We did have a very fun last day in Valencia, though. We wandered outside old town, and as always, found cool stuff in the streets.
One of Valencia's impressive buildings.
Here's the statue on the peak of that roof.
These artists have great fantasy lives!
We discovered the old train station.
We both love train stations, so we had to go in. This is the lobby and ticket area.
Here's a closer look at that vintage lamp.
I love the contrast between the old stained glass windows and the modern ticket machine.
Here's a pretty clock for those of us who are perpetually confused about 12 versus 24 hour time.
Seems to me that large public spaces, the churches, markets and train stations, have a lot in common.
This is an ave train.
Our trip from Valencia to Barcelona took more than 3 hours on a conventional train. The trip from Valencia to Madrid, about the same distance, takes half that time on an ave.
One last detail from North Station.
Sadly, our journey began from the more modern and more prosaic Joaquin Sorolla station. We'll know better next time.
From the station, we splurged and took a taxi to the beach. Here's the promenade at El Cabanyal, the main city beach.
Valencia has many other beaches, and unlike Barcelona, these are not man-made.
Mary is so content at the beach, strolling in the sand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elZjmaUW-A8
It's a pleasure to see her in beach mode.
While Mary was building her sand castle, I made an offer on the fixer-upper across the street.
It needs a little work, but you know what they say: location, location, location.