4-27 Albufera - Sueca - Xativa - Requena

We left Valencia today (after one last horchata drink with farton pastry - yum) and headed south to Albufera lake. We stopped by Albufera Lake and then by the ocean on the other side. As we were leaving Valencia a dense fog passed over the city covering everything in gray but as we drove around the lake the blue sky reopened and the view was glorious.



Next we passed into Sueca which appeared to be a sleepy dusty town with one and only one beautiful building in town. There we bought supplies for lunch and had a wonderful picnic by the orange groves where we dined in the wafting scent of the orange blossoms. We have been really lucky in terms of our timing in the Valencia region. We are here at the perfect time for wonderfully scented orange blossoms to greet our every walk and drive. We also picked some orange blossoms and have placed them in the car in little cups of water - now every drive is freshly perfumed, naturally!

Our next destination was the castle of Xativa. It is an immense castle that served as a major post before 1707. The views from the castle were spectacular!!

And finally, we concluded our day in Requena - a little city with a medieval center. We are staying in a hotel in the heart of the medieval center which consists of narrow winding streets within medieval city walls perched on a hill. The medieval part of the city seems to be in repair but the rest of the city is bustling.

We had dinner at our hotel and had the tasting menu which apparently meant all the specialties of the house and was enough to feed an army. I think we may have gotten through 1/4 of the food. Most of it was pretty good. Especially the fried pig tails I especially ordered.

Back to Barcelona tomorrow.