Spain Southern France Self-driving Tour

date:

Before summer vacation 2017 06 12~ 06 22

I met no more than 10 Chinese people along the way. The importance of avoiding tourist peaks is that you can be sure that you are in Europe.

Peers:

J.

Summer

Yufu (fisherman)

🍊🐟 (nickname Luoyan)

Cities in Spain and Southern France:

madrid

barcelona

Marseille (didn’t make it, purely by accident)

Cannes

Nice

Monaco

badalona

Valencia

Day 1 – Flight journey

sunny 38°

I took a connecting flight from Doha on a Middle Eastern airline and arrived in Madrid in the afternoon. The weather was swelteringly hot at 38°C. Go back to the hotel and take a shower before going out to look for food at six o'clock. The sun is still shining and heating tenaciously, and it is not as cool as at sunset. I walked around the train station and confirmed that there would be no accidents on the train to Barcelona tomorrow afternoon. I printed my train tickets in advance and there was no need to exchange them. The first-class seats were definitely provided with lunch. Westerners' English is not very good, and communication at the train station is difficult.

At 7 o'clock in the evening, Westerners are all sitting outside under umbrellas without air conditioning, drinking beer. I found El Rincon Asturiano II, a restaurant with a moderate rating on Google. When I went in and got a Spanish menu, I was a little dizzy. The waiter didn't speak English, but he cleverly got an English menu. We were very happy. Also wise to find out the huge price difference. We are not stupid, and Google Translate is not a help. We insisted on using the Spanish menu and successfully ordered smoked ham, seafood platter, grilled vegetarian salad, beer, etc. How did you know that when you pay, you still pay according to the English menu price that is 20% more expensive, and an additional 10% service fee is charged. Hey, tourists, we are tourists, we have to admit when we are being ripped off, and we still have to eat no matter how expensive it is, not to mention that the ham is so delicious!

Fortunately, this situation never happened again because we never saw the menu in Spanish again. 😅

I live in a 5-minute walk from Atocha train station. Eric Vökel Boutique Apartments is a serviced apartment with two bedrooms and one living room. The room is spacious, clean and bright, and the kitchen is fully equipped. There is also a swimming pool, but it is just the kind that can be crossed to the opposite side in one step. .

Day 2 – Walk in city Madrid

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The jet lag has not yet returned, so I woke up early in the morning and made breakfast. Yesterday, I found a large supermarket next to the hotel and had enough ingredients. The milk finally tastes like milk (0.85 euros/1 liter/semi-skimmed). The cured ham is not much different from the one I had last night (2 euros). When I was worried about how to fry eggs without oil, I found out that the ones they used were real. Non-stick pan, no oil needed and fried like eggs.

I wanted to start exploring the city when the sun was weak. In fact, as long as I walked in the shade, the temperature was 25°C at most, so I walked around in the coolness for more than 4 hours. Madrid has a total of 1,962 ancient buildings, including landmarks such as the Puerta de Alcalá, the Bridge of Sibiles, the Puerta del Sol or the Palace of Corus. These monuments also make Madrid a true museum city, the only one in the world. A city with a radius of 100 kilometers. Of course, we didn’t follow a planned walk along the historical sites. Anyway, we just walked wherever we wanted, leisurely.

*Ps On the first day, we found that there were a lot of police on the streets. The security was not as bad as we thought. The previous reports of robberies, thefts, traffic stops, etc. sent by the army were somewhat exaggerated. However, we wore tattered clothes and carried 100 decibel alarms with us. , the alarm can be set off at any time if necessary or at least it can always scare people. The fisherman accidentally called the police three times. 😓

I met middle school students on the street who were doing social practice. They were energetic and spoke good English. I asked them 10 questions. We have summer classmates who mix among their peers to do official answers. Later, during the summer, I became a professional visitor. I met many batches of students doing social practice homework, and I had memorized all 10 questions. Where are you from? What is your impression of Spain? What are the main differences compared to your country? . . .

I really don’t know what the aunts and mothers are waiting in line for. I went to see it in the summer and didn’t see anything special.

The cars on the road are all mini, and the motorcycles are all oversized. I saw several strong, very old men driving Harleys, and they were quite stylish.

A virtuous fisherman who manages his family booked a first-class European train from Madrid to Barcelona online in advance at the price of a second-class seat. The ticket was worth the money and the service was comparable to that of a five-star airline.

It took 3 hours to get up to Barcelona Sants train station and check into Barcelona's new home, No. 51 Gracià Street Rocamora Apartment with two bedrooms and one living room with balcony, stay for three nights. A 120-year-old house, old-fashioned hand-operated door elevator, bright living room, full of exquisite details, and a balcony along the street. The landlord was very considerate and gave me a bottle of liquor. The location of the residence is excellent. It is on the busiest Gracià Street, with Casa Batlló just across the road, and the L3/L4 entrance of the subway station is downstairs.

Every afternoon I would return to my residence to regroup before going out to look for food. There is a beach in the city of Barcelona. I took the subway to the beach in the evening and found Majò, a highly rated restaurant recommended by Google. Unfortunately, I did not reserve an outdoor seat. The restaurant is beautiful and highly recommended, our first paella.

*Ps Barcelona has a subway ticket that sells 10 times/10.99 euros. It can be used by buses, subways, and trains, and can be used by multiple people. A record will be printed on the back of the card every time it is swiped. It is available at the automatic ticket vending machine in the subway. ,very convenient. However, the paper is very thin and must not be folded or damaged or it will not come out. I once broke one and had to find someone to replace it with a new one in the subway. Not every subway ticket vending machine can choose the language (English). Many of them are only in Spanish. You can ask the staff and locals for help, and they will enthusiastically help you.

There are two types of paella: dry pot and soup (the rice is not cooked). There is a whole lobster in the lobster rice. The shrimps are made from crayfish, and the seafood ingredients are very fresh. When ordering, I was told that all paellas need to be ordered for 2 people. The prices on the menu are for one person. Because the size of the pot is for 2 people, the starting point is 2 people. Spain is really one of the few countries in Europe where you can eat rice. The paella is very delicious. Apart from being a little salty, there are no shortcomings. It is Luoyan and I’s favorite.

*Ps The sunrise time here is around 6:30am, the sunset time is around 9:30pm, and it’s still bright at 10pm. So usually Westerners drink from 6 to 8 pm, and dinner is from 8 to 10 pm.

Day 3 – Discover Antoni Gaudi

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Barcelona is the highlight of the itinerary. The fisherman still virtuously booked a quadruple ticket package on the website. The Sagrada Familia and Guell Park need to book accurate visit times. We only went to these four main attractions. The rest of the time we mainly wandered on the streets, looking everywhere, eating and drinking day after day.

The main reason why many buildings are attractive is their designers. For a layman like me, apart from Pei, there is only Gaudí. Barcelona is full of Gaudí, or Gaudí has ​​occupied the entire city, and Gaudí’s blood flows throughout the city.

Antonio Gaudí, born on June 25, 1852, is a great designer from Catalonia. From the fact that he dares to use his imagination to the extreme in a solemn building like a church, it shows his uniqueness and his love and enthusiasm for the cause of architecture! Gaudí himself dedicated the last forty years of his life to one building. He lived and died for architecture. He died on the way to the Sagrada Familia to see the construction progress. It was said that it was the opening ceremony of the Barcelona tram, and thousands of people came to the streets to celebrate. No one noticed that an old man in rags was rushing to the construction site of his own building. He was hit by a newly opened tram and was sent to the hospital where he died. At that time, no one recognized him as the great Barcelona architect Gaudí.

Apart from work, Gaudí had no other hobbies or needs. In life, he really seems a bit stupid and crazy. He has a long beard all year round and has a gloomy and unpredictable expression all day long. He had no other friends except Guell. He only spoke Catalan, and had to go through an interpreter to explain anything to the workers. He only had two students with him, and he would be annoyed by one more. He seemed to feel that as long as he interacted with these two students, he could maintain his balance with the entire world.

He ate more simply and casually than the workers, and sometimes he simply forgot to eat, and his students had to stuff him with slices of bread to satisfy his hunger. He dresses even more casually. He often wears the same set of clothes every day for three to five years, and his shirt is dirty and torn. Looking at his poor appearance, someone really used him as a beggar to give alms.

Gotti never married, and he seemed to have no connection with women. He once said: "To avoid disappointment, one should not be tempted by illusions." It is said that he had a romance when he was young, but the girl later made another choice, and she may be right.

*I will watch "The Gaudí Code" again when I go back.

Casa Batlló

Casa Batlló, like a fairy tale, is inspired by a Catalan legend: there is an evil dragon on the mountains in the Tarragona province that specializes in eating humans and animals. In order to seek peace, people sacrifice a victim to it every year. One day, this misfortune befell the castle owner's daughter. The castle owner's daughter is very beautiful and kind. When the evil dragon learned about it, he threatened the Lord of the Castle to offer his daughter as a sacrifice to it. Just when the evil dragon was about to receive this 'sacrifice', the handsome knight George appeared. He went up the mountain to fight the evil dragon. On April 23, On this day, the dragon was finally slain and the princess was rescued. The entire design of Casa Batlló was inspired by this story. The whole house is the body of a giant dragon, and the roof is the back of the dragon. The small attic on the roof is said to be the princess, and there is a pole sticking out under the attic, which is the sword of Saint George to kill the dragon. Casa Batlló is located at the corner of a row of houses in a certain neighborhood, with a total of six floors. The small balcony outside each window resembles the scales of a dragon. The colors are as colorful as the colors of dragons in the sun. The appearance of the walls comes from another key word of high and low buildings - broken tiles. You can see the decoration style of broken tiles collage on the walls and rooftop of Casa Batlló.

The opening hours are from 9AM to 8PM. The 3D voice explanations inside are very advanced. You can see and explain wherever you go, and all languages ​​can be satisfied.

Casa Milà

The characteristic of the design of La Pedrera is that the weight of the building itself is entirely borne by the pillars. Neither the interior nor exterior walls bear the weight of the building itself. The building itself has no main walls, so the residences inside can be partitioned at will. After renovation, the building will not collapse, and wider windows can be designed to ensure lighting in each apartment. At that time, the Milla and his wife paid for the construction of this house. The first floor was a rental shop, the second floor was called the "main building", where the Milla and his wife lived, and the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth floors were rental residences. Because of the mechanics designed by Gaudí, The structure is very special. The weight of the building is completely borne by the pillars, so the layout of the partitions on each floor for rent is different. Three households are separated on the third floor, four households are separated on the fourth floor, and four households are separated on the fifth floor. There are three houses separated on the sixth floor. Each house occupies a different area, with a maximum area of ​​600 square meters and a minimum area of ​​290 square meters. The top floor is used to adjust the temperature and dry clothes. The rooftop balcony has 30 unique chimneys, 2 vents, and 6 stairwells. The tower-shaped stairwell is the largest, and a water tower is hidden inside the spiral staircase.

After reading the introduction in detail, I realized that Gaudí’s designs are not only flashy, each design has mechanics and practicality in it, full of imagination, genius and geek!

Sagrada Família

Gaudi once said that art must come from nature, because nature has created the most unique and beautiful shapes for people. He also said that there are no straight lines in nature. Straight lines belong to humans, while curves belong to God. Therefore, there are no straight-line elements in Gaudí's buildings. From roofs and floors to door handles, all we see are beautiful arcs.

The Sagrada Familia is a Catholic cathedral. Generally, the tower on the top of the church is square, but the Sagrada Familia is round. The Sagrada Familia has three facades representing the birth, crucifixion and glory, and the four towers on each facade represent the twelve apostles of Jesus. There are six towers inside, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Jesus and the four Gospels of the Bible. The main body of the church is covered with thousands of exquisite statues. From a distance, the clay-like objects that look like mud are actually carved from stone. Inspired by the Bible, animals and plants in nature. Gaudí not only drew on elements from nature but also applied many mathematical and physical principles. For example, the overall structure is actually designed with many sacks hanging on ropes and intricately drawn parabolas. The architectural sketch alone is amazing. The spiral shape of the stairs leading to the top is inspired by a snail shell. Gaudi paid attention to both the overall and the details. The stained glass in the church also has abstract patterns and uniform gradient colors, which makes the sunlight shine in extremely gently. There are too many details that can be written about the Sagrada Familia, but in fact they cannot be written in words, so only by actually visiting the scene in person can you feel its shock.

The cathedral will be completed in 2026 to commemorate Gaudi's 100th anniversary.

We made a reservation to enter the church at 2 p.m. and climb the tower at 2:15. The time reservation for Westerners is very strict. If you don't arrive in time, you won't be able to go up to the tower. I admire it. After all, the space inside the tower is very small, and not limiting the flow will cause danger to the building and people. Luoyan was actually afraid of heights, so he circled all the way from a height of 50 meters to the bottom of the tower. The process was extremely painful. The building is amazing from the outside to the inside, and other churches can be ignored in the future.

Els 4 Gats is a restaurant located deep in the alley behind the Queen's Palace shopping mall on Gracià Street. I made a reservation for 8:30 in advance and went there because of its reputation. The restaurant was opened in 1897 and is retro and elegant. It was a restaurant that the young Picasso often visited before he became famous. The mushroom and shrimp noodles recommended by Google are said to be seasonal dishes and are currently not available. However, I unexpectedly ordered the cuttlefish rice. It was so black and all the rice was filled with black cuttlefish meat. The white cuttlefish was just for decoration. It was worse than Majò's paella. I am so happy to have food to eat every day.

Day 4 – Park Güell

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The jet lag is gone and I’m starting to stay in bed. After a quick breakfast, we headed to Park Guell. Enter the park on time at 8:55, 5 minutes early.

The stone steps, stone pillars and curved stone chairs in Park Guell are filled with all kinds of mosaics, all made of ceramic tiles. The colors are brilliant and make people feel like they are in a dreamland. Unlike other buildings, it is an open space. There is a famous mosaic lizard fountain on the stone steps at the entrance. Along the stone steps is a square, curved seats, stone columns and two houses with special shapes that look like a fairy tale world. The Hundred-Column Hall below the observation deck is supported by 86 columns. In addition to providing support, these columns also have the function of drainage. When it rains, the yellow sand in the large circular square carries running water, which can flow through the columns into the nearby woods. , if there is enough rain, the colorful lizards on the steps leading to the candy house will spray water. This colorful lizard is made of tiles and is the treasure of the garden here.

Park Guell was originally a garden city commissioned by Gaudí to design by Count Guell. 60 garden houses were to be built on 20 hectares of land. However, the project ended in vain, and only a small part of the entire community construction plan was realized. On the roof is the famous viewing terrace. There are some of the longest seats in the world. The benches are made of stone and are shaped like meandering waves. The surface is randomly collaged with mosaic fragments, with different graphics and hidden meanings. The bench is designed according to human body mechanics, and the backrest curve is just right, making people feel very comfortable sitting on a hard stone chair. The bench is designed with different objects in mind. The outer arc is for a single seat, and the inner arc is slightly wider for a couple. This unique design has a special interest.

In Park Guell, there are many sections with elevated corridors with sloping columns that look like natural caves. Some are divided into upper and lower floors, both of which can be walked around. Most of its columns are slanted. They seem to be about to overturn at any time, but they have stood firm for nearly a century. They seem to be intentionally showing people a mechanical experimental comparison of slanted columns and straight columns.

Tile fragments, glass fragments and rough stones, the cheapest building materials, create the most gorgeous gestures, full of Gaudí!

In the afternoon, I went to La Boqueria market and bought seafood to make cuttlefish and prawn pasta. Everything was sold in the market and the prices were very good. It should be noted that the freshly squeezed juice at the entrance stall is 2.5 euros, a little more inside is 1.5 euros, and a little more inside is 1 euro. 😁

A large basket of cherries is 2.99 euros, prawns are 2.99 euros/kg, and an extra-large cuttlefish is 6.5 euros (not shipped).

Rich women were shopping for luxury goods on Gracià Street in the afternoon. I sat on a chair on the street below my apartment and stared at passers-by. After getting familiar with a city, getting to know the surrounding environment, knowing how to switch subways, buses, and trains skillfully, keeping up with the locals' eating and resting rhythms, knowing how to order food, it's almost time to leave.

Barcelona, ​​awesome!

It is recommended to stay for 4-5 days. You can walk slowly and see things slowly. There are still many places we have not visited.

Day 5 – Cannes, Nice

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In the morning, I went to the car rental company to pick up the car. The Mercedes-Benz E I was promised was replaced by a BMW 5 Series of the same grade. I was a little disappointed, but the trunk of the BMW is indeed quite powerful, and the four 24-inch boxes fit nicely. . The next week was all about this Dabao. 😁

So we left Barcelona and headed north. 2 hours to enter France. Destination Nice, via Marseille and Cannes.

*Ps Dabao can run 750 kilometers on a full tank of fuel, and it is estimated that it can run 800 kilometers on all highways. It costs 65 euros to refill the tank.

The first stop was Marseille, France (failed).

Google Navigation does not have voice prompts (actually, I am a pig and didn’t turn on the voice prompts). I was chatting while driving and drove the wrong way all the way to Lyon . After driving dozens of kilometers, I turned around and reset. After driving dozens of kilometers in Marseille, I took the wrong road and went straight to Cannes! Oh my god, I have no connection with Marseille, and I passed by him twice. Without forcing it, Dabao drove directly to the planned second stop, Cannes.

*Ps Google Navigation only needs to set the route when there is a network, and then you can turn off the cellular network, so that you can drive long distances without using any data. The powerful Google, voice prompts are finally turned on, and you can still talk without a network, so in advance You will be reminded to change lanes at 400 meters/800 meters/3 kilometers.

We saw on the map that we were traveling through the Provence region. It was half a month early and the lavender season had not yet arrived, so we could only see the gray-purple buds ready to open. Think hard: one side is the sea, and the other side is the lavender fields of Provence. 😅😅

(The picture below is a screenshot from the Internet)

He was speeding on the highway at a speed of 140 kilometers per hour, but he kept being overtaken by motorcycles. Lao Kai said that a 1000cc motorcycle can reach a speed of 200 kilometers per hour. My mother, you need to take Baoxin Pills first. More than half of the people driving on the highway are old men and women. Almost all of them are RVs and convertibles. The scorching sun and strong wind wear sunglasses that make their hair and scarves flutter. I just want to say that Chinese people can’t do anything foreigners can do.

*Ps Spanish drivers are very good at driving, drive very fast, and have good moral character. The speed limit on Spanish highways is 120 kilometers, and in France the speed limit is 110 kilometers to 130 kilometers (there are upper and lower limits). Because driving with left-hand drive is no different from driving in China (Chinese driving license can be used, no notarization is required, just bring a translation). You can change lanes, but there is no need to fight for the lane. As long as you turn on the turn signal, the car behind you will let you go. The premise is that you must strictly abide by the traffic rules. Seat belts are required for all occupied seats. You cannot turn right when the light is red, you must wait for the light to turn green. The entrances and exits of the highway are clearly written and numbered. The roads in the city are clearly marked, and some lane changes are marked on the ground. Vehicles other than TAXI and BUS are not allowed to enter.

Arrive in Cannes in the evening. Cannes has a beach and a port full of yachts. All the cars on the road are convertibles, and most of the beauties in the passenger seat are wearing bikinis. The film festival at the end of May had just ended and we were late. It wouldn't have anything to do with us if we came early. 😁

Cannes is located near the port city of Nice in southern France. It is nestled at the foot of the green mountains and is on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. The Rivera Bay has locked up several small towns on the seaside, occupying a unique geographical location with a 5-kilometer-long beach and four sides. Flowers that never fade, strolling through the city, the white buildings, the blue sea, and rows of tall emerald palm trees set off against each other, forming a beautiful natural scenery.

I had a meal facing the old port of Cannes, I don’t know whether it was lunch or dinner. Anyway, I was satisfied and full. I sat quietly for a while and watched the lives of the rich.

Climbing to the nearby mid-level mountain, I arrived a little late, as the church and museum were closed. But here you can overlook the entire Old Port and most of the city. The scenery is so charming that I couldn't bear to leave after sitting there for a long time.

Continue driving to your destination Nice. Nice is a port city in southern France on the Mediterranean coast. It is located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It is the administrative center of the Alpes-Maritimes province and the fifth largest city in France.

The roads where I live are very small. In fact, they are not roads, just small alleys. Dabao couldn't drive in at all. Only then did he realize why Europeans like small cars so they can park, drive and turn easily. My Dabao is super wide, long, and heavy. It takes three or four pulls to turn around in the alley.

The alley in the picture below is passable by cars! real! When you can't get through, just ask someone to put the chair back a little bit! 😓

After everyone settled in, we sat on the Bay of Angels in Nice, waiting for the sunset, and the twilight was charming. The beach at Angel Bay is not sand, it’s all pebbles!

The fisherman met an Italian in such a romantic place and asked each other to stay on Facebook. Oh my god, you need any account at the critical moment, or if you are really in love, leave a WeChat account!

Day 6 – Principauté de Monaco

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The bars in Nice are open until midnight and are very noisy at night. Then breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner will continue at 8 a.m. . . 24/7!

It takes 30 minutes to drive along the coast from Nice to Monaco, and 15 minutes to travel around the country by car. There are many mini-countries on the European continent. They have small land area, small population, and are very wealthy. The Principality of Monaco is one of them. The famous Hollywood movie star Grace Kelly married to this country and became a princess. The famous Monte Carlo Casino attracts countless people to visit or spend large sums of money every year. The Monaco Station of Formula 1 is one of the few urban circuits.

We didn’t gamble either. We also drove on the urban racetrack with hairpin turns. There were so many curves and forks that we kept driving the wrong way and accidentally ended up in France! Sitting in a century-old restaurant facing the sea at the port, the service is attentive, the food is exquisite, and the prices are conscientious.

*Ps There are no air conditioners or fans in the outdoor seats of the restaurant along the way, but it is so cool.

Returning to Nice in the afternoon, the journey was extremely beautiful. A colleague said there was a terrorist attack here a year ago! 😱

Back in Nice, the rich women went shopping again. There happened to be a second-hand book market on the weekend. I strolled around the market leisurely and drank beer in the cafe next to it like the local old men and women. The boss gave me a cup of potato chips. I had no interest in putting them aside, but a group of unknown birds took turns stealing 5 or 6 potato chips! OMG!

Day 7 – Roca Village Outlets

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San Pellegrino in the supermarket costs 0.85 euros per liter, so on the way we each had a 1L bottle and drank generously!

We originally planned to go to Marseille again on the way back, but considering that the port cities are similar, we gave up Marseille (passing by for the third time). Go straight to the outlets of Roca Village! The rich ladies are going crazy again.

*Ps In Spain, you can basically get a tax refund of 11-12% in cash. The larger the purchase amount, the more refund you will get. There was no queue at the cash refund counter at Madrid Airport (or are we just lucky?!)

1) The basic process for cash tax refund is to get stamped first. There are stamps inside and outside the airport. After checking in and passing customs and passport control, you can go to the bank counter to directly withdraw cash. 2) For credit card refunds, you can directly deliver the tax refund form to the yellow mailbox before entering customs after it has been stamped. It will be refunded directly to the card in about 40 days. 3) Currently, some merchants also support Alipay tax refund, and you can directly fill in your Alipay account number to complete the tax refund. Tax refund forms can be refunded to Alipay as long as they have an Alipay account.

Stay at night in a small city called Badalona, ​​30 minutes away from Barcelona. I thought I could save some time by not entering Barcelona, ​​but I don’t recommend stopping here. The city is small and quiet, with no restaurants open at 8pm. This is a bit different from our understanding that we only start eating at 10 o'clock. Moreover, the hotel does not have a hot water kettle, so the idea of ​​making instant noodles cannot be realized. After walking a few intersections, the only open and crowded restaurant was an Indian restaurant, but no English was spoken and there was no English menu. Google Translate came on again, and with some effort, I ordered curry chicken and fried rice, which were surprisingly delicious. Maybe I was tired and hungry from shopping in the afternoon.

Day 8 – Valencia surprise

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On the way to Valencia, Luo Yan mentioned that there is a place called La Muralla Roja an hour further south, which is the original version of Monument Valley.

I had set up the navigation and found out on the way there that it was not open to the public. Unless you can book a hotel there or become a guest at AIRBNB, you can move around freely. I couldn’t go there if I didn’t plan well, so I’ll share the stolen pictures with you, it’s great!

(The picture is a screenshot from the Internet)

Reset course back to real life. Valencia is particularly worth visiting. The third largest city in Spain. It has developed agriculture and is the largest granary in Spain. I was originally prepared to give up on her because of lack of travel time. The city is too elegant and charming, so I suggested staying for 2 nights, but our arrangement was not good enough.

Our residence, Bubu 4 Apartment, is located in the center of the old city. It is surprisingly full of design and has a small balcony with an iron frame! The landlord has several houses nearby and sent a housekeeper to take us in. Although he didn't speak much English, communication was easy. The only drawback is that there is no elevator. You need to carry your luggage to the 3rd floor, which is actually the 4th floor! The corridor is extremely narrow, just like the spiral escalator in the Sagrada Familia.

The landlord actually has an old antique in his house, which is called "shelf cupboard" in Shanghainese. There used to be one in my grandmother's house, which was used to store dishes, dishes and leftovers cooked that day. There was no refrigerator before!

*Ps We parked Dabao in the basement under the square. There are basically no parking spaces in old houses. The parking fee every night basically ranges from 10 to 30 euros. Since the birth of Dabao, several ladies are reluctant to move their golden legs as long as the distance is more than 3 kilometers! Many attractions have been changed to car tours! 😁

Day 9 – Walk in V city

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Valencia's old town maintains its antique style, and most of the main attractions are concentrated in this area. The city's silk market was selected as a World Cultural Heritage. The original name of Valencia means "strong" and "vital" in Latin. There are bicycle rental shops everywhere. Indeed, it is very suitable to use bicycles for slow travel.

After breakfast, we walked through the streets and alleys of V City, visiting the Silk Museum, the Saint's Fountain, and the main church. . .

As long as there are walls and doors, there is graffiti. There are too many.

Returning to Madrid in the evening, this time I stayed in the museum and Gallery area, and the surrounding environment was very atmospheric. The weather was sunny all the way, but after the fisherman and I threw away the broken umbrellas we had brought along with us, it rained for 10 minutes at night! The rain put out the 38° heat wave in Madrid, it’s cool!

Every time I stay there, there are surprises. I am really surprised that an old house like Matute 11 can even have an elevator. However, the elevator can only carry two people and there is a sign saying "NO for three people"! 😁

After turning a corner, I found several paella restaurants. This is Luoyan and I's favorite, our true love, our only one.

Day 10 – The Last Paella

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I went to Cafe & Tapas at 9 o'clock in the morning and ordered a cup of coffee, and then sat there until 10 o'clock waiting for the kitchen to start working. Before leaving, you must have another piece of paella, the last piece of Paella!

When I went to the airport to return the car, I found that the tire pressure warning light was on. The staff of the car rental company tried hard to tell me that it was okay! 😅

The total journey was 2219.4 kilometers. Thank you for your hard work. He protected us from the wind and sun all the way. He worked continuously under the scorching sun and performed well.

Fantastic trip, happy to have you with me, on the road, never stop.

J.