35: Valencia: Sun, Paella & the City That Has It All

Valencia keeps topping global “best places to live” lists, but most people still only talk about Madrid and Barcelona. We wanted to change that with a grounded, travel-friendly Valencia guide that mixes practical tips with the kind of history that makes you look at a city differently the moment you arrive.

We get into the essentials first: how big Valencia really is, why it feels so liveable, how easy it is to walk the centre, and why parking can test your patience. We talk transport hacks like the multi-day tourist card, plus why Valencia Airport can be a cheaper way to land in Spain. Then we zoom out to the layers beneath the postcard views, from Roman Valentia to Moorish irrigation that still shapes the region today. The Tribunal de las Aguas, a centuries-old water court that meets outside the cathedral, might be the most “only in Valencia” detail we’ve ever found, and yes, we also go down the Holy Grail rabbit hole.

From there it’s all about what to do and what to eat. We share our take on the City of Arts and Sciences, Oceanogràfic Valencia as a conservation-focused attraction, and Bioparc Valencia as an immersive habitat-style zoo, with notes for families and anyone who cares about animal welfare. On the food side, we revisit paella Valencia, what the original recipe looks like, and the one rule that helps you blend in: don’t order paella for dinner. We also cover horchata de chufa, where to eat in Valencia, and seasonal highlights like Noche de San Juan and La Tomatina near Buñol. We finish with a slice of life on social media backlash, tourism tensions, and why we still believe hospitality is the soul of Spain.

If this helped you plan a Valencia weekend break, subscribe, share the episode with a travel-loving friend, and leave us a review so more listeners can find the show.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:06

This episode of the Maid in Spain podcast is powered by Goco Energy, clean natural energy for life at the speed of Go.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Welcome to Made in Spain. Laura, how are you today? Super well. I'm very excited to be here. All right. Uh, I'm Nalini Sharma and I'm Laura Senior Garcia. And we're your host for the Made in Spain podcast. Um, today we're covering one of our favorite cities. The next couple of episodes, actually, that we have coming out will be a little bit more travel focused and our experiences in these cities. So I'm kind of excited about that. Um, today we're gonna talk about Valencia, and we're calling this episode San Paella and the city that has it all. Nice. All right, but before we get going, um, Laura, do you want to tell people where they can find us, where they can interact with us, engage with us, our socials?

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Yes. So we have a growing social community. So if you are interested in seeing some of our behind the scenes and getting to know us a little better, uh, TikTok and Instagram, it's either Made in Spain Podcast or at the Maid in Spain Podcast in those platforms. And of course, for uh you that listen to us on the Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all the platforms uh for your podcasts, uh, just look for Made in Spain Podcast and hit that follow or subscribe button because we don't want you to miss any of the episodes that come out.

Show And Tell With Skincare

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Yeah, absolutely. All right, so we're gonna start today. And I thought this would be it's not an official title. It's our working title. The working title is uh what are you watching? What are you wearing? What are you interested in? What are you reading? What are you eating? So today, uh, this is what I'm going to feature, which is this um Istin photo protector. We'll get a close-up of that. Yeah. But I've been using this recently because I have sunspots, which that is really all my social media feeds feature, right? How to deal with melasma.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

And I talk about it quite frequently, but Nalini's algorithm has caught on to her.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

That is currently my algorithm. Um, and anybody who has my skin tone, it's something that we have to fight and deal with. But one of the things the dermatologist recommended is a, you know, sunscreen, but it has to be a tinted sunscreen. So this one's very lightweight, and I use it, I actually use it a couple of times a day. So I love that. And also, this has been my go-to in the last month. It's this uh lip glow butter by Dior. Again, you don't have to buy Dior. I just bought it because I thought it would be a nice little travel companion. It's almost finished. Um I may go back to it. I may not, I may not spend that money again because Mark Adonna has some pretty good lip oils right now.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Um, Nytx actually, NYX, they have uh a jelly, like a lip jelly that feels really good and it's not sticky. Because you know, the whole thing of like before it was the lip glosses where the moment you have like one hair stuck on your lip gloss, it's like like it's in your face. I have a question up about the Istin uh sunscreen or tinted sunscreen. Does it feel itchy on your eyes when you because that's my one thing is I actually want to put sunscreen on my face. I know because I'm very dermatology focused that is the right thing to do. Yeah, but if I do, somehow it always ends up like driving me crazy because my eyes burn like they're on fire.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Maybe don't put it in your eye.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

I I try to, but then when I put like any little bit of makeup or something, it just happens to make its way up there. So have you had that with that one?

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Oh, okay. No, I'm just teasing by the way. Okay. I know, but just like put it in your eye long enough. No, I know, but also, I mean, I've been wearing it. It hasn't been that hot where we are, and I haven't also been sweating. Yes. But I can I can't imagine that if when you especially even if you go to the beach and stuff like that and you put sunscreen and you're sweating, it gets in your eye, and you know, I get like a full-blown reaction from it. Yeah, you need to check the ingredients for me. No.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Okay. Yeah, for me, no. So Isdin. And I believe Isdin is a Spanish brand.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

It is, yeah, it's perfect, and it's not super expensive, it's a decent price.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

You feel it's like a pharmacy, right?

Reading For Better Sleep

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Yeah, so and also because not a lot of people here are this color, I always get this on sale. There you go. Nice. All right, so what are you, what's your show and tell?

SPEAKER_02 4:25

So my show and tell is I am reading, and I actually want to mention that I've always been a big reader, yeah, but lately I had gone into this loop of scrolling and a lot of social media consumption. But I was like, you know, I really want to get back to reading. I want to get back to reading before going to bed because I could sense that my my sleep is not as restful when I, you know, I'm scrolling before bed. So that's the moment that I thought I want to go back to reading something. And I don't even know how this came up. I went on Amazon and this came up as a recommendation. I've never been much of a philosophy book reading person, right? But anyway, so I uh picked up this the courage to be disliked, which I think is like a really cool book. And just to kind of uh read a little bit of the excerpt, is happiness something you choose for yourself? The courage to be disliked presents a simple and straightforward answer. It's using the theories of Alfred Adler. He was one of the originals that always sat with Freud and Carl Jung, but he had a very different perspective. Okay. Because these three men that would, you know, basically sit in Austria and were like the fathers of modern psychology, right? But it's based on what he kind of thought was uh the theory that really defined, you know, how we uh how we show up in the world. Okay. Main change from his theory to some of Freud's and Carl Jung's theory is that we all have the capability to change and you are not stuck in your past trauma. Whereas for Freud, everything was, you know, your parents did this or you did like you're stuck, or you have to work through that trauma of some kind. Okay. And the book is a it is from a Japanese writer, and it's basically a philosopher helping his student, you could say, or someone that is challenging his theory. So it's a dialogue, and I'm really enjoying it. It's it's just not my usual read. I did get a comment from my brother specifically that he's like, you don't need to read that. Like you don't care about what people think about you. I was like, no, maybe not, but it's always a good reminder, you know.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

It's also just good to read, period. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

Um, we all have the opportunity to be happy if we choose to be. That's of course. That's my space. Yeah.

Why Valencia Ranks So High

SPEAKER_00 6:43

All right. So that was a little show and tell. Let's get into our episode. We're doing Valencia. Now, Valencia is consistently ranked as one of the best cities in the world to live in. Actually, in 2024, Forbes ranked it as the number one city, and that was based on a number of criteria. So it was on affordability, it was um on you know accessibility, culture, lifestyle, quality of life, ease of settling in. And Valencia beat out all the other cities above, for example, Dubai for, you know, interesting. Yeah, as a sort of a competitor in that list. And they surveyed over almost 13,000 expats living in 53 cities across 35 countries. So Valencia came out on top of that. Now there's another side to it now where I know there's it's been in the news, and we'll talk about that later in the episode. Just that some of the cities are becoming quite crowded and overrun, and that is a problem for people who it's it's their town. They were born there, they've lived there their whole life, their families have been there for generations. So that's another topic. However, Valencia did come out as the number one city, and I would I mean, I haven't traveled the world, but I think it does deserve that recognition based on that type of criteria. Do you know how many people live in Valencia? No.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

If you had to guess, uh I would guess like several million, but I may be wrong.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Well, the actual city itself has uh approximately 850,000 people, which is big.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

It's big, but I thought it would be bigger.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Well, the outlying area, the so you know, if the extra radius. Yes, so the suburbs, as you would call it, that pushes the uh population to almost 1.4 million. Wow. So behind Madrid, Barcelona, it is the third largest, you know, city in Spain.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

But there's a big jump in terms of the difference. And you know, that's one thing that Barcelona, Madrid get a tremendous amount of attention. It's funny because as you know, with my work, I travel all the time, and when I say I'm from Spain, and the first thing people ask me every single time, oh, are you from Madrid or Barcelona? I know it's really yeah. All I get that question all the time. And it's like funny. Uh no, I'm not. There's uh there are other cities. Actually, I'm not even from a city. I don't live in a city, but it is that is where people's mind goes to, I think, when they think about Spain most of the time, is Madrid or Barcelona for the soccer teams for many different things. So Valencia is definitely very unique and it has been getting more attention, but I feel like it doesn't really beg for that attention. There's not like massive hype to it yet.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

I I don't think so, not from what we've sort of experienced living here, but I will say for us, we will go to Alicante for shopping or a lunch or you know, some whatever. It's just like going to the city. But when we have to go to Valencia, I feel like that's a big deal for us.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

Yeah, even though it's not that much further.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

It's not for where we live. If you get in the car, it's an hour and let's say 40 minutes, 45. It's under two, well under two hours if you don't hit any traffic. Yes. Um, but yet we kind of think, oh my gosh, I have to go to Valencia this weekend for something. It seems so far away. And then once you get there, it's a whole other vibe.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

Lots of gastronomy options, and we'll talk about that a bit later. Lots of cultural options. There is an airport you can fly into directly, the Valencia Airport. There's lots of direct flights, international direct flights from other cities in Europe. And I think it's quite interesting. It is usually cheaper to fly into Valencia than to fly into Barcelona or Madrid. So sometimes it's kind of good to also look at that as an option.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

Yeah. And they also have uh a good train system. Yes. Trains and trams, which where we live, we have almost zero public transportation.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

I believe they're actually putting a new uh bullet, it's bullet train connection or something. I think there's more connections happening from a train standpoint.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

And if you are visiting Valencia, you can get a tourist card for I think it's about three days that allows you to use any of the public transportation systems there for under 30 euros. That is fantastic because if you think of the price of Uber or a taxi, it's super affordable. And also, uh in my experience, I think Valencia is a very this the center of it is a very walkable city.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

It's a very walkable city, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

And there's also taxis, Ubers, and all that good stuff. So if you're looking for the coast without the big queues or you know, without the super like uh very tourist-heavy um uh amount of people, I would say Valencia is a great option. So just to locate ourselves, if you look at the map of Spain, ever since I was a kid, I always look at the map of Spain and then Portugal is like two faces. The one that faces the Costa Blanca, if you look at the tip of the nose that's okay there, uh that's where Valencia is. So if you look at the map of Spain, the tip of the nose, you could say, that's Valencia right there. So you're like right in the middle of the Mediterranean and beautiful beaches as well. And the beaches, again, are not as hyped up as some of the other beaches.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

No, it's a really pretty city. And um, honestly, I think in the next like couple of months, when because oddly enough, anytime I have gone to Valencia, the weather has never been cooperative. Oh, okay. It's either been sort of overcast or sunny but cold. And I thought, oh, you know, the last time we went, actually a few weeks ago, my son had a uh golf tournament. I I go to Valencia a lot for golf tournaments.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

You probably go way more than I do, with especially driving there.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

Driving a hundred percent. I know pretty much uh the main golf courses, and I also have an electric vehicle, so I know where all the EV chargers are. And Pignolini, if you want to know where the electric charging work, I have many apps, so I've learned that over the last couple of months. Um, but I will say that we went into the city, the proper city, I was looking for something in particular, and you forget that how pretty it is.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

I'm like, oh, this is so nice.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

And of course, we don't have time, you know, by the time parking is atrocious. Yeah, yeah. I will say that you need to pack your patience with the parking or park a little out and take public transit or an Uber or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

I was gonna say it's just better park your car somewhere and take the taxis. I wouldn't go from like spot to spot in the city. Oh my goodness, you know, because I think it's kind of uh you're stressing yourself out for no reason.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

No, but it was so we were walking and I thought city is so nice, it's so walkable, it's pretty, it's clean. There's so many interesting shops and restaurants and the Mercat. And of course, you know, oh, we have to go, we can't really enjoy it. So I thought, you know what? This really makes sense to come back here for a little weekend break and explore the city. Yeah. So I think for sure I'm gonna be doing that. Awesome. Okay, so you're gonna do the history.

Ancient Roots And Water Court

SPEAKER_02 14:00

Okay, so let's do a little bit of the history and the soul of Valencia. In doing the research for this episode, I found out some really interesting things that I never knew about, even though I've been there so many times. And some of them I actually went and fact-checked because I'm like, is this real? Like, you know, so Valencia was founded by the Romans in 138 BC. Okay. As Valencia or Valentia. So V-A-L-E-N-T-I-A. That's cool. Valentia. And it's cool because my daughter's called Valentina, and I was like, oh, you know, Valentina, Valentia, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Spain. Caddi, don't come for us, okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

I'm glad you read that line. Uh yeah, I saw that in our notes, and I thought I'm not saying that.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Inhabited cities, oh one of the oldest, not the oldest. Inhabited cities. Okay. The Moorish legacy left behind an extraordinary agriculture system. We really do have to thank the Moorish uh, let's say, uh invaders or whatever you want to call it, uh, for the irrigation system. And something, this is the one thing that I found very unique. The acequias are still in use today, which is the irrigation system, and it's managed by the Tribunal de las Aguas. Okay, what is that? That is the oldest functioning democratic court in Europe. Okay. It's this is like this is where I went and fact checked because I didn't want us to get like, you know, beaten up on social media. It's been settling water disputes between farmers since the 10th century.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

Wow. So what dispute would they have? Like which how much water or where it flows, I guess. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

So basically they meet every Thursday outside the cathedral, which by the way, I so want to go watch this. Me too. I need to go watch this. And it has never needed, or they never allowed in a single lawyer. So the farmers argue, the judges decide, and that's it, 10 minutes. And it they've been doing it that way for over a thousand years to settle water disputes. Do you think they go for a drink afterwards? Like a beer after they do it. Yeah, it's kind of it's just such an odd thing, you know, that they would have something in place like this where it literally is like, okay, session is open. You know, I almost like in my head visualize it like a medieval thing. That's why I want to go and see it.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

That's very cool.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Yeah, it's very cool. So then the other thing, and you have seen this building and may not have realized this is what this building is. Next to the Weston Hotel in Valencia, you know, there's this very beautiful kind of uh old-looking architectural building. That is La Lonja de la Seda, the Silk Exchange. And it's actually a UNESCO World Heritage. It was built in the 1400s when Valencia was one of the wealthiest trading cities in the Mediterranean.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

Yes, super cool. And that's the building next to the Weston, but it just doesn't kind of and then the other debatable but very interesting fact is that the cathedral apparently houses the Holy Grail.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

Okay, for the record, Laura said it, not me.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

So people take it seriously. I did some very seriously. Like the there's a traceable history of what Pope brought it to Spain, and they bring it out in the Jubilee year, and sometimes it appears for very so supposedly this holy grail is the chalice. Is that how you say it? Chal the chalice. Chalice, thank you, chalice that uh Jesus Christ used in the last dinner, the last supper.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Yeah. So supposedly it's in Valentia. Supposedly it's the real one. But again, supposedly, allegedly.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

You know, okay, but I don't know. The point to some of these, you know, when we what we cover on, you know, in these episodes is that we take the time to go to the places, do the research, ask the questions, and kind of just present what we find. Maybe some of it there's a gray area to it. However, I would hope that would spark somebody's interest to say, gee, I wonder if that's actually true. And even just the things that we discover. And I tell people here in conversation, have you ever heard of this or have you have you gone to this? Most people here haven't.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

No, because it's like, I mean, think about it. What the holy grail is in like the Valencia Cathedral? And I seen pictures of it. It's really pretty. I mean, it's an incredible work of art, but to me, it's like, how do they know for sure that is the chalice that Jesus Christ used in the lot. Anyway, so that was like a whole rabbit hole I went down. But I thought it was interesting.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

That's very interesting.

City Icons And Family Attractions

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Yeah. So why don't you tell us a little bit of architecture attractions? Again, if you're visualizing coming to Valencia for a few days, what are some of the things that people like you would say, hey, you have to go see this?

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Okay, well, the part of the city is, you know, the city of arts and sciences. It is the striking building, the oceanographic, and the science building. They the one that for the science side, they host a lot of events there and concerts. Um, and the oceanographic, that is a spectacular, uh, I would say it's just a marine conservation project.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

Very biodiversity oriented. So I'm gonna give a bit of a controversial view on this. Okay, and I hadn't told you I was gonna say this. Okay. Every time I drive into Valencia and I drive past the oceanographic, which the architecture is unbelievable. There's one building that is like a almost like a shell or something. Yes. Do you know what it reminds me of? No, what does it remind you of the lady parts? Like it really like it looks like a gigantic, like you know, uh, what do you call it? Hoo-ha, or whatever you want to call it.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

I don't like, is anybody else seeing this? Like it's a well, if nobody's seen it, Laura. Now when they look at it, they're not gonna unsee it.

SPEAKER_02 20:16

Uh it totally looks like it. Yes, anyway, but isn't so funny when I was preparing for this, I'm like, that is literally what comes to mind every time I see. I think it's supposed to be like a shell or something. But anyway, so I have actually been to the Oceanographic a bunch of times because traveling with kids, as you know, you know, and with Valentina, with my daughter being very much on the spectrum. It's like, okay, how do what where do I take her that will actually be enjoyable for her and not overwhelming? The way the Oceanographic is set up is very sensory, uh pleasing. Like you, there's a lot of space, they do it so that it's not too overcrowded. And you know, you don't get that feeling of when you walk into some of these places where they have animals where you feel sorry for the animals. Like it is very much focused on the biodiversity and education around biodiversity.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Yeah, you're not gonna find a show where animals are performing. It is about uh conservation, it's about education. Um, they really, I think, take great care of the animals. As far as I know, I don't, I haven't read anything in, you know, in the news that they're there are other water or marine parks, especially in North America, that there have been horror stories.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

So very much.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Uh I'm I'm never one to just because of how I grew up, you know, you would go to these things as a child. And somewhere in the back of your mind, you're thinking, I don't think this is right that this whale is performing a show for us, you know. And it feels kind of off. It feels but as a kid, you you know, your parents think, especially in those days, they think, you know, it's a family day out. And as an adult, I just feel like, oh, I don't really, I don't. Like it, but I've been to the oceanographic, and that is not the story. It is not, uh, it's far less commercial than a lot of you know parks of that nature you would find in Canada or America, for example.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

And it's fairly affordable. It is affordable. Based on, I mean, the construction that is there, and I'm sure they have some government funding. My absolute favorite room in there is the jellyfish room.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Oh, you like I like with the um the beluga whales.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

Oh, yeah, the beluga whales are so cool. I mean, they're so unique looking. But just to me, it's like the jellyfish room is dark, and all the jellyfish are like turning different colors, and I feel like I could just sit there and just you know, almost be in like a kind of a meditative sort of just looking at jellyfish for a long time, if you let me.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

They have 27,000 animals. Oh, 750 different species.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

That's very cool.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Yep. So I thought that was really good. And then keeping in that sort of theme, uh, Valencia also has the biopark. Yes. The biopark, which I have never been. Have you been to the biopark?

SPEAKER_02 23:07

I have been to the biopark. Okay. Uh, I would just say about the biopark that it is outside, right? Whereas the oceanographic, most of it is inside. It's got some outside parts. Yeah. And the biopark, my only kind of flag would be to avoid it in the height of the summer because it is very hot. Yeah. But outside of that, the way the animals again are they're not in cages. It's kind of like they set up these um spaces for them. Yeah. So you are seeing the animals as much as possible interact as they would in their habitat. The wild and their habitat.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

Now, the biopark, when you you say that when you know you see that word biopark. I don't think of zoo. Yeah. And I think they're trying to move away from that. But they describe it as an immersive zoo experience, an immersive experience. So that when you enter and you go to one of their, let's say the you know, the islands of Madagascar area, you should feel as if you are just an observer in that habitat, which I think is really interesting. So if anybody thinks, oh, they don't, you know, agree with it or don't support this idea of whether it's a zoo or a biopark, um, they uh participate in nearly a hundred international programs for the conservation of endangered species throughout the world.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Very impressive.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Very impressive. And the entry fee to the biopark is I think it's something like maybe twenty twenty something euros to get in. You're not going to break the bank. Uh, and if you are here for a few days and you want to visit a few times, or even if you live here and you've never gone, a yearly membership for an adult, which gives you, I think, unlimited times you can enter is 70 euro.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

Yeah, that's amazing. And by the way, for all of these different things, a little kind of travel hack is I would check Groupon. Groupon has a lot of times highly discounted tickets for the oceanographic, the biopark, and many of these, you know, so it is worth checking.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

I will tell you that they have um 6,000 animals of 150 African species in so in one of the the habitats, right? So they have that. They have um the savannah, they have the equatorial rainforest, wetlands, Madagascar, and they have the you know, the animals that you would think of, which is uh zebras, lions, they have the eastern bongo.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

Yeah, and they have gorillas, no?

SPEAKER_00 25:43

They have the uh westland, western lowland gorilla.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

Yeah, and those are on most of those are on the critically endangered list. So in captivity, these animals can live far longer lives and be studied, and uh you know, people can learn about it. I don't know. I think it's a pretty interesting offering in a city that maybe you didn't think about it.

SPEAKER_02 26:10

And it's very central. It's it's not far. No, it's actually very, very near the city.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

And Valencia is also a very green city. Yes, it's very green. That's the one thing that'll probably strike you if you've never been. It it's I don't want to say it's like a central park, but it's sort of like a central park if you were to areas, yeah. You know, like a New York City where you have the, you know, the bike park in the middle and it's really pretty, a lot of trees. It's a lot greener than what I would picture it.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

Yeah, I would agree to that. I think it's funny what we mentioned the biopark. My memory that comes back is all the monkeys because I don't really like monkeys. Like they freak me out a bit. I always kind of have this respect of monkeys because I think they're sometimes can be very mischievous, you know. And I'm like, I I I remember thinking to myself, I wouldn't not want to be stuck in here at night with all these monkeys, you know. Like because they are very mischievous little animals, you know. Okay, no.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

No to the monkeys. Um, so those are some of the uh, you know, I would say that's kind of the the meat of the city uh in terms of main attractions, the center of it. Um, and if you are just visiting for a couple of days, it is a really great companion to either Barcelona or Madrid.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

And great one with kids.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

That's I think super cool.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

So should we talk a bit about one of our favorite topics?

Paella Rules And Where To Eat

unknown 27:32

Food.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

Yes, of course.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

Do you want to do you wanna take it? You can start us off. Okay, so is it the national dish of Spain? Paella? I mean I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

It's very recognizable. I actually, not very long ago, uh, went to a cooking class with a group that I was working with. And again, it's like the Barcelona-Madrid thing. You say, I'm from Spain, and they go, Oh, you must know how to make paella. Like, I wish, you know, so it's definitely, I don't know if it's a national dish, but it's what it's known for. People relate to Spanish people, apparently, we all eat paella time.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

So and um, you know, over the years there's been controversy, people putting different chefs from around the world, putting different things in it. I actually saw, and I'm was so not happy. Do you know this? And I really like her, uh, Aina Garden. No, I don't know who she is. Okay, well, she's sort of, you know, a Martha Stewart. Okay, you know, I like Martha Stewart. Right. And everybody who knows like people love Ana. She's uh American and you know, she's curated this beautiful life recipes, lifestyle, all that kind of stuff. So I happened to see an old episode on the other day, and every time I'm on, I kind of watch even though I'm probably never gonna make what she's making, I just like the idea.

SPEAKER_02 28:52

But it's like a comfort program. Like Julia Child.

SPEAKER_00 28:55

Except Ina made paella, but in a salad.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

Excuse me. Okay, I'm not one to get offended, and I'm offended.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

I was offended. A salad? It was a salad, it was cold. A paella salad?

SPEAKER_02 29:10

Yeah, okay. Come on. Seriously, no.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

I I was so I was actually shouting at the TV. I'm like, oh no, Ina, don't, don't, don't say it's a salad. And it was a salad.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

That that is actually crazy.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

So I can't believe she wasn't canceled for that. And it's an old episode.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

Maybe it's before cancel time.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

Yeah, I think it was. So, you know, she's I don't know how old she is, but don't crucify a crucifire.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

So we did a whole episode on paella. We went and did a whole deep dive on paella, but just some highlights. You can go listen to that episode if you're interested in it. But a few highlights. The original paella is doesn't have all the stuff in it that we see or put in now. So mostly rabbit, chicken, green beans, flat pan over an orange wood fire, and yes, snails. So, you know, the original paella, it and you still get that uh original paella in a lot of places in Valencia looks way different to all the different versions that have evolved from that.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Yeah, and it was it's uh it was founded, created here in the Valencian community, and they consider it to be a mixing of uh two sort of cultures. So you had the pan, it's from the Romans. And paella was uh uh it's the pan.

SPEAKER_02 30:34

Yes, it means the pan.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

Yeah, it's not the actual rice, and then you had the Moors that cultivated the rice here, so the particular Valencian the bomba rice. Yes. So it's a shorter, it's almost like an aborio, if you had to describe it, a shorter fat grain. Yeah, it's like a little stuck in fat. It's not like a basmati or no, it's not a long grain.

SPEAKER_02 30:57

And it's not aromatic by itself either.

SPEAKER_00 30:59

No. So, you know, they're farmers in the field, they have a pan, they have fire, they have rice, and it's what they had in the fields: chickens, rabbits, snails, very simple.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

A lot of the rabbits are not like rabbits that are, you know, grown or bred for that. No, I mean they're they're hunted.

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Yes. So this is uh an ancient dish that people fed themselves the first sustenance and still do.

SPEAKER_02 31:28

Most of the time on a Sunday. Yeah. Because you know, it takes a while. So it's a very much a Sunday dish. And as we mentioned last time, if you don't want to look like a total tourist, please don't order paya for dinner. Don't it is that is a huge giveaway. Like when people, when you're walking around all these towns and all of a sudden you see like a table and they're all sharing a paya for dinner, the first thing that comes to a Spanish person's mind is that person's a tourist. Yeah. Or they're a foreigner. I mean, and there may be the odd person that like wants to have paya for dinner and is Spanish, but rare.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

Yeah. They should just start a campaign. Stop serving it after 4 p.m.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

It's a pretty heavy dish. I mean, stop thinking about 4 p.m. You know, it's pretty heavy.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

Yeah, so uh yeah, that's a little history of uh, you know, controversial rice piece.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

The drink that you'll see a lot as well, and it's very popular in the summer. I'm not a big fan, and I don't think you are either, but is the orchata echufa?

SPEAKER_00 32:24

I don't mind it. I don't mind it. I'm not completely against it. I think it's considered uh superfood, actually.

SPEAKER_02 32:30

Yeah, it's because it's made with these tiger nuts.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

Yeah, I think it's considered a tiger is it's actually a tuber.

SPEAKER_02 32:36

Really? So it's like a mini potato?

SPEAKER_00 32:38

I think it's a tuber. Okay. Please, if I if somebody look that up or tell me if I'm wrong. But I believe it's actually in the tuber family.

SPEAKER_02 32:46

That makes sense. Because they actually look like mini potatoes.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

Yeah. Because it's not, even though it's called a tiger nut, I don't think it's a nut.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

Well, peanuts are not nuts. Right. You know, that's always kind of fascinating to me because it's like a seed, and it's like, why do you call it a peanut then?

SPEAKER_00 33:00

So if I'm wrong, I apologize, but yeah, that's what I remember. We'll check it out. Yeah. So and it's not people think it's a Mexican.

SPEAKER_02 33:07

It's not. And in Mexico, I believe, it's way sweeter than what we serve here. And here, people eat it with fartons. Fartons.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

Which are, I mean, it's a funny name, but it is a uh kind of I think farton means in Valenciano, like you get full from it. Because it's like, you know, it's a very it's a pastry, it's fried, no?

SPEAKER_02 33:30

I don't know if it's fried, but it's uh like a bread roll, basically.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

Yeah, and you dip it in.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

I you dunk it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

Maybe it's not fried, maybe it's baked. I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_02 33:40

Yeah, but it's uh farton, Sanorchata etchufa. If you want to try that when you're in Valencia, you'd definitely be, you know, in the right place to do that. So I do have a couple of restaurant recommendations before we move off food. Uh, one of them is Casa Montaña, it is a tavern from 1836. Okay, and that is in the Gabanyal, and that's kind of the old fisherman's quarter uh in Valencia. So that one definitely good, and it's still operating. Uh, they use like wooden wine barrels as the tables uh in the in the front part, and there's tiled walls and kind of smell of vermouth. You know, it kind of feels like you're walking into another century.

SPEAKER_00 34:23

So not super fancy, but that one must get a reservation because if not, it's I would I we say this all the time, but any place that you go here in the next whenever, if you're traveling the next couple of months, even if you think it's off season, just make a reservation.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

Yeah, absolutely. And what you would order there is the boquerones en vinagre. Okay. Uh bonito, patatas bravas. So it's kind of more like uh uh uh elevated tapas, when I say elevated, not like fancy, but just good quality. Okay. And then the other one I want to point out is Tasca Sorolla, and that's a one-man plancha, and it's a that's a in a little corner in the mercado, in the central market.

SPEAKER_00 35:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

Uh so there's a sizzling plancha, uh, two chalkboards on the wall, and Chimo, the owner, the chef. Uh it's basically he's the place.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

You know, he's kind of whatever he cooks is what you're getting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:16

So whatever's fresh that morning could be red prawns, sardines, cuttlefish, you know, lamb sweetbreads. And I know some people may go, ew, you know, like I don't want to try that, but it's very kind of um original. So definitely would recommend uh that one.

SPEAKER_00 35:31

Okay, cool. Now, Valencia, as the size of the city, they have some really great festivals. They usually attract um quite mainstream artists, maybe not uh, you know, a Justin Bieber or something like that, because you need a much bigger arena to house that kind of crowd. But I know this summer they have um quite a few events, quite a few events. And okay, the one of the ones that I have never been to is Noche de San Juan. I have never have you ever done it? I've never done it.

SPEAKER_02 36:03

I have seen it here, but I don't think it's anywhere to the level of what they do in Valencia.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

So you know, there has to be, we should do a deep dive on this. Why is fire so popular? Why why fire's a real theme in that city?

SPEAKER_02 36:20

And not just in that city, in like the whole Valencian community. There's like fireworks, I don't know fire, las fallas, anything that means setting things on fire.

SPEAKER_00 36:31

But it is it is June 23rd to the 24th this year, and it's the uh you know, it's the night of fire to celebrate the summer solstice, which is the shortest night of the year. Typically, you would go down to the beach, you make a bonfire. You can't just go to any beach and light a bonfire. There are sanctioned beaches that you can go to throughout the Valencian community. Typically, the ayuntamento will even give you the firewood. Yeah. You know, they'll hand it out on the beach at a certain time. You know, you stake your spot, you do the fire at midnight or just before midnight, you jump over the fire to purify yourself. I don't know if you've been on the beach for a few hours, possibly with some drinks if jumping over the fire is recommended. However, people do it, and then you go in the sea and cleanse yourself.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

So for the witchy people out there, it is a very witchy ritual.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

But I think that's really it's actually a really nice thing to celebrate the summer summer. Absolutely. Oh, and these are the sorry, I could not find it, but here it is. These are some of the artists that will be in Valencia this summer. You have Rod Stewart, Zusie Top, Rick Astley, Megadeth, Yandal. Mega Death is coming to Valencia. You know what? I'm just finding out about this. Uh, Romeo Santos, Prince Royce, Brian Adams, and Deep Purple. Those are just some of the ones that I've smokes.

SPEAKER_02 37:49

That's a pretty impressive roster right there.

SPEAKER_00 37:52

Impressive. And the again, the tickets for a lot of these concerts are way cheaper here. Are a lot less expensive than you would find them in other cities. So my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

Like, you know, try and see some of these artists in London. It's gonna be double, triple the price at least.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

Easily, and all the other things that go with it the transportation, the dinner, all that. So uh worth checking out. Do you want to go through some of the other festivals quickly?

SPEAKER_02 38:14

Uh Big Sound Festival, June 26th to 27th. That's a big one. If you like also Spanish music music, and that is at the City of Arts and Sciences. Uh, the other one that I think is pretty cool is the Feria de Julio, and that's throughout July. And one of the highlights of that is the battle of flowers.

SPEAKER_00 38:33

Right. I've never seen this, but I think I would like to see it.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

Yeah, right, absolutely. And then we go from flowers to tomatoes. That, you know, we had a whole episode on La Tomatina, but that's the last Wednesday of August in Bunol, which is 45 minutes away from Valencia. But if you're looking for something that is a unique experience in your lifetime, uh I would say of all these that we've recommended, do that one.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

Yeah. Go to La Tomatina because it's You'll never forget. Yeah, maybe it's a one and done kind of deal. Maybe you'll love it. The I don't think you can describe that experience to anybody unless you really you're there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:12

It's something completely unique. Yeah, it's very, very cool. Why don't you tell us, Nalini, about the exciting sale GP one that's happening? Right.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

So this is the first time it's been it's going to be its first year in September, early September. Um, and that's the fifth to the sixth. It was in Cadiz for four years. I am I don't really follow this particular sport, but it's supposed to be pretty spectacular. Yeah. They're looking at, you know, you know, over 10,000 spectators for it. And you have the catamarans that travel at a hundred kilometers per hour and it takes place in the marina. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

So that's fast when you're trying to hold on for a dear life, too. Right.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

Yeah. Again, it's not a sport I follow, but I think it's pretty amazing that on the list of things to do in Valencia, this is a new thing that's been added. Yes. And interesting too.

SPEAKER_02 40:00

So if you're like a fan of Formula One or the Moto GP racing, think that on catamarans and it's pretty cool. And then you have Fashion Week that's happening September 10th to 15th. And that is going to feature a lot of emerging Spanish designers, and it's in a very cool district of the city, which is the Ruzapa district.

SPEAKER_00 40:20

Okay, we should definitely go to that.

SPEAKER_02 40:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

And then they also have um open days, so they call it European Heritage Days between the 19th to the 20th of September. And you have uh free access to historic buildings throughout the city. So another thing that you can, you know, look into if just as a walking part of your trip. Awesome.

Quick Fun Facts To Remember

SPEAKER_02 40:39

Yeah. So should we do some fun facts before our slice of live? Yeah. Okay, so I'm gonna pick my like what I thought was the most fun fact, and it's this whole Tribunal de la Sahua with a dispute. I think, you know, having like the oldest democratic institution in the world in terms of, or one of the oldest, sorry, one of the oldest, you know, the 10 minutes every Thursday, no lawyers. I think that's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

I think it's very interesting. And I would say that um my fun fact is that Valencia hosted the America's Cup in 2007, uh, the first time the oldest trophy in international sport had ever been held in Europe in its 156-year history.

SPEAKER_02 41:18

Major flags, Valencia. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:20

So, I mean, this is all to say that it's a a great city to explore. It is not small, but it's also not so completely intimidating that you can't really get a flavor and a vibe and enjoy what the city has to offer in a you know a couple of days. Yeah.

Sponsor Break And Clean Energy

SPEAKER_02 41:37

So those are a couple of fun facts for you that just kind of uh to remind you of the episode. And next we're gonna go into our slice of life. So before we dive into our slice of life, quick shout out to our amazing partner, Goco Energy. You have to try this.

SPEAKER_00 41:59

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SPEAKER_02 42:14

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SPEAKER_00 42:23

I agree. I'm not necessarily a fan of all energy drinks, but this is one that I truly enjoy. My favorite flavor so far is pineapple, and you can order it straight from gocoenergy.com. That's g-o-o-energy.com, shipped right to your door.

SPEAKER_02 42:44

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SPEAKER_00 42:56

Welcome to the slice of life. Laura, what are we drinking today?

SPEAKER_02 43:00

We are drinking it mini fala, which translates to mini skirt. Yes, I don't know why they called it that.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

But that's what it translates to.

SPEAKER_00 43:08

But I think it's quite cute. It's a very cute name. So what is it exactly? I'm just gonna do a little four here.

SPEAKER_02 43:14

Lemon slushie that we call granizado de limon. I'm gonna pass that to you. Okay. And gin. Now, if you're making like a fancier version of this, you make the lemon slushie at home. So you have like four lemons with the peel, right? Uh water, ice, and uh tons of sugar, and then the gin.

SPEAKER_01 43:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

Uh so that's how you make it. But normally here in summer, anywhere you go, you can find uh lemon slushie. You know, it's uh it's uh we call it like I said, granizado de limon. And with that, you just basically order a minifala. So they put the lemon slushie directly from the machine and then they put the gin in. I think it's a very cheeky drink because you could be sitting there with your grandma. And she doesn't know you're drinking gin, but you know, you have it like in your drink because you you can't see it. You know, you can't see that what you're drinking. So it is, I think, very refreshing. And yeah, I I've always really liked this drink. It does originate from Menorca, uh, apparently, and there's a whole history behind that. But we thought Valencia is such a sunny and refresh refreshing place that, you know, it's like, okay, let's have a kind of, you know.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

Yeah, and this the gin that we're using, uh, again, not sponsored. It just happens to be a Seagram's uh zero. It's nice, isn't it? Yeah, it's nice. It's zero alcohol gin, which I know people will laugh about that, but we are recording in the morning. It is 11:30 in the morning. It's 11:30 in the morning, so we're not having a fully alcoholic drink, but you know, you can so choose to use whatever gin that you want. But it's very refreshing. Yes.

Trolls Tourism And Staying Respectful

SPEAKER_02 44:52

So, right today we have a little bit of a controversial topic for our slice of life.

SPEAKER_01 44:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:59

So we have had some clips and videos, I would say go to a certain level of virality, you could say, on Instagram and TikTok, and both for Spanish-related topics and for Trinidad-related topics. So, do you want to explain why we're doing that?

SPEAKER_00 45:20

We've had um some backlash, I would say, to some of the things that we've talked about, which is okay. I mean, I think anything that you put out there for public consumption, we can debate, we can be educated with certain things. And I think everything that we've always said, we don't pretend to be the experts in history or food or gastronomy or fashion or anything. It's just this is just our life, our experience, what we saw, what we've read, what we've researched. And we've been told off, yeah, for lack of a better word, for maybe not having the correct historical representation of certain places or towns or and that's the least of it.

SPEAKER_02 46:02

I don't mind being corrected. I can be corrected all day. As I mentioned in my little share about the car should be disliked, I don't like uh sorry, I don't mind being feeling disliked, but it's the how sometimes that I think is interesting. So I will say overwhelmingly super positive response. But there's a few people who are absolute internet trolls that, you know, will say really nasty things like Taurus go home to us. I'm Spanish and Nalini's a resident. We are not tourists, and it's like, oh my goodness. And then one guy, I'm gonna call him guy and not gentleman or man because you know, a guy, you know, who's actually gone and made multiple accounts so he can like troll us, and it's like, come on, man, get alive, you know. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 46:48

Yeah, I try not to read the comments, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:50

However, overwhelmingly positive. But what we wanted to say that is interesting and a reflection for people, we want to show some love to our Trinidad uh audience because my God, like seriously, for we had a couple of videos, the Crix uh little video and the salt prunes video that we did, the amount of love and come back, we're gonna show you this part of the city, come back next year. It has been like 99% of the people there.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

Super happy, very positive. I think they were um, I think we were very respectful. And I think we're always very respectful. I mean, if we don't have a good experience, if we didn't have a good experience in Trinidad in something, we would have said it. Um, and but that's just how we are. We're authentic in what we talk about here. We're not making anything up. If somebody at a hotel, despite wherever we're staying, is rude, we're not gonna call out that person, but maybe we will discuss the hotel experience and be honest about it. Because again, we're not being sponsored by any of these places that we go. This is a completely authentic account. So if somebody tells us go home, okay, it's fine, I'll go home. I live right up the street in pollute. It's not a problem for me. But I just think it's sad. Um, it's just very interesting to me that that's the sentiment at times. And I think it also does stem from the fact that uh Spain has an incredible amount of, I think it's i i we'd have to check the stats on this, but one of the most visited countries in the world. So there is this overwhelming wave of tourists, especially in the summer months. And given what's happening in other parts of the world right now, I would say expect even more tourism to flow into the country. However, it is an economic boost. And if you think back to COVID when little bars and restaurants were closing, not run by tourists, but run by people who are born here who have Why, by the way, some bar owners even committed suicide of it's very serious.

SPEAKER_02 49:07

Like this is what people's lifestyle livelihood is.

SPEAKER_00 49:09

So tourists go home. Can you imagine if all the tourists went home from, let's say, Benedorm, it would just turn into dust.

SPEAKER_02 49:16

Yeah. So I just want to read a couple of the comments that not the bad ones, because we're not going to highlight them, but from the Trinidad episode, you know, things like I started making this over 30 years ago. You can make it also with white rum and the salt prunes, sugar cane sticks and white rum or tequila. I even made it with dried sorrel and white rum. So people are like commenting. Yeah. And there some people are saying, you know, thank you for talking about our country. Thank you for spotlighting our country. It's just fun and lighthearted.

SPEAKER_00 49:43

Yeah. And I think I mean, it would be really great if people here would suggest a restaurant or say, wow, thanks for you know checking that out. But here's another suggestion just down the street the next time you're due.

Final Takeaway On Hospitality

SPEAKER_02 49:57

And they do sometimes, but anyway, so we just wanted to get that chip off our shoulders. So in closing, yes, Valencia will win you over. It always does. Come for the paella, stay for the amazing history, and please treat it with the respect it deserves. Absolutely. However, our sentence of the day is okay. La hospitalidad is elma de España.

SPEAKER_00 50:22

Uh let's see, the hospitality is the spirit of Spain.

SPEAKER_02 50:30

So hospitality is the soul of Spain. Okay. It always has been, and let's not make the loudest voices forget that.

SPEAKER_00 50:37

Absolutely. Ah, cheers to that. This is an episode. Bye. The Maid in Spain podcast is fueled by Goco Energy, refreshingly real energy that keeps the good vibes going.