We made our rounds saying goodbye this morning, and by 10:30 we were on our way heading south to Valencia. The weather was sunny, which gave us a good day to travel. Our choice today was to keep off the autostrase and stay close to the coast. This wasn’t going to be a long day on the road, so we just kind of took our time. If I got over 90km, it was because a truck was coming down on us and making me feel like he just may run us over. We did see a very bad truck accident, and I hope there wasn’t a car under him as he went over the hill. We had heard so bad things about this road, but for our ride today it was the right one. We got into Valencia about 1, and headed out to find the campground that we had thought we would like to stay at. It wasn’t hard to find, but when we pulled into it, we came to the realization that it was a long way from nowhere and then, when I ask about the charges, I couldn’t get back out on the road fast enough. We had just spent 10 days camping, and it cost us $8.90 a night…this one wanted $27.80 per night, and all the services were closed. Besides, it was about 3 miles from ANYTHING… We did find another campground with out any trouble, but it wasn’t what I wanted to pay either. We ended up paying $23.00, which still is highway robbery for the services and the time of year. Overall, Spain has been consistently more expensive to camp. We’ll keep looking for the best deals, and hope we can find them. The campground restaurant here is also closed, so we walked the ½ mile into the little village for lunch. The only businesses open, were 2 of the restaurants. They both had lots of people in them, so we opted for the first one. When we were seated, the waiter gave us menus and then walked away. He wasn’t gone but a minute and he came back asking “would you like “English” menus? Me? “No Gracias, no necesidad”…I said with a smile. With a smile he walked away. It wasn’t 2 minutes, and I tried discreetly to ask another waiter to translate a certain meal option for me. He said he would get me an “English menu” and walked away…well I was trying to crawl under the table when the original waiter came by with this huge grin on his face, saying “did you order this “English Menu ?” I thought I was being so smart. As it was, we both ordered the item that I couldn’t translate, and the “fish” plate was great. Now I want you to know it wasn’t “pescado”, it was something else !!!
The area we are in now is south of Valencia about 15 km, and is called El Saler. It’s about a 20 minute bus ride into Valencia. We will be on this bus first thing in the morning to explore… Valencia