It was about a 40min walk from our hotel to the train station (we picked the farther one by accident), so we woke up extra early to get to the train station. It wasn’t enough time to enjoy a coffee at a cafe but that’s okay. I don’t want to have to pee at the train station anyway!
Once we got to the train station, Vince opted for a cappuccino at Caffe di Fiore. So the concept of coffees with varying amounts of steamed milk and foam is a european concept so even the most simple latte at a train station tastes so rich and good. This cappuccino was also topped with cocoa powder.
After a 2.5hr train ride from Barcelona to Valencia, we made it! We checked out the Central Market that was literally a block away from our hotel. It is full of fresh groceries from seafood to fish to meats to a lot of fruits and vegetables. They’re open from 7-3pm every day local time.
Okay so we haven’t eaten lunch yet so now we go to the “tapas land” of Valencia as our hotel host told us to get some tapas! We walked towards the Plaza de Horno San Nicolas. That is the edge of where there will be more tapas. We ended up walking to the Torres de Quart (one of the towers called Quart) and found a tapas restaurant called La Pizca de Sal.
CROQUETAS CASERAS DE BACALAO. Homemade cod croquette. It was very hot so freshly fried.
The inside of the croquette was so airy, buttery and flaky from the cod fish.
CANELONES DE RABO DE TORO ADERAZADOS AL PEDRO XIMENEZ. Piquillo pepper stuffed with beef over sauce Pedro XIMENEZ. This was our absolute favorite!!!! Vince said it would be his most favorite tapa since we’ve gotten here! The Piquillo pepper is very thin and easily cut. The beef that is stuffed inside is so savory, flavorful and tender. This cheesy sauce on top just makes me fall in love! It was so insanely creamy. I wish I could have licked my plate!
CLOCHINAS/SOLO EN TEMPORADA. steamed mussels. Their steamed mussels are more orange in color in Spain than in America I’ve noticed! It was soaking in a warm bath of light butter, olive oil and lemon with garlic.
PULPO A LA SARTEN CON PARMENTIER Y PIMENTON DE LA VERA. Galician octopus. This was grilled octopus sitting on top of partially soft potatoes. There was more char and had a chew to it. The potatoes were soft but not like the purée I was chasing at Barcelona.
PUNTILLA. Small squid. I ordered calamari by mistake again!!! 🙁 It just said small squid on the menu. They are baby squid and the squid itself is very soft and tender and flavorful, but ugh I was trying to avoid calamari here!!!!
FONDANT DE CHOCOLATE CRUJIENTE Y HELADO DE PISTACHIO. Crunchy chocolate fondant cake with pistachio ice cream. Oh my god did we just order ice cream on top of a brownie?! Actually it wasn’t a brownie.. it just looked like it. It’s much softer and creamy than a brownie. The top has a very crunchie edge. The pistachio ice cream had a nutty flavor but very mild pistachio flavor.
After a very lunch, we walked around to all the major sites of Valencia such as the Torres de Serranos, Basilica, Catedral, Plaza de la Virgen, city hall and post office in an hour. That’s it!! That’s all of tiny Valencia!
So we were going to do a late dinner at like 10pm, but 8pm is came by and we were both still so exhausted. We showered and rested for a bit in our hotel room. I was secretly dozing off. We’ve done soooo much walking! We decided that since our hotel room in Valencia is a deluxe room with a mini kitchen and couch and table, why don’t we go get a bottle of wine, some orange juice and empanadas “take away” and relax in the hotel room for the night?
So Vince found a local wine store. It’s crazy funny because we both realized we didn’t even know how to pick wine when we got there. We just went off of pretty labels!
I picked this one because it was colorful. Vince double checked it online and it had good reviews! It was just like 0.2 miles away. Then we went to a grocery store for some orange juice and water bottles because we were running low. All grocery stores in Valencia are called dias.
Dempanadas was packed with young ones and super cute inside. We got friendly vibes minus divy from it.
Our four empanadas take away.
The hot spicy beef empanada was our least favorite. It was a little on the dry side and definitely could have used a sweet sauce or something.
The beef, white wine and spices empanada was very juicy and tasty. This was one of our more favorite ones. Too bad it was also one of the smaller empanadas!
I personally like the York ham and cheese because it reminds me of ham and eggs hot pockets.
The bacon, plums and goat cheese empanada was a nice salty and sweet flavors coming together.
I was honestly chasing after the fresh orange juice we got for free at our Lisbon hotel and at the coffee shop but it’s not the same!!! Ugh, can only get it at the restaurants. Their orange juice is so fresh and good here! I believe it’s better than America’s .. It tasted a little different but still good.
Well, time for a good night’s rest for a full day tomorrow.. and every day after that for another week.
