We made it to Valencia, Spain and plan on being here for a month. (Notice this post is 3 weeks into our Valencia trip. Apparently blogging is harder than it seems..) As part of our trip we we wanted to pick a place in Spain where we could stay for a longer period of time and really immerse ourselves in the Spanish culture and way of life. We chose Valencia for a couple reasons: it is way cheaper than Barcelona, it has beaches, it is still a big city with lots to do, and most importantly it has an awesome food culture. Valencia is the birthplace of Paella, the awesome rice dish, and horchata, cinnamon rice milk that is very popular in Mexico. Valencia is situated on the Mediterranean in the middle of the country. It sits at the crossroads of the agricultural southwest and the industrial north. We have done so much while staying in Valencia so for the sake of time we will just highlight our favorite activities!

Valencia is home to the largest market in Spain, the Central Market. This market is Amazing! It was built 100 years ago and has about 400 vendors. It sells everything you could want cheese, meats, bread, sweets, fish, veggies, fruit, spices, booze, olive oils.. I could go on and on. Also I want to take this market with us back to Denver.  Oh and it has a bomb tapas restaurant, Central Bar, nestled within the vendor stalls. It is the brainchild of a Michelin star chef that only serves food purchased at the market. We have been back to this place 3 times already…it is so good. Kristin ate anchovies and actually really enjoyed them and they make the most fantastic meatballs. This is a Valencia must see!

We were lucky enough to stumble across Valencia’s Restaurant Week the first week we were here! It is the same as Denver’s restaurant week where multiple restaurants across the city participate and have set menus and the price is set (20 Euros Lunch and 30 Euros Dinner). Valencia’s Restaurant Week also has a set lunch menu since lunch is such a huge meal in Spain. We went to two restaurants during the week.  Ma Khin Cafe which we randomly came across while walking the city. It is located in an amazing building called Mercado Colon which reminded us of the Source in Denver with restaurants, bars, a market, and events. We were able to catch a free orchestra concert on a Sunday morning. Its adorable!! Okay enough about the building back to the food (see I told you this would be a recurring theme). Ma Khin Cafe is an asian moroccan fusion restaurant and we got a ton of food like 8 courses. Our favorites were a moroccan inspired rice dish with fish and raisins and an awesome samosa.  We really experienced the late night dinner when we tried to go to this restaurant at 8:30pm and the restaurant was really surprised to see us and didn’t really know what to do with us so early. So we decided to get a drink and come back in an hour. Even when we came back at 9:30pm we were only the 2nd group in the restaurant. The restaurant didn’t get busy until like 10:30pm. Note to anyone going to dinner in Spain, don’t go until like 10pm. The second restaurant we went to was Entrevins which is located in a younger hipper neighborhood called Rusafa. Entrevins is exactly how it translates, between wines, because the restaurant has a huge wine list and you are surrounded by all of the bottles while you eat. This restaurant was described as modern catalan and was really good and we got the wine tasting too!! Yummy.

Since Spain has so much coast there are a ton of beaches everywhere. Valencia has a beach that is really close to town and a short train ride from where we are staying. There are also beaches about an hour via bus south of Valencia that are considered blue flag beaches. To be a blue flag beach you have to meet certain standards for water quality, safety, and environmental management. We took the bus one day down to one of these beaches. Since we went during the week it wasn’t very busy and seemed like a sleepy retirement community (everyone fled the beach at lunch/siesta time) and would be such a great place to have a vacation home if you are spanish. This beach is where we finally found some awesome seafood paella!! We have tried paella multiple times while in Valencia as part of menus of the day but they just weren’t very good so we were super excited to eat the real deal.

Since lunch is such a big deal in Spain we made sure we found some great restaurants to go for lunch. One of those restaurants is Delicat which has a set 5 course menu every day (13.5 Euros) and is an asian fusion restaurant. This place is fantastic (we have been twice already) and we were lucky enough to get a table the first time we tried to go because most tables are reserved in advance. It is run by a couple and they only have one lunch and dinner seating a day. You can tell they love their jobs by the amazing service and delicious food. It was so good that after we finished our meal we reserved a table for lunch the next week!

Valencia is home to a unique zoo called the Bioparc and is one of Valencia’s main attractions. The Bioparc is unique because there are sections of the zoo without any fences and they want to make it seem like you are totally immersed in the animal’s natural habitat. They specialize mostly in African animals so you can get up close and personal with giraffes, rhinos, hippos, monkeys, etc. It was super cool and totally worth it. I also want to comment on how awesome the spanish are because you cannot up charge for food and booze even at attractions. We were able to get a sandwich and a beer for 4 euros. Yea it is that cheap and amazing. Probably for the best beers aren’t that cheap at zoos in the US who knows what would happen with a bunch of drunk American’s at the zoo..weird stuff could happen.

Okay..that’s all for now for Valencia. Next posts on Mallorca and the 2nd half of our time in Valencia!

We made it to Espana! And to warmer and dryer weather!! Our first stop in Spain is Barcelona and it is amazing. We stayed in a really cool neighborhood, Poblenou, that reminds me of River North in Denver. It is really industrial with a bunch of coworking spaces, neat restaurants, and art studios. We went to a coffee shop, Nomad Coffee Productions, that actually roasts their own beans. No offense to the Spanish but I love me a light roast coffee instead of the super dark espresso that the spanish love. So it was nice to get a cup of coffee like that. Dan and I actually got interviewed by Barcelona TV while we were there because they were doing a special on the coffee shop so who knows we might have been on the spanish news!

The first day we were in Barcelona we stumbled across an outdoor tapas festival which was a really great accident. You purchased tapas tickets and then each restaurant that participated made one tapa. They were delish and a great way to try a bunch of tapas. My favorite tapa was a squid ink risotto..yummy. Also hilarious was how you could buy beer tickets but if you bought wine/cava tickets (P.S. I’m in the land of excellent bubbly..aka cava. Yippee!) you had to buy a wine glass, apparently the Spanish do not approve serving vino in a plastic cup.

Also while in Barcelona we discovered the spanish lunch. This lunch does not occur until 2pm and consists of 2 courses, dessert, bread, and depending on which restaurant you are at any drink you want (wine/beer included). Oh and I forgot to mention this comes at a price of 11-12 euros. So needless to say Dan and I got ourselves into a few spanish lunches where we had a bottle of wine to share, after dinner drinks, and coffee. Oh and I also realized why the Spanish need a siesta..who can drink a bottle of wine at lunch and continue to function without a nap?? So because we are horrible at napping we ended up walking the entire city of Barcelona and taking in the scenery along the way.

Barcelona has a few markets but the most famous is the Boqueria Mercado which is a foodies paradise. So many delicious veggies, fruits, meats, and charcuterie. And by charcuterie I really only mean ham..pork..pig..more ham..the spanish are super fans of pork and you can totally tell by the markets. Legs upon legs of jamon..oh and every time we go to the market I basically have to drag Dan away and take all of the money so he doesn’t escape with an entire leg.  I’m still trying to talk him out of buying one and just “strapping it to his backpack.” We made ourselves a bomb cheese, meat, tomato, and wine dinner after our smorgasbord extravaganza at the market.

Also probably one of the most famous sites in Barcelona is the Sagrada Familia which is a huge cathedral, chapel, palace, castle (not sure exactly what to call it) like building designed by Antoni Gaudi who also designed a few other buildings in Barcelona and is an extremely famous architect. If you go to Barcelona you have to go to the Sagrada Familia and go inside. It’s unreal and it’s still not finished. This castle has been under construction for at least one hundred years and won’t be finished until 2026 (or that is what they say now).

Barcelona is the home of 28 Michelin Star restaurants and 4 have two stars which is a lot. So that goes to show how bomb the food in Barcelona is! We had to splurge and try one of these restaurants. So one night we went to Hisop which is described as “Contemporary Catalan Cuisine”.  They also have a tasting menu with wine for 90 euros so that was a bonus too. Some standouts on the menu were mussels with green curry broth/foam and the dessert which was an olive cake with strawberries and strawberry gelato. The dinner was overall really creative and we had some dishes I’m sure we won’t get to eat again.

Since we were getting all cultural in Barcelona we decided to see an Opera at the Gran Teatre del Liceu. The theater is gorgeous and the opera, Don Pasquale, was in Italian with Catalan subtitles so we didn’t really understand what was going on until we googled the play and then still didn’t really get it. The opera was way more casual than we are used to seeing in the states where everyone dresses up and makes a night of it. People weren’t really dressed up and they packed their own dinners and brought it with them. So definitely a different experience than we were used to.

We also went to see the Olympic park while in Barcelona. Its a cool thing to catch if you have time but definitely not a must see. It was fun to hike around the open gardens and run into a super techno music fest..

Oh and that is not even all we did while in Barcelona…more to come on Montserrat and more Tapas!!

So Iceland has some pretty neat things to see. Including a giant waterfall (Gullfoss), a mini Old Faithful (Geysir), and a super sweet church (Hallgrimskirkja)..yea say that five times fast. I would also like to point out that the people in Iceland have an amazing sarcastic sense of humor. Most of their signs and advertisements say some pretty funny things for example there was a juice by Froosh called “More Bite than Suarez” which is funny even though Dan had to explain to me that Suarez is the futbol player who apparently bit a bunch of people during futbol matches (which is so gross/creepy). Also please notice my use of futbol instead of soccer because I’m becoming “european” whatever that means.

Gullfoss- The waterfall (obviously) but it is not the biggest in Iceland..that is Dettifoss. Apparently the story about this waterfall is that it is called Gold Falls because some guy threw a bunch of gold in there or because the water/sun makes a golden color. I hope its named because some guy decided to waste a bunch of gold..

Dan & Kristin at Gullfoss..you can see it is a little wet there. Tip: bring a rain coat and hiking boots.

Geysir- Well this isn’t actually Geysir..that is the geyser and actually Iceland is where the term geyser comes from. This is a picture of an awesome colored, very, very, hot pond near Geysir. No touching.

Hallgrimskirkja – Awesome church that overlooks Reykjavik. Also see the statue out front? That is Leif Erikson. There is a ginormous organ in the church and we were able to sit in the church and watch a guy get down on the organ and by get down I mean play a pretty neat organ tune.

View from Hallgrimskirkja overlooking Reykjavik. Gotta love those neat colored roofs..

Also hilarious Icelandic things..

Chuck Norris Grill with amazing Chuck Norris quotes on the door like “Chuck Norris once kicked a horse in the chin. Its descendants are known today as giraffes.” And no we didn’t eat here although they apparently have good hamburgers. Oh and I forgot to mention, the Icelandic love their hamburgers. But who doesn’t love a good burger?

Wall art on how to tie a tie. Dan took this so he could “remember how to tie different types of ties” because yea he is also going to remember to look at this picture once every two years he needs to tie a tie..

So some more tips on Reykjavik:

-Dress warmly and bring a rain coat. This place is not warm..so dress accordingly.

-Spend the $ and see Gullfoss and Geysir. They are awesome.

-Stay in City Center. That is where everything is all of the shops, restaurants, bars etc. and it is super easy to walk around!

Well thats all for Iceland. Next post will be about Barcelona..off to Espanya!!

We are finally on our way and have time to post about our journey so far! The last few days in Denver were a blur finishing packing our house and packing for 9 months of traveling which is terrible if you hate to pack (which I do). I’ll write another post eventually about what to bring/what not to bring as we continue on this adventure.

So we made it to Reykjavik safe and sound. We weren’t initially going to go to Iceland but Icelandair offers a great stopover program that almost makes it more affordable to stop in Iceland before heading to most places in Europe. I would really recommend stopping in Iceland for a few days. Its really easy to travel to, everyone speaks English (better English than we do), the food is really good, and there are some cool things to see.

So what did we do??? We sat in a lot of  hotsprings that are heated by geothermal energy. Iceland is heated exclusively by geothermal energy and powered by geothermal and hydro power. Their claim to fame is that they get basically 100% of there power from renewable sources which is pretty cool as a country to supply all of your energy yourselves and its renewable. Anyway I digress..back to the hotsprings. There are a TON of pools in Iceland something like 126 and there are only 300,000 people so a lot for a little amount of people. We went to a local indoor pool in Reykjavik which was right up the street from where we were staying called Sundhollin, Fontana hotsprings which sits next to Lake Laugarvatn on the Golden Circle, and the Blue Lagoon which is huge and the most famous hotspring in Iceland.

Some tips on hotsprings/pools:

-You are supposed to shower and wash your naughty bits without a swimsuit before entering the pools

-Bring your own towel otherwise you will have to rent one for $

-If you could only go to one hotspring you should do the tour with Gullfoss, Geysir and Fontana hotsprings. The Blue Lagoon is cool but is super expensive..like 60$/person to get in and then more $ for towels, booze, food, etc..

When we weren’t sitting in a hot spring drinking beer (I know we live a hard life) we were out exploring Reykjavik and eating their delicious food. You are going to see eating as a recurring theme in this blog as we love to eat and experience new cuisines. Some standout restaurants we went to were:

Reykjavik Roasters – Coffee shop on the way to Hallgrimskirkja, yummy pastries and they roast their own coffee, pick up a bag to take home.

Tapas Barinn– Icelandic tapas, this is a great way to sample Icelandic cuisine, its a little pricey 6,500 kr but you get to have 6 courses and a shot of Brennivin and the courses include Puffin and Minke Whale. I’ll let you be the judge about puffin we thought it was a little fishy but the whale was great.

Sea Baron– Seafood and Lobster Soup, this is a really affordable cute place by the harbor, they have awesome lobster soup (1,700 kr) and skewers of fish and vegetables that they grill up on the spot, you can even get a sample of Minke Whale (300 kr)

Bæjarins beztu pylsur – aka. The Best Hot Dog in Town, Icelanders love their hotdogs and hamburgers, this is a cool stand where you can get a hotdog with a bunch of random toppings that include ketchup, sweet mustard, fried onion, raw onion and remolaði, a mayonnaise-based sauce with sweet relish for only 400 kr

Those were some of our favorites! All in all the food in Reykjavik was really good and there is a wide variety including Thai and Nepalese restaurants so you can really eat whatever your heart desires.  Also the beer scene was decent there are a few Icelandic breweries that had some really good beers including a delicious IPA by Borg.

Some other things you should know about food/booze in Iceland:

– The grocery store is called Bonus and it opens late and closes early so if you want to buy groceries go between the hours of 11 and 17

-There are no liquor stores and they don’t sell booze at the grocery store. We saw one liquor store the entire time we were in Reykjavik.

-There is a huge tax on booze so be prepared to pay usually 1700 kr for a drink.

-No need to tip your servers unless it was outstanding service.

That is all for now! The next post will be about the sights we saw while in Reykjavik – Geysir, Gullfoss, and Hallgrimskirkja!