings of laundry across the alley ways, kids playing & small local cafes on all the corners. it reminded me so much of south america & nothing like the traditonal spanish of madrid, it seemed a little more lively & laid back & i loved it. valencia is known for being the birthplace of paella & orxata (horchata) so we obviously had to try both & neither disappointed, especially the orxata. aimee, the kids & i probably drank a gallon or two of the orxata in our three day stay & then we brought some home to share with our husbands because it was that good. it tastes pretty different from the horchata in mexico which is a rice/milk drink. the valencian orxata is made from tigers nut milk (i'd never before heard of tigers nut, ever) & sugar. it tastes nutty but in such a good way. i'm drooling just thinking about it right now.
we were all bummed when it was time to leave, which is always a sign of a good trip, but cedar & i were both ready to see austin again. plus, we'll have to go back so he can check it out too, so it really just works in my favor :)

1 comment

  1. aww this looks so fun!! aimee's kids/their names are adooorable!

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