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two friends, forty takes, one adventure across continents
March 7th by may
Dear Adri,
So. Coming back to London from Valencia was a complete bummer.
It’s just a two-hour flight away, but it feels like crossing worlds. It’s leaping from 19C weather back into a proper British winter. Trading long lunches for a cardboardy prawn mayo sandwich from Pret. Switching from long afternoons on the Malvarossa beach to a crammed carriage on the Circle Line.
Valencia lives and breathes like a typical coastal city: unhurried, calm, and accommodating. Neither business district nor summer resort cliche, it moves at a pace equally dictated by obligation and leisure. People emerge in the mornings for work as they should, but the streets empty out by noon during siesta. Dinner is always late – restaurants are bare at 8pm but fill up closer to 10.
It reminded me a lot of Italy when I used to live there. People took their personal time very seriously. Siesta, or the Italian pausa was sacred — you didn’t set up appointments at noon. You wouldn’t try to nip over to the post office to run errands on your lunch break.
I spent my first few days as a clueless foreigner wondering why the shutters were mysteriously drawn on all the shops along my street at 1pm. I couldn’t guess where everyone disappeared to for two hours in the middle of the day! When my flatmate explained the centrality of pausa – a break, a necessary interlude – in the day’s proceedings, I began to see how it represented a larger commitment to moderation. People were purposeful without being stressed, they ate well but not excessively. Daily life was a routine that could be appreciated.
Valencia has that same familiar hum in its streets. It urges you to stroll instead of stride. It makes you wait patiently for your lunch when you’re at a restaurant, because you can’t rush freshly-made paella. It reminds you to slow the hell down.
And while I adore London and all its imperfections, I can’t wait for my next trip to the Mediterranean coast.
Valencia, Spain
Music
Vetiver – Las pajaros del Rio
Posted in europe, food, life, spain, valencia, video.