Calling All Meerkats, Lemurs and Turtles

I’m so behind on my postings! I’m going to make an attempt to catch up since Mike just left…Monday :( There’s not too much more too fill you in on but let’s get back to Bioparc…

So on our last day in Valencia Mike and I headed to Bioparc. It’s like a zoo/safari type place, so basically the animals aren’t really in cages but rather in open areas that are fenced off and you can walk around (outside the fences/wall things) and get really close.  They call it “nature in the open.” Some of the areas you could even touch the animals like with the birds and lemurs. Well I suppose you could touch them but we didn’t try, I was scared they’d bite me or something lol.

So there are 4 “themes” in the park: Madagascar, Savannah, Wetlands and Equatorial Forest. They are full of SOOO many different animals like zebras, ostriches, lions, leopards, flamencos, rhinos, hippos, hyenas, tons of different monkeys, lemurs, meerkats, camels, mongooses, big turtles and tons more. I tried to get pics of pretty much everything so just check out the photos in the album (Mike's visit)

I loved all the animals but I DID NOT want to leave the meerkats!  They’re the cutest…and I really wanted to take one home (still do…).

I think Mike was about ready to snatch up one of the lemurs though…he got to stand right next to them…too fun!

After a few hours at the Bioparc we had seen everything so we decided to head out.

It was getting close to lunch time so we went to this small town called Port Saplaya (I think) just North of Valencia (I literally mean just a few min on the highway…super close) and grabbed some food. And that stop was WELL worth it. The restaurant, El Faro, was right near the ocean and so, of course, we had to get the seafood. We tried an assortment of different things like calamari, mussels (that tasted like they had JUST been caught out the ocean), sepia (i.e. cuttlefish?), some small fried fish (WHOLE) and washed it down with some Sangria. We were just in love with this place and the food, not to mention that we were then able to follow the amazing lunch with a walk on the beach :) It was all smiles from there.

 
We then decided to keep heading north because we needed to get to Peñíscola that night. We had about a 2 hour drive ahead of us but we extended it a little when we decided to stop in another small town. This one had been recommended to me by a friend so I figured; it’s on the way, why not?
Sagunto is the name of the town and we thought it would be a quick stop, we just wanted to see the castle BUT trying to get up to it was another story. We wanted to drive up there (or rather I did because I was not wearing hiking shoes) but just try to figure you’re way through traditional European streets, it’s IMPOSSIBLE. Lots of one ways, dead ends (that randomly end), and other streets that you just pray you can make it through because they’re so skinny. We ended up spending a decent chuck of time trying to find our way up but eventually we did get pretty close. We didn’t stop for long but we got some great pics and the town was just precious. Remember- SAGUNTO- it’s worth a visit.

After our quick stop we got back on the road and continued our drive up to Peñíscola. I had chosen to stay in the town because I had been told it was really pretty and it was also half way between Barcelona and Valencia, therefore a perfect resting point. Plus, it was on the beach. We got to the town and explored the place a bit, checked out the castle, walked near the beaches and saw a decent amount of the town (it's pretty small). I’m glad we did that the night we arrived because the next morning it POURED! I mean it REALLY poured! We were having some breakfast so we were relatively safe from all the rain (minus some of it dripping on us from the broken awning above us…). When it slowed down we headed straight for the car. Of course after the downpour the weather cleared up but unfortunately we had to head out to get to Barcelona…the car rental was due that evening! 

Once again we got back on the road and made our way up to Barcelona. Mike told me the drive was really pretty but I was knocked out so I didn’t see much haha. When we got to Barça we dropped the car off but not before driving the wrong way on a few one way streets…we wanted to fit it with all the terrible Spanish drivers (and yes, they’re bad…another story about that later). Then we were vehicles so we had to catch the train/shuttle into town and went to go find our hostel.
We were staying outside the main area of Barcelona but it ended up working out quite well. We had an early morning flight to catch (we had to be at the airport at 6am) and we were close to the train/shuttle to the airport. Needless to say, we didn’t so much in Barça with having to leave so early and all BUT we did get to check out a few cool things. We were staying near the Arenas de Barcelona, an old bull fighting ring that has been converted into a NICE shopping center. Now that bullfighting has been outlawed in Barcelona, I’m sure they’re having to be creative about what to do with the rings…

This place was cool though and they had tons of very nice stores. On the top of the building they also have a “lookout” area that overlooks Plaza de España and some big church looking building (we never figured out its actual name). The view was spectacular and we grabbed a quick pic there. After spending a couple hours wandering the “mall” we went to go get some grub. 

What I am about to tell you next is very important…

When you visit Barcelona you HAVE TO try out this restaurant: La Petite Fondue

We just stumbled across it when we were looking for a pizza joint and it was seriously some of the BEST pizza I’ve had in my life. It’s a super small restaurant and they recommend having reservations but we were lucky and got in just fine. I swear the place wouldn’t seat more than 20 people…Either way though, I LOVED IT. I’m even considering going back to Barça before I leave just to eat there. Yes it was amazing AND they have fondue!!! I really wanted to try the fondue but couldn’t manage to curb my pizza craving so we got pizza and a salad. BEST Bolognese pizza EVER!!! We contemplated buying another just to eat for breakfast in the morning. And 2 other pluses about the place- 1. Super nice staff (our waitress was Italian and almost started to speak in Italian with me instead of Spanish haha) 2. Really, really reasonable prices (our pizza, salad, jar of champagne sangria and dessert came to just under 30euro…yes I’m serious). So once again, JUST GO THERE!!!

(The address is C/ Sepulveda, 17   Barcelona 08015; phone is 935 19 67 50; the metro stop is Plaça d’Espanya (L3))

Well, the next morning we had to get up EARLY and get ourselves over to the airport. We got back to Malaga in less than 2 hours after leaving Barcelona…then had to wait there for the bus to Lucena. We got home to a very messy and foodless house BUT we were in luck because we were heading to Teresa’s for lunch! And man oh man; she made sure that Mike tried everything from Spain haha. We had a great time with them eating some delicious Spanish food and followed it with some homemade liquors. ALL good. After a few hours there I had to get back because I had a class that night. So we waddled our way home and that night we didn’t even need to eat dinner because of all the food we had eaten earlier. It was a very restful and relaxing evening…much needed because the rest of the week soon became busy.

The next day was Wednesday (it was a holiday weekend) so my work week was again really short- 2 days! That Thursday we ended up going out with the crew in Lucena and had some great tapas and fun company to share them with. The next day we were *supposed* to get up early to catch a 8am bus to Granada BUT one of my friends here offered to loan us his car! Yay! Spanish people seem to be so relaxed with their cars…It was super nice of him though and saved us and really early morning!

Obviously you know where we went to next- GRANADA! It’s lunch time here though and I have a class in 2 hours SO…I will have to tell you the rest later.