Spiky stilettos

Lately I'm feeling totally neopunk...and also quite thug. For the last month I have been filling my wardrobe with zips, spiky things of all sorts, and just now I have finally gotten these absolutely awesome metallic tip stilettos...
Frivolous as it may sound, I'm delighted with them!!

Time to say goodbye is coming...

And I have been living in such an intense, sparkling way, that I haven't even noticed that time was flying by, that I haven't posted a photo since one month ago more less. I think the reason is that I have been sharing them with people who have lived all that stuff with me, so I've made use of other means of communication.
Anyway, I've enjoyed what can properly be called an absolutely wonderful mild summer during the last three weeks. Everything in the neighbourhood is bright from dawn till dusk: everyday I make my way to the University through sweet smelling streets full of lustily flourished trees...and I just don´t want to forget that smell. Never. Like a blend of honey and orange tree flower. It's the smell of the way I have felt during my complete stay here.

More sights of Valencia

Sight of El Carmen neighbourhood

Sight of El Carmen neighbourhood

Sight of the El Carmen church tower

A picture in the restaurant Canela, where we were having a super nice lunch!!

San Valero church at Ruzafa neighbourhood

Easter has passed by without noticing, and I cannot tell what have I exactly been doing. I suppose that kind of feeling is the one you have when you are learning to live in a new place, and not only visiting it. Anyway, I have had the time to come back to places where I had already been, and also to know some new areas of the city, as El Carmen (with the exceptional guidance and hospitality of Beatriz, my host here), including a visit to the IVAM where an exhibition of contemporary aboriginal art was being held!! 

I inmediately remembered Liz (my Australian English teacher): if she'd have been there not only she'd have loved it, but also she'd probably have been able to explain all that stuff to us!!
Here you have some pics. I hope you'll like them!!  

Ruzafa 38

As some of you may already know, two days ago I had my hair cut. Although it may seem rather a banal thing, I was actually quite scared about the prospective results. I mean, I have been having my hair cut by the same person for the last (oh my God) six years!! That person is my beloved Luis Moreno: he is such a great professional that he has managed to make my short hair look  different everytime he put his hands on it. Thereby, you can imagine the way I felt about being "unloyal" to him. 

However, some days ago, when I was coming back home from one of my visits to the film library, I couldn't help paying attention to what I think is one of the most original showcases I have ever seen. In front of me I had a huge glass with Corto Maltes' face looking at me steadily right in the eyes. (You'll not see any pic of that glass because the light was reflected in such a way that made the image impossible to be appreciated). 

At first I thought I had found a comic shop. But then I noticed the big banner on the top saying RZF 38. Hairdresser. I just couldn´t believe it. It inmediately brought to my mind a friend of mine who is mad about Corto Maltes and I knew that only someone really especial could have his image as showcase. And I had an epiphany in that very moment. That was exactly what I was needing. I decided I had to take the risk (you know: no bet, no win). And I won, I can tell you.
So if you want to have a look, just click here and you will see the stunning and super trendy place where Patricio and Paula will make your hair-desires become real. In my case, I have to say: thanks Paula for such a super cute haircut!!

Outdated colors

Valencia Town Hall Square

Valencia Town Hall  Square at night

Detail of the square with the Post Office building

City Hall building

Post Office building

Last sunday I went to the film library again (although this time on my own) to see Nicholas Ray's film Johnny Guitar. It seems that I was in the mood of seeing everything through the eyes of a person born many years before I actually was, as you can appreciate if you look to the photos I took before and after the film...Don't you see the colors of another age? As if I had been in Valencia in the mid sixties or so. Or maybe is just my mind. Anyway, as I told a good friend a couple of days ago, I came back home with an amazing feeling of suprareality...

PS: This post is dedicated to my friend and work colleague Xelu, the owner of the idea of taking the pics from the top floor of the film library building. I have just put the technical requirements needed to perform it. Hope we have many more classic film sessions to enjoy together before I go!!

Pistache green

Introducing my brand-new pistache green shopping cart!!

Ruzafa Market

Yesterday I bought a pistache green shopping cart and reached out to Ruzafa Market to buy some groceries...Here you have my new neighbourhood!!

Sunset in la Albufera

Leftt side of the image: Cream puff pastries topped with meringue and a touch of cinamon. Right side: cachaps (filled with special cream).

Natural Reserve in El Saler

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine kindly invited me to have lunch with her family. After having a delicious traditional paella and some typical Paterna sweets called cachaps, she took me to El Saler beaches and finally to La Albufera, where we saw the sun go down. It was a wish she had to fulfill, and eventually she could!! 

Sometimes there's nothing better than having foreigners visiting you to take your time and see the place you live with renewed eyes.

Hope you enjoy the sunset and have a beautiful dawn tomorrow.

My new room

Today I've suddenly realized that I still hadn't shown you my new room. This is the place where I sleep like a log in Valencia, after having spent what is usually being a long and intense day lately.
And this is also the site where I write my posts from!! 
Have a pretty nice Sunday tomorrow. 

I'll be flying home for a short while if I survive to the firecrackers in my way to the subway!!

My mother's birthday

It is not the first year I spend away from my mother on her birthday. By contrast, almost half of my life has passed away far from the place I was born. That's the reason why, today, I want to wish you a happy happy birthday, dear mum. Be sure I'll be the first to be right there with you, despite these 700 miles between us. I love you from the top of the stars and from the bottom of my heart.

Chocolate & Pumpkin Donuts

This afternoon I went for a stroll around Ruzafa with a friend. We could see the spectacular illumination structures that are being installed for the Fallas, and, most important, I finally managed to try the famous pumpkin donuts. I'm fascinated with the wide culinary uses pumpkins are given in this region...I hope to have the time to show you the many sweet and salty ways they cook this vegetable and, of course, to try them all!! 

Hope you'll start the week on the right foot tomorrow!!

Sunday breakfast

Weird as it may seem, I love waking up early on Sunday. I love leaving out to the street knowing that the whole day is waiting to be lived. Then I feel as if I were where nobody else is, specially when I meet people returning home after having spent all the night out. I experience a kind of lucidness, as if everything was starting for me. So last sunday I gave myself a present doing exactly that: I bought the newspaper and a delicious sweet breakfast composed by some typical valencian cakes: xuxú (the longest one in the right, filled with cream),  a sweet potato cake (in the left front), some anise biscuits (the round ones in the front) and, well, a blueberries muffin filled with cheese cream (not so valencian, but it was so enticing that I couldn't resist).

Have a happy sweet Sunday!!

Sights from Valencia

Cathedral

Colon's Market

Detail of the pediment of Colon's Market

Xativa Train Station

Bullring

Somewhere in the old town

Central Market

Angel Custodio Bridge

I've been so busy this week that I haven't even had the time to select and edit some of the photos I took last weekend.  Today I woke up feeling too exhausted to do any more tourism, so I decided to go back to the images and places I was in. In doing this, I reelaborate my memories and always reach out a new flavor from every experience. Now I'd like to share with you some of my most beautiful sights from Valencia. I hope you'd also enjoy them.