After the wedding, we got to relax in Malaga for the weekend with friends and family. After a lovely brunch at the hotel, we headed to some friends' villa on a hill. It was a beautiful place. Then we headed back to central Malaga and checked in to the AC Palacio Hotel Malaga. It's a great hotel, and will be our go-to for future trips. We enjoyed some time at the pool and relaxed after the craziness of the wedding.
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| View from the rooftop at the AC Palacio |
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| View of La Manquita from the rooftop |
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| View of El Muelle and the port |
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| Street art from the Calle Granada entrance to El Pimpi |
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| Plaza Merced |
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| Statue of Pablo Picasso in Plaza Merced |
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| No open container laws in Spain! |
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| The best doner in Malaga - this is when Tyler got his second within a couple hours |
The weekend after our wedding was Corpus Christi.
Corpus Christi is the Catholic holiday to honor presence of the body of Christ in the holy water. It is celebrated throughout Spain and is held in either May or June, depending on when Easter occurs. It includes processionals throughout the city, with altars placed along Calle Larios.
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| Kelcy's doner while watching the processional |
After leaving Malaga, we got back on the road to go to Valencia. Unknowingly to me, I had booked a room at a hotel I had stayed at previously with my mom and brother. You can't see the card that well below, but it says "Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Klein." That one really made me chuckle. The room at Sorolla Central is fine, but I'll want to check out a different part of town if we ever return.
While in Valencia, we went to a paella cooking class that we had booked on Viator. They picked us up at the hotel with a translator (who couldn't translate) and took us out to
Mi Paella en el Huerto, which was in Riola (outside Valencia). We drove through miles of rice fields to get there, and it was hard to remember that we were even in Spain.
Here is a great article that explains the preparation.
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| The master paellero who taught us how to make paella |
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| "Real Valencia Paella" only has a mixture of certain ingredients: rabbit (conejo), chicken (pollo), white beans (garrofón), green beans (judias), and rice (arroz) |
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| Adding the coloring agent |
While the paella was cooking, the school offered us some very cold beers and an amazing food spread. How did they expect us to eat all this food??? The food was absolutely fantastic, and so were the views.
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| Fresh Valencia tomatoes ~ The beginning of June was the prime season for these |
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Clockwise from bottom right: tomatoes (tomates), tortilla español, tomato sauce, olives (aceitunas), bread (pan), nuts (cacahuates), esgarrat (a Valencia tapa consisting of grilled red peppers, cured cod, garlic and olive oil), salchicón (sausage) and manchego cheese
We washed it all down with two very cold Mahous |
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| Adding a little more salt |
On our drive back to Valencia, we stopped at La Albufera. It was a beautiful vista, and an important place for migratory birds and local birds to nest. The lake was immense. Valencia has so many surprises!
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| Valencia beaches are incredible. The sand goes on forever at the Playa de la Malvarrosa. |
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| Waiting for the train back in to the city with one of our beach gift bags. #expeditioneldredge |
After leaving Valencia, we decided to stop randomly along the coast after driving a couple hours up the coast. We stopped at a small beach city called Miami. We drove almost literally up to the beach and decided to have a delicious meal overlooking the beach and ocean.
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| Rosé by the beach |
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| Sorry for the terrible pictures, but wanted to show you our incredible spread |
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| Boquerones (fried anchovies) eated whole ~ These are delicious with some fresh lemon |
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| Seafood Platter served on this ingenious griddle |
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| Almejas (clams) served with a delicious tomato sauce |
Sadly, we had to get back on the road. Hence, the face below.... We were heading to Girona for a night, before leaving Spain for this trip.
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| Steps in Girona ~ They film Game of Thrones here, so many places looked familiar from Bravos on the show |
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| We had some delicious Mexican food in Girona. |
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| The view from the balcony at the hotel. I really think we were the only ones staying the hotel. |
After leaving Spain, we spent one night in Lyon, France before returning home and picking up Cleo (who definitely missed us). We both wanted to get home after leaving Spain, but we already miss it and our friends and family. Most importantly, I miss my cafés con leche.
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| Mmmm...cafe con leche |
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