Wow we have already been here six days! It has been busy. The apartment John found was fabulous. I don’t really like studios normally. It’s the kitchen in the bedroom thing I find a bit of a challenge but this one was so lovely I decided I could cope. It’s a corner apartment on the third floor surrounded by balconies, filled with light and a very clever layout.

Then there’s the location…right in the centre of the historic centre! We walk everywhere. John complains when it’s eleven minutes! We’re off to a flamenco concert tonight…three minutes. We’re only here a week so we focus on the centre and of course a visit to Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencies is a given.

So day one and it’s an evening stroll to Plaza de la Reina and an Aperol and an Aigua de Valencia to celebrate our arrival in the city which is the birthplace of paella, and just such a charming Spanish city which cleverly blends the old with the new.

It’s breakfast. I’m hungry. It’s Spain. No one is out of bed before 10! I’m starving. Surprisingly, the famed Mecado Central is not open. Actually a lot of things are not open on Sunday but there is always a bacon and egg McMuffin. I’m shamed. I don’t care. I’m sated and my foul mood has abated. John’s happy.

The decision is made.Time to reconnoitre. Apparently the main drag is Colon and it’s open. Of course it’s open. So interesting. Alive with all the franchises. We did find a few independents selling ham and cheese at eye-watering prices and yes we purchased. It was Spain’s famed Imberico ham and Manchego cheese. Of course I know this because I travel with a living encyclopaedia. John has an enormous amount of information stored in his neocortex which he has the ability to actually source when he chooses!!!! Our day was complete when we were lured into the tapas bar and indulged. Oh this is my idea of heaven.

The Central market opens from 7:30am to 3:00pm Monday to Friday and shorter hours on Saturday. Of course this is a joke. It’s Spain. 7:30AM!!!!!!! We arrived at 9:48 (according to photo metadata) and almost half the stalls were opening while other stragglers staggered in and gingerly opened their shutters. And customers??? Well they too were few and far between. Still John found olives and I found butter…which was more of a challenge than one would expect. Naturally I Googled ‘butter’ and got ‘manteca’. No no no…that is not what you want. Fortunately I met a wonderful woman with a fabulous sense of humour who laughed and said…’Oh no, no no, you want man-te-key-ah (mantequilla)’. Ha ha…of course, I do! I have since discovered that ‘manteca’ is pork fat used for cooking. She was right….’guiri’ (gee-ree!) – or gringo- take you pick they both describe the ignorant.

Next we headed for what we initially thought was the Silk Museum but was in fact The Silk Exchange- La Lonja- Valencia’s Gothic monument par excellence built between 1482 and 1492- an architectural masterpiece and we were enthralled.

We needed sustenance. Well a drink, anyway. Of course John knew a place. We headed for Café de las Horas and partook of dos Aigua de Valencia.

Our day was complete when we decided to have dinner at the restaurant at the base of our building called Haus. John had garlic prawns swimming in a shallow ramequin filled with hot olive oil saturated with garlic and chilli and a school of peeled prawns accompanied by a sliver of warm bread. He was in heaven.

And that was day 3!