Friday or Day 24: Valencia Museums and Metro Stations, common gardens and the central plaza

Valencia is gorgeous indeed! Every day I discover something new and exciting. There are so many vivid and precious places scattered all over the city... I will need many hours walking to get to know a fraction of them. The architecture here has its peculiarities. In the living quarters north of the river's bank the housing is lower and colorful and the streets straight. The new part of the city is near the beach and the famous City of Arts and Science made by the big Spanish architect Calatrava.

And I have to admit that I am not the greatest fan of Santiago Calatrava's works but they are very captivating. At the first glance you may find them ugly and way too big for the surrounding scale but after a couple of minutes the beauty and the ideas show through. He also made this metro station called Alameda which is a Trans board station between line 3 and 5 of the city metro. It is under the bridge with the same name in the park of the river Turia.

Then you enter the historic center with its narrow streets where the sun barely shows. A walk there is the perfect way to spend some money for presents. From the candy store just at the beginning, taking some lemon “granizado” from the near Cafeteria to refresh your head, later passing around the shop of the Pamplona based designers KUKUXUMUSU and their funny T-shirts…

My opinion: They are the most interesting Spanish Gift you could possibly imagine and I am in love with one green umbrella. By the way they make the metro cards of the city. Check them here!

Then you get to the Plaza de la Virgen, the central square of the historic town, in front of the Gothic Cathedral which the inhabitants here call La CEU. The most pleasant way to wait for your buddies is sitting on the three stairs and watching the passing people.


And here are some random shots that I made these 10 days! Enjoy!

fountain and light...

somewhere near the City Hall

A hidden art museum :")

MUViM- one of the nicest places around!!!

Residential gardens

A deserted backyard

Another Metro Station- M. Serreria, linea 5

Photos: me! :")

P.S- Sweet Nev and Dear Nezzo I will write what are my dreams as soon as possible :") I am so glad for your kind invitations! Kiss you both!

Friday or Day 17: First model and ideas for my project

Hello to all! 

Spain is great but I am really bisy with my first projest over here. It is really important to get it all right and nicely done. It consist of six residential buildings with common parts on a very interesting terrain in Palma de Mallorca, on Mallorca. I find that the island is really great and I will visit the site on 23/24 of October. Wish me luck cause I have some real nice ideas!

This is the paper model of the terrain Really small details and many hours of work to do it. Thanks to my colleage Vale for the help and the materials! Gracias, Vale! Otra vez!

Friday or Day 10: I proudly present you my living space!

When I came to Spain I had to look for a room . I found one thanks to my friend Lori. It is situated in the Old Arabic District only 30 minutes walking from the center of the city or 10if you prefer the Metro. The flat is big and exterior which here means that the windows are looking to the street and not to the enclosed spaces of the inner patios. Better for me. My room is around 6 square meters, 2 by 3 meters; well lit, tidy, clean, with white plastered walls and mosaic floor. In here all I have is a bed (a small one), a desk (also small), a bookshelf and a wardrobe. I like it. Many people would think that it is too confined,but in reality it is great to have your oln living space with the freedom to do whatever you want inside.

Here it is:

My bed and bookshelf

...closer look to my books :)

My new pen holder! Isn't nice? It has a dragon on itself!!! I saw it and I just grab it from the shelf in the bookstore...from Busquets- 3,50 euros

The living room

And the view from my window. Nice and quiet street with orange trees ...

photos: me

Thursday or Day 9: Glazed Vegetables and getting some decent sleep at last

Holá a todos! Hello everybody!

After making a Bulgarian Themed Dinner in Day 5 for some foreign friends and visiting one of the most interesting bars in the city named Bla-Bla in Day 6 which ended as long night walk  and only 3 hours of sleep before my classes...and Day 7's long talk with my flat mates until 4 o'clock in the morning... I find that the motto of this Spanish city is perfect : Life without sleep or as they say it Vivir sin dormir!

It is just me but I think that less than 8 hours of sleep daily is madness? So I found that living in Valencia might tire you. I overslept today. I was so tired that I couldn't get out my bed until noon. My classes for today were doomed. No way I would go outside in the 36 C summer heat. So I stayed home and made some nice food. I present you my Glazed Vegetables with Honey and Soy Sauce and Basmati Rice with fresh herbs (only hierbabuena in my case...).

It is fresh dish, perfect for lunch. Here enjoy it! 

It was a nice day... I still have to go to the beach, but anyway, there is nothing better than home made food, swiss chocolate, some chat with your loved ones and well deserved rest.

Photo: me :")

Sunday or Day 5: Spending all the time in my bed

I am now officially living in Valencia for the next 9 months as an Erasmus Student. The first days were pretty intense but as the weekend in Spain is quite tranquil and calm I have all the time needed to change my blog layout (at last!) and post my first impressions from the voyage.

Well, here it comes: Valencia is (not so much) big Mediterranean City with lots of nice, well kept buildings, plenty of bars, a big bunch of international students, good well developed metro and transport system, green streets and clean walkways, nicely thought alleys and parks, 130 km. of bicycle roads!, impressive historic center. It is also home of the paella valenciana, la horchata, las fallas and three awesome beaches that are located a 20 minutes from the city center.

I love it! It is the perfect size, not too big, not too small...

The way to get here is with planе: 4 hours without trans-board from Sofia or 7 in my case with one in Rome. The Italian airport is pretty disorganized, you can't get a single word from what they are saying. There was a free WI-FI, but I couldn't connect...so I had to wait for my plain patiently until 10 minutes before my boarding they just decided to change my boarding gate. The result is running through the airport with a backpack (around 10 kilos) to get in time. I wasn't very pleased.

Room and living quarters. Here I need to say a big THANK YOU! to a great friend of mine who took me from the airport to her apartment and was taking care for me these days. Apart of that finding a room is pretty easy here. Finding a cheap one not so much. At the cost of 270 euros monthly you can live in a shared flat in the real center of the city, but I don't recommend it. Too much noise, burglary and it is costly to eat...

For now there is only one great disadvantage: I miss my friends, my brother and my family, as I miss Him. Apart of this I am extremely happy to be here.

This is it for now. Some photos to come soon. :")

Saturday or Day 4: Dos Horchatitas, por favor!

La Horchata is typical drink for the southern regions of Spain.They serve it really cold or as crushed iced smoothie. It is made from some seeds and has sweet, but uniquely refreshing taste. I recommend it for everyone who comes near Valencia to taste it.

The place in which I tried it for the first time is in the center of the city, a small cafe-bar with a view at the Parque Paterne, a few meters from La calle de la Nave. I loved it. The drink, the park, the street with its passing people, the lovely humor of the bartender. Spain can be great indeed...