Valencia

My older brother, Andrew, came to visit over Thanksgiving and decided it'd be fun to run the Valencia Marathon while he was here (not relatable). He had just run his first ever marathon in New York City on November 3rd, so it was a pretty quick turn around time. Initially, there was a lot of uncertainty about whether the marathon would even take place given that at the end of October, Valencia experienced record rainfall and devastating flooding. On November 15th, the city of Valencia announced the marathon was going to proceed as scheduled, with hopes to unite the city and raise funds for relief efforts. Andrew decided to run it, and we made plans to visit and cheer him on!

Andrew running the final kilometer (out of 42) of the Valencia marathon

Friday, November 29

Andrew took a train to Valencia in the afternoon and Kevin and I caught an evening train after dinner. The train ride took about 3 hours and time flew by quickly while Kevin ran some experiments and we binged a few episodes of Silo on Apple TV+. The apartment was a 15 minute walk from the train station and we basically went straight to bed when we arrived. 

Saturday, November 30

Andrew got up and did a "shake out" run with a local running club and Kevin and I moseyed around town, stopping to get bagels and coffee. We stayed in a neighborhood called Russafa, which was very centrally located and walkable. I hadn't been to Valencia since May of 2016, when I stayed here with my friend, Javi, and his family after finishing my study abroad program, and it was fun to see the city again.

The city resembles Barcelona in a lot of ways, and they even have neighborhoods with the same names, like Eixample, for example. The layout of the streets in Eixample is very similar to the super blocks in Barcelona's Eixample, so it definitely felt familiar. The major difference, to me anyway, was that the colors of the buildings were lighter, brighter, and it felt more like a beach city. Prices in the city were also cheaper than in Barcelona. 

From the streets of Valencia

After breakfast, we walked down to Jardín del Turia, the city park and former riverbed that runs throughout the city. Although I don't remember exactly where Javi's parents live, I distinctly remember walking down to the park to go on jogs in the morning (who was I???) and that I really loved this park. The park is lined with trails, and it was really fun to see everyone out running and preparing for the big day. It also made me feel super lazy lol. 

We headed back to the apartment where we met Andrew and got ready to get picked up by our former host brother (from study abroad), Alvaro, to go to the Marathon Expo. The expo was at the Feria de Valencia, a big convention center just outside of town. Because the metros weren't running due to flood damage, Alvaro offered to take us! It was a quick 20 minute drive away, but when we arrived, we were shocked to see the massive line outside of the feria. We found a parking spot and waited in a line we initially heard would take 2 (!!!) hours. Luckily, the line moved more quickly than expected, and we were able to finish everything in a little over an hour. The expo was really cool, the energy was high, and I got a delicious chocolate-almond ice cream bar.

Finally making it inside

Kevin, me, Andrew, and Alvaro outside of the expo

Took a pic so I could figure out where to buy these... and it's from Mercadona

After returning to the expo, Alvaro and his wife, Mireya, hosted us for a very late lunch. They actually live in Russafa as well and had an amazing rooftop terrace with an outdoor dining table. They carb loaded us with pasta and pizza, and we had a lovely time catching up/getting to know each other. We shared lots of laughs and it was a great way to experience the city like locals.

A few pictures from our rooftop lunch

We walked back to our apartment to rest and later got out of the apartment to find food for a late dinner. Russafa was bustling with packed restaurants! We tried to grab a table at 3 different restaurants and were surprised that instead of giving us a wait-time, they just turned us away completely. Eventually, we found a burger place to split a burger and fries before going back to the apartment to sleep.

Sunday, December 1 - Race Day

Andrew got up early to walk to the starting line while Kevin and I took our time getting ready to go. We had a coffee and croissant at a local bakery while we mapped out our view points of the marathon. We made tentative plans and headed to the course.

Andrew joined us for breakfast lol

This was the first marathon I have ever spectated and I thought it was a blast. There were DJs everywhere and the energy of the crowds was cool to see. We had a cut-out of Andrew's head on a stick (not a common thing here) and it was fun to see runners and spectators get a kick out of it. We tracked Andrew on FindMy and were able to catch him 4 different times throughout the course! He said his poster head made it really easy to spot us lol. 

A few pics from the race

Explored some of the old town in between spectating points

The finish line was at La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, one of the most well-known sites in Valencia. The home-stretch was covered in a light blue carpet and it looked like the runners were running on water! The energy at the finish line was so much fun that Kevin even said "I get why people run marathons." We met up with Andrew, got his medal engraved, took some celebratory photos, and headed to lunch to celebrate.

These photos don't even do the finish line justice

I made us a reservation for one of the few places that had decent ratings and reservations available for a Sunday afternoon at 15:30, Fum de Llum. We were seated and quickly ordered our 4 course meal before they closed to prepare for dinner service. We had some apps before the main course: Valencian paella, which is typically made with chicken, rabbit, and flat green beans. We were all impressed with every meal and were absolutely stuffed by the time dessert came (but we still finished it all, of course). 

Delicious paella from Fum de Llum. I was so excited to have leftovers

We were all worn out (obviously Andrew the most tired of us all), so we headed back to the apartment to rest before Kevin and I packed up to go back home to Barcelona. Andrew spent the evening there to rest (and fell asleep while we were packing) and Kevin and I headed back by train. We binged more Silo and were back to Barcelona in no time (again, ~3 hours). It was such a fun weekend and we were so glad we decided to come!