Valencia | Girl Trip on Bikes

How do five people with completely different plans make an easy decision what to do on a trip? Well, quite easy actually. It is my second time in Valencia so I know exactly what I want to see with my best (girl)friend and it is Stef’s second Moto GP race so the boys have planned their weekend as well. What follows is a great girls trip + great boys trip until afternoon and joint operation with sangria in the evening.

But let’s focus on the gir trip schedule. One of the best things out there is to travel with someone similar enough to you that you can quickly sort anything out and different enough so each of you gets an extra sprinkle of unexpected fun and entertainment.

I know there is no chance that Silvi would drag me into a boring shopping trip or ask me to slow down my pace: she’s a fellow travel trooper who likes endless walking and spontaneous decisions.

So we reach the plan for the day within something like 5 minutes: we’ll rent bikes, see the gorgeous architecture of the City of Arts and Sciences and cycle to the beach. Done.

Cyclo Bike Tours

Our lovely Air BnB is right next to the upper side of Turia so we are about a 15 minute walk from the City of Arts and Sciences and 5-10 minutes away from the Gulliver Park within Turia where I find a nice and cheap bike rental service called Cyclo Bikes. 

We took our time with breakfast and coffee so we decided that we’d like to have bikes for 6 hours not a whole day (we had other plans for after 5pm). So it costed us just 8 EUR per bike (basket and lock included in the price) and left with them one ID card instead of 60 EUR depost.

Note: This is one of the perks of having an adventure-seeking friend with double citizenship. She’s not one bit worried if one of her IDs could get lost 🙂

City of Arts and Sciences

Our first (and second, as well as 35th stop) was the City of Arts and Sciences. It actually takes us more than an hour to pass by the few hundred metres of the museum complex.

Silvi is asbolutely thrilled to see it for the first time and I realize that even though I have already been here, I am still amazed by the amazing view. I won’t go into detail here, because the place will get its own separate post but you can get an idea of what it looks like on the photos

The weather is simply amazing for the beginning of November: we left Sofia on a chilly afternoon and now: less than 12 hours later we are wearing summer dresses and tops and riding bicycles in the sun. La vita e bella. Or shall I say La vida es hermosa…

On our way to Saler

After a looonong and fun passage through the museum complex we just improvise. We know the general direction of the beach so there is no need for detailed route mapping. We just take the first bike alley in the general direction of the coast and we set off.

Bike riding is one of the most pleasant ways to explore a city especially in the fantastic weather conditions we we lucky enough to get.

Working in front of a monitor all day (and sometimes night) can be devastating for your back and I am more than happy to spend the day moving. I need physical activities and when I don’t have the chance to practice them for a while, my body rejoices the freedom of movement.

Bike=instant happiness. It lets you move, it makes you put some effort and meanwhile: you are enjoying both the fresh air and the atmosphere of the place around you. What more can you ask for?

The route to El Saler/ Albufera where we are headed is not short, but it is nothing special either: about 10 km across city streets and the outskirts of Valencia.

The last few kilometers are the prettiest because you get to see more and more water, boats, birds and of course: one of my favourite scents of salty sea water.

Valencia is full of palm trees and Silvi tells me she feels almot like in one of her favourite cities: Los Angeles. We laugh and talk about the things in life and we don’t even realize how quickly we’ve reached the beach.

Afternoon break

We decide that there is no better place to have a break than at the waterfront. Come to think of it: our mutual trips always involve bikes and walks aroung the coast. Last time it was in Italy, now in Spain. Guess we have in store a lot of Sea-Bike karma.

We choose the place for lunch at random but on hindsight I must say: the black sepia paella we had there was the best paella during the whole trip. It tasted almost home-made not like generic restaurant meals and it was dripping with sepia ink (not like the lame meals in the center of the city). Absolutely delicious!

Two jugs of sangria, 1 paella for two and 2 hours later: we still haven’t exhausted all the topics we want to cover: life, friendships, travel, plans for the future. Silvi is heading to a neuroscience workshop at UCLA and I am excited for her as if I am going. We wonder where we’ll be having lunch in 5 years…

The road back is chill and lovely. Some days are just so nice you don’t want them to end

Where to find Cyclo Bikes

Our Bike Route

Note: Before leaving for Valencia I was happy to find out that the stories and photos on this blog have caught the eye of the Bulgarian team of Panasonic Lumix- one of the camera brands which I have been using for years. They kindly offered me to test the new Lumix G80Lumix G80 and all the photos you will see in the current series on Valencia are made with this really pleasant to use, light and extra silent mirrorless camera + its 12-60mm 3.5 Lumix G Lens (equivalent to 35mm camera lenses)