Show and Tell and Tell and Tell

We did a lot today. Carlos picked me up at 11:00, and we went to see the Central Market, a large market where you can buy everything from meat and fruits and vegetables, to things like belts and wallets.  It is a beautiful old building with lots of colorful tilework. We thought we would get to see some eels like we ate on Saturday, but the fish section is closed on Monday because the fishermen don't fish on Sunday.  Oh well.

Central Market

 Once outside, we stopped to have a glass of horchata and some fartons.  Horchata is a cold drink that is made from some sort of nut (a tiger nut, but I don't know what that is) and sugar.  It is similar to almond milk, but sweetened.  Fartons are long tubes of pastry, flaky like a croissant inside, with a light sugar glaze.  You can eat the farton and drink the horchata, or dip it in.  Horchata is principally made in a small city near Valencia.

Next, we visited the Silk Exchange building across the street.  It was a center of commerce in the 1400s and has been very carefully restored.  They showed a film about the building and the restoration, and it surprised me when part of the soundtrack was "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing".  The next song was also Christmas-related, and when I remarked on this to Carlos, he said, "Well, it's religious music," but didn't seem to be bothered by it.  It seemed odd to me.

We walked around part of the old town, then went back to the car to go have lunch at a restaurant on the ground floor of Carlos' English school  Then we had Show & Tell, with me as the show.  We sat in on part of a class that was taught by Carlos' teacher (not his actual group), and she asked me how to pronounce "pursue" and whether you say "regardless of age" or just "regardless age". I think everyone was suitably impressed that I knew the answer.

Then we headed for Malvarrosa Beach.  This a massive beach, long and wide, beside the shipping port, near where the cruise ships dock.  I wanted to wade in the water, so we trudged over probably a half-mile of deep sand to reach it.  The water temp was great, and I almost wished I could have gone in, but wading was enough.  It was especially enough when a rogue wave hit me and drenched me from the butt down.  I was unaware that in Spain, it is acceptable to sunbathe topless on a public beach, but we saw several people doing so. We walked along the entire beach, then up to the harbor that was developed for the America's Cup yacht race several years ago.  From there we could see a couple of cruise ships, and the shipping port.

This sand castle took one week to build, and is held together with only water.  I don't know how he keeps someone from smashing it at night or something  To the left, you can see his tray for tips.

Then we went back to Carlos' school to have a drink with Carmen, so she could say goodbye (she is a teacher at the school across the street).  She had to have dinner with their son, and would not be joining us later on.  We then headed back into town, to the Razufa area, to meet up with one of Carlos' classmates, Jacinto,who wanted to meet and speak with me.  The place they chose to meet was really interesting.  It is a cafe whose walls are lined with bookshelves.  You can come in, select a book, and read while you are eating or having a drink.  But on Monday nights, they have a language exchange.  People come and put a flag on their table indicating what languages they want to exchange (English and Spanish, Spanish and German, etc),  then others can join them to speak the same languages.  The place was packed, so we sat outside.  We were joined later by Vincent, an English teacher at Carmen's school.  He had a very British accent, which was surprising.  Later, a couple came up who wanted to borrow Jacinto's lighter, and they ended up talking to us, too.  The guy sounded completely British, but he has a Spanish father and a British mother, and he lives in Spain.  Very interesting evening.  We ended up having a sandwich there for dinner.

The Unik Cafe and Library.

Tomorrow, I am not sure what we have planned in the morning. My train leaves for Madrid at 3:10, and I should be back in Madrid by 5:00.  Then I need to get myself to my hostal near the airport. And I fly out Wednesday morning for Paris.