El Palmar and La Albufera- Un dia perfecto

Well after about 2 weeks of not doing anything touristy, I promised myself last weekish, that I would do at least one touristy thing per week.  (Last week Margaux and I checked out El Museu de Bellas Artes, Valencias fine arts museum)
Well this week, we opted for a day trip. After researching a highly recommended website, Hola Valencia we decided to check out El Palmar and La Albufera.
La Albufera is the main attraction, a lagoon (lake/bay?) about 40 minutes outside of Valencia. Its adjoining town is El Palmar, and it is rumored to be the birthplace of Paella (but then again, every pueblo in Valencia also makes this claim)
We followed the recommended itinerary from the website, and for the most part it worked out perfectly (except we did have to wait an extra hour for the bus there which we filled the spare time with a coffee at a cafe... and one other setback i will get to later)

Anyway, after a nice 45 minute bus ride, we arrived en El Palmar. We learned very quickly, that there really is not much to this town besides Paella, and Boat tours of La Albufera. We decide first, lets scope out this little pueblito (this took all of 20 minutes to take a complete tour of the town!)
One of the main attractions are the Barracas.
These houses are the original houses of El Palmar and Valencia, with roofs of straw, where the entire family lives in only 2 rooms!

I believe this may be the oldest Barraca in the neighborhood! What is very typical about most Barracas, is that you will usually find crosses on the roofs. This is because when the Christians invaded Spain and took over, they demanded that all Moors convert to Christianity. The way the would know is if they bear a cross on their house. If there was no cross, it was implied they refused to convert; and as a result, the Christians would burn your house down! Pretty serious stuff!

a survivor!

After marveling at the Barraca and the tiny town with nothing much more to see, it was time for Almuerzo! (occurs at 2 or 3, and is the largest meal of the day)
We chose a restaurant on the main road that had a lot of people sitting there. This is how we usually choose our restaurants: whichever has the most people sitting outside eating must mean its really good, so we'll join too!
This decision did not disappoint! We were served peanuts and olives, bread, and a plate of fresh tomatoes drizzled with olive oil (how Mediterranean! however we later learned this cost an extra 5 euro, a minor price for such delicious aperitivos!)
We opted to order a nice bottle of white wine, gambas al ajo (shrimp in garlic sauce) and two paellas to split between 4 people.
Now, there were so many paella choices, and it was a tough decision because this town claims to have birthed Paella- the national meal of Spain! But we went with our guts and chose two must haves!
Margaux was insistent on Paella Negro, and it was most of our first times trying this. Paella is usually a yellow color from the pricey fancy spice, Saffron, but this Paella is black from the ink from squids! So naturally this Paella also includes some delicious calamari.

Our next choice was a must have since we are on the Mediterranean: Paella de Mariscos (seafood!)
This includes shrimp, muscles and prawns and is much more salty than the other. It comes with lemons to garnish and compliment the seafood flavor. (the only setback is how messy you can get trying to get the meat out from the exoskeletons- but trust me- its worth it!)

Whats great about paella is that the flavor does not leave when the chunks of goodness leave. All of the rice keeps the flavor of its ingredients, making it delicious to the last drop!

After our delicious almuerzo, it was time for a relaxing boat ride on the Albufera, the large beautiful lagoon. We met Luis who offered us a good time on his Barca for 4 euro per person!
This was well worth it because it also included a glass of dessert wine-Moscatell (which was very very very sweet!)
Luis and his partner from Brazil took us out on the boat, and Luis even taught us how to "paddle" this large boat with this large piece of bamboo. Here is what you do:
Stand up straight and tall, one foot in front of the other to keep your balance. Hold the bamboo stick at your side then release quickly to allow the stick to dig deep into the bottom of the lagoon. Then, maintaining your erect position, move your hands upwards on the bamboo while pushing it behind you.

clearly a professional!

After our private lesson, we just relaxed and enjoyed the scenes of La Albufera, where you can see lots of different birds and fish

We decide today was a great day, lets head out. We had back to the bus station, and wait about 40 minutes and we realize somethings up. After much research, we learn that the next bus wont be coming for another two hours!!!!


We refuse to wait, so we go into town in search of other methods for getting back into Valencia. Looks like our options are try to squeeze 5 in a cab and pay 30 euro (we paid 1.75 each to get there) or, hitchhike (hey, lots of people hollered at us from their cars driving by, maybe someone was serious?) We weighed the options and decided risking a hitchhike was better than waiting 2 hours for the next bus.
Luckally during one of Addies expeditions, she asked a small group for change for a 50. They were so generous and worked it out for her. We found them again on accident, and they noticed our worry and stress. They asked us what was wrong, and we explained the situation. And just our luck, they have a FURGONETA and will take us back to Valencia, they have enough room! (furgonetas are always saving the day!)
It gets better, they have a YELLOW furgoneta (van), and I mean BANANA yellow! Wait, in the back there is a fold down bed!! Our new friends are quite the travelers and sleep in this van when they travel around the country! The only rule: shoes off!

our new Israeli friend Eyal who we like to call THE SITUATION due to the resemblance

Gonzalo, owner and captain of the yellow furgoneta

Although we could not talk to our new friends during the ride, we made the best of it when an American song and dance party. We sang hits that consisted of T-Payne Buy you a drank, Im in Love with a Stripper, and lil Mama's Lipgloss

You will all be very happy to know that I am writing this blog as a survivor of hitchhiking. I did not become a victim to some freak accident. Spaniards are all genuinely nice and helpful!


They even dropped us off right in our neighborhood! We promised to meet them later for Chupitos de Amistad (friendship shots!) Which were postponed until the next day due to Margaux leaving her phone in the back of the furgoneta! But Im sure this was not the last we will see of our friends of the yellow furgoneta