Ah Spain!

AI generated, please excuse any errors!

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[Music]
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Welcome to Ospain. Buen Verono, Tanya. Or Fit Verano. I don't know which one's
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right. I don't either. I've heard both. I don't know if one means hello and one's goodbye in the summertime. I don't know.
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But I feel like both are very acceptable. I don't think we'd be I don't think we'd be kicked out of a bar for saying
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either. I don't think so. I think they both seem friendly. So, whichever one it is, you know, we're here to talk about the
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summer. So, yay. It is. Do you have an R Spain for us? I do. So, I did a very Spanish thing,
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which was to leave Spain in the summer, at least the southern part, which a lot
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of my friends do. A lot of them will leave and go north. I think a lot of people in the city leave and go actually
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to where we live in the mountains. They have houses up there very close. Um, we went to England for a few weeks and
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well, we're having a heat wave, so it is hot and what we don't have here is air conditioning, so it's actually worse, I
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think. You know, I hate to be rude, but you know, I might have to turn my air conditioning down. It's a little chilly
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in here right now. Yeah, I know, right? We went to the local shop and got like these fans and
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Zena got one of those fans that has the water in it and now we're all jealous. So, now we have to go back and get We all have to get those.
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So, it's I mean it's bearable. It's not as hot as it was. But when we got off the plane here, I was like, "This is not
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cooler at all." So, it probably will be like later in the week. But yeah, but England isn't isn't isn't um doesn't
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have the infrastructure for heat, right? So, like in Spain, it's hot, but everything's air conditioned and you you
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know, you learn to deal with it. But like the subway, I'm assuming, is probably not air conditioned. Let me just tell you how delightful the
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underground is. Oh my gosh. I was just like, you know, you just have to go with it. It smells It smells like a fresh
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orange field down there, you know.
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And you're just sitting there and then all the windows are open in the underground. So, it's so loud like it
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hurts your ears. Those trains just like scrape I think across the wall or something. Um,
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yeah. So, it's not been so pleasant, but it's been fun. So, I really I can't complain. But it's it's funny that we got here and it was like, "Oh my god,
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it's so hot." We're escaping the heat only to have brought it with us.
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I know. And you know, the reason why people come up to like the mountains and Naga and something from Valencia, which
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is only like 25 minutes away, is because they have a house with a pool there. So if you get hot, you just go jump in the pool. We don't have any of that here in
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England. So I mean, I'm sure other people in England do, but it's not it's not the norm. So we're just, you know, cold drinks and
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fans. Well, it is about 10 degrees Fahrenheit hotter here in this city right now. I I
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I did check. So, but you know, this this
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episode is about how we survive our Spanish summers. And one of the ways is to escape the heat and leave the
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country, which obviously doesn't always work as we're finding out. Doesn't always work, but you know, it's
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it's hard to complain. I think a lot of pe obviously a lot of people come to Spain in the summer so they they are
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coming from colder places or you know so there's a lot of people going that way and the other people going this way and
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it's just it's funny so we just have we'll just have a little chat about the things that are going on in the city because for you and I I think generally
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we just love being there really and there's lots to do and do you want to jump in because you're in the city and
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there's a lot more going on there but we sometimes have little versions of it outside of the city so we're all having
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fun, right? I mean, all I mean, the Spaniards love their summer. I Well, they love
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they love all the months, I think. Right. I think so. But, you know, right now we're in July, so the the city itself,
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and I think lots of cities and towns throughout Spain do this, but in Valencia right now, it's the the Grand
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Faria, which is this big kind of month-long fair, but it's more than it's really kind of a month-long citywide
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celebration, and there's music festivals, and there's a carnival and and um parades, and you're not going to
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believe this, so I hope you're sitting down. They have fireworks as well throughout. Yes, they do.
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No festival in Spain would be without a parnic some sort of display or or two or
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10. No Tuesday in Spain in Valencia
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is without fireworks. But um like what they do, they have like a jazz festival that starts in the
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middle of June and goes through the month of July. And some of these tickets are free and they can go up to like $35.
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and these concerts that they have around the city. They have this jazz festival and then in this um in the Viviveros
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Gardens, which is the old they also call them the the the royal gardens, which is I don't know if you knew this, there
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used to be a royal palace here that was torn down in like the 1800s at some point. Um
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but we can do an a poco about the history of that because I don't know all of it right now. So, I'm just going to end it. There's some Alice ruins there,
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but they set up a big stage there and there's there they have more international bands. Like I was looking even The Human League. Remember them
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from back in our days? Oh my gosh. Wow. And Simple Minds, they're coming to
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Well, and UB40 was going on in some um place in London close to where I was as well. So I don't know. It's like very
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80s going on. We also I will say and I think the difference a lot of the difference between the city obviously and where I
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live in Nacoda is that you know we have the outdoor concerts and these things the city puts a lot of effort into doing
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summer events but obviously to your point the people showing up and doing it's going to be a very different crowd
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a very I mean a very different not the crowd a very different musician and band that's going to show up in a small place
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like Nakoda than what you're going to get in the city. So, even if it is music from the 80s, it's going to be the big bands from the 80s.
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And and not to dis disparage our city because I love our city, but I'm sure Madrid is getting better entertainment than we're getting in Valencia, too,
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right? Well, possibly. But I will say, and I don't know if you noticed, like when when we first moved here, Jawad and I were just having getting such a kick out
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of when we were driving around and in on the radio, it's just 80s music.
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And we were just like, "Remember when? Remember when?" And and this we're talking like the main radio stations that are playing all the music. You got
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Dual Lipa and then you've got then you've got some 80s thing going. It's mostly it's like 90% 80s music. They
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love that here. So it was such a I mean it was such a like back in time for us and it was initially it was we
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got quite a kick out of it and I were like where's the modern music please? Right.
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But it's quite fun so I'm not surprised. I I think there's several like kind of 80s 90s music festivals here throughout
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the year. I feel like I've always seen posters or maybe they just haven't taken down the same poster, but I feel like I I see this a lot. And
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I'm sure I'm sure they are. Yeah. And and so they in this festival, they
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also have like a giant carnival with like rides and cotton candy and and prizes for the month. Um, and then, um,
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what also is really cool about this is so it like lasts the whole month and every Saturday there's fireworks and stuff and it opens on July 1st and they
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do that kind of opening of this whole citywide celebration in the town square and they're going to have like aerial
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acrobatics and I think a and a piano coming down from the sky and then
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fireworks. So that's awesome. And can you actually are those like the mascetas where you just really can't get close or is it a little
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like there's less people in the city in July maybe and and you can actually see some of these things if you go or do you
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have to show up do you think like hours before to even get close to seeing that? you know, because so many people have
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already left the city, you know, it's not like the Mascalas like during Fiestas and stuff where there's just all
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these people coming in. This this kind of July fest was started likeund like 40
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years ago, I think. And and it's grown into this thing to keep people in the city and try to bring people into the
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city when they're already leaving, right? So, the crowd is less. And so, I I don't think
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it you're going to be blocks away and it is a night show. So, I think it's, you know, it's it's it's more um
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uh uh approachable. Is that the word I'm looking for? Well, and that kind of appeals to me.
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So, I might have to come down when I get back and see some of this because I do love a festival that isn't insane. But
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then I do also feel bad that you want more people there to make it worth having. So, you don't want it to be too
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quiet. But can you tell me what the um the battle of the flowers is? Do you know?
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Yes. So that is what's that's kind of the official close to the July festivities
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and it it takes place on the uh Alamita Plaza. Um
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Okay. Where you and I once had um Bokeado and Quadmayette that that Oh, down there.
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Okay. Yes. Yep. And they block off this area and it's quite a long area and these
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horsedrawn wagons go in a loop and then all the fieras are
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dressed up in their fiera outfits on these things and they're like tear they're like like seven eight rows of
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seats on these wagons. They're quite Is it like a float kind of? Yeah, like a float. Yeah. Does it resemble the the Rose Parade in
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any way whatsoever in Casadena? Not in any way, shape. Were they making things out of flowers?
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No, not that. Because we went to it last year. They're just kind of like on these like kind of bleacher seats on these
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wagons kind of thing. Like they're teiered and they all have like like paddles and tennis rackets and things
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like that. And then the audience has marolds and they have maragolds and
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you're throwing them at them and they're trying to hit them back at the audience with all these marolds. And there's like
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thousands and thousands of these flowers flying. And then when it's all over,
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the whole street is just orange yellow with all the petals. It's so gorgeous
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and amazing. And I'll be honest, completely pointless. And I love it. I don't I don't
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I love a pointless parade. That sounds fun. Circles. It just keeps going around and
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around and around and these big horses like Clydesdale type horses and stuff. So, it's very cool. But when it was
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done, we went to it last year and the girls were like, "What was the point?" No, a Spaniard might write it and tell
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me the point, but I mean, I'm not saying I don't love it, but that kind of closes it down.
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Yeah, I think that sounds really fun. And then and then we have the in Valenciano, the Grand de Juloce,
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which is the the big night. So, I mean, look, this is Spain, okay? any one of
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the days of this festival is going to feel like the grand night of a regular festival in any other country except
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maybe Brazil. Um, but they have a grand night, a big night in the middle. I think it's
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somewhere in the middle where they really have brought sort of they really pump up the the things that are
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happening and the schedule there and it's like workshops and circus shows and jazz and music and children's musicals
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storytelling and like Valencian folklore things and then of course just because you have to. I've never heard this word
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before but I love it. It's my new favorite word. Pyro musical. Yes. Shows.
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The fireworks are set to music. Yes. that I just love that. Yeah, it sounds
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like that also sounds like a fun night, but it does sound like there's other things going on throughout that throughout the Grand Fia that it's avoid
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time. Yes, if you want to avoid the those kinds of crowds or those festivities, the city is still the city
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and it has all the other ways to escape the heat. You know, you you you still
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have um in the city, you still have the oceanographic, which you know is a wonderful place because it's it's our
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aquarium. And so much of it is inside that I love the oceanographic. It's not a
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cheap thing if you've got a bunch if you got sort of more than one or two kids. I think it's not a cheap thing, but you
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can but you can legitimately spend the whole day there. Um so that I think and then right
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opposite that is is one of the biggest malls, the Salas Mall. And that is obviously also air conditioning,
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shopping, restaurants, you can eat there, coffee shops, you could your kids, they actually have some cute kids
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stuff there which I think um they have some they have the the cars that they
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can rent if your kid is like Yeah, they're like little remote control cars that you throw your kid on and then
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you Isn't it the cutest thing? And they're like driving these little cars. I think it's so cute. And I think they have a
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little playground in there, too. It's probably quite small. Um but that is literally right across as well. So,
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it's right across. And then also at the City of Arts and Sciences in those pools, you know, the pools that
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are right there that it looks like they're sitting in, they have water things there, like little boats you can
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rent and these like big balls that you can like I'm not going to do the ball thing where you get in it and
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they blow it up around you and you walk on the water hamster. You're not going to do that? No.
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I've always wanted to do that. I've seen them do that. I think they do it at Glastonbury and maybe or some other
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festival in England where they but they're literally put throwing you down a hill which I was not willing to do
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that but over the water maybe. The other thing at the Oceanographic that I love is they have really great 3D movies like
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really really cool ones and they're like maybe 30 minutes at the hemisphere. Yeah. Sorry not but in the arts and
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sciences. Sorry. So in the hemisphere part of the arts and sciences they have these amazing and they're they're really
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for little kids. You can pick a any language you want. You'll get a head headset with the language and then
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you're watching. Okay. I did not know that. Really? Oh my god, I'm so sorry. We've avoided it cuz I mean I love an
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IMAX experience, but we've been avoiding it because I thought everything was going to be in Spanish. Oh, you get individual headphones.
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So, I mean, I'm not sure it's all language, but they got to be covering English, Spanish, French, German,
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probably Chinese, Italian. They got to be covering most of the languages. And it's I mean, whatever your kids are in
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or whatever you're into, they have like the space ones. They have the, you know, the ocean ones. They I mean, literally
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everything. And I'm sure they have some variety that comes and goes. But that's a great really educational also, but in
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a fun, really, really fun way to spend time. Well, I think I know what we're doing this week. Thank you for that. You could
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have told me that one a little sooner. Well, times. Well, but it's it's one of those
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things. There's so much going on in the arts and sciences, like you just said, that it's hard to know. They got the free concerts like on the Torios. I
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mean, it's there's concerts everywhere. there's things going on. Um, and I haven't done this, but one of the things
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that I want to do is rent a bike and ride down the Toria on like one of those
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kinds of days. I would do that with you. I would definitely do that with you. Um,
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Oh, good. Okay. Excellent. That's what I That's It's something, you know, maybe not in the heat of July. I might
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want to do that more than late September. Well, I'm thinking if you get enough speed, you might get the wind, but, you
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know, maybe not. You're building the energy in your body. Well, speaking of movies, there's lots
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of places to go see movies. And if you do need to, if you're not practicing your Spanish and you need to see them in English, if you just look for the Vos or
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Vos like um V um or VOS next to the next
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to it, next to the name of the movie, and you can find ones that are in the original version, which if the English
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the American movie is in the original version. And a little side tip to that, if you're looking up on like Google
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Maps, they put it as standard with subtitles, just so you know, or subtitles in Spanish. They don't use the
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VO Vos V on Google Maps. Just a little little side tip.
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Yeah. I mean, we have one we have sort of one movie theater that we usually go to. So, in Heron City, which is like
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just outside of the city, I mean, you probably need a car really to get there if you don't want to use like a bus and a train and a bus. Um, but they have
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like a bowling alley, a movie theater, and then it's all restaurants. So that from an outside of the city sort of
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situation, that's probably one of our kind of, you know, air conditioning things to do because you can go see a
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movie, go bowling, go to one of those arcades. I would say outside the city, there's a lot of other exciting things to do to
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beat the heat that we don't have in the city because we don't really have bowling alleys in the city and we don't have like big water parks. We do have
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little we have pools in the city that are kind of like mini water parks and you can run to a cabana for the day for
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very inexpensive for like a couple euros and they'll have like water slides and maybe one will have like kind of a wave
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pool but it's not a huge massive water park like I think there's one down in Kera.
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Yeah, in Kier there's a water park. I think there's some a bit closer to that as well because Kula is maybe 45 minutes
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south of the city. Um, but that's a big one that we've visited and it was amazing and we actually I don't know if I should tell this hack to people or
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not. Do I want other people to take advantage of this? If you go on like the first day that it
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opens, which I think is possibly a weekend before school ends and it's before
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tourists come and everything, it's really nice. Like really really
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nice. Like there's not that many people there. You've got the whole park to yourself. There's no lines on any of the
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on any of the things. It's like really really nice. So, if you do live here and you want to go, you know, take advantage
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of that, I think the earlier you go to water parks when they first open in the summer is like really really good
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because obviously once the summer gets going, you know, everybody's there, which is also fine, but it's a whole other thing. Um, obviously we have
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we have our own pools out in the country, so that's a really nice way to cool off um and a nice advantage. But
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also the other thing that's out here is these um I guess you would call them country clubs essentially. Um the the
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price of them is nothing like the country clubs in um in America, you know. So you can you can have they have
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pools, they have nice restaurants, they've got sort of enclosed space. So one of the beautiful things about that they have paddle tennis courts, tennis
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courts, you know, playgrounds for the kids, basketball courts, football courts. So if you know somebody or
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you're close and you're a member of one of those out in the country, you can one of the beautiful things when I first
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moved and Zena was like eight and so she was already she was old enough to run around on her own. But I mean you've got
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all the kids are just the parents are doing the eating and having a nice drink
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and enjoying the restaurant and just hanging out and having a really nice afternoon and then the kids are just all
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running around by themselves and it's like yeah go have fun. like nothing's you're not going anywhere. It's great.
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So, when you say these country clubs, are there more like I would I guess more like a social club versus like because
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when I think of country club, I think of golf course, like a huge kind of a more bigger a more bigger thing. Isn't my
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English so good since I super I'm losing my English having lived in
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Spain for so long. I hate that you lose you start losing your English before your Spanish gets good enough to brag about it, right?
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Yes. Um, some of them have golf courses, but
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if you imagine a country club without the golf course, it's kind of like that. So, that's a lot of them, but there are ones with golf courses, and I think that
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would be a different scenario with the kids. I think some of these other ones that are more like they have a restaurant and they have some ground
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space and they have pools and and you know, um, sporting activities,
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facilities, and the sorts of things and and everyone's a member. So your kids just go and run around with all the other kids and it's like you don't have
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to worry about them and when and some of these kids I mean this is Spain so I mean kids are involved in everything and they're hanging around and they're doing
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stuff with all the with the family and some of these kids are like four or five years old and they just get taken by the
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older kids to go do stuff and the older kids take them to the playground and it's just a whole it's a really really nice environment and then they also have
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the pools. So if you when we first moved here, we didn't have a pool and we had a friend that was a member of one of those
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clubs and we would go there and use the pool and and hang out and it's just really really chill. And obviously this
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sort of thing you need a car. So the benefit of having in the summer of having a car is you are moving in air
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conditioning from one place to another and you know enjoying that obviously but it's a lot. rub your country life in my
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face with your air conditioned cars and your bowling alleys and your country clubs while and then you're rubbing the frier in my
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face. So, it's like you have a lot of activity in the city and a lot of things to do, but in the country it's more I
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would say it's more sort of pool oriented. If you don't have a pool, a friend has a pool. But if you have a pool, everyone's coming to your pool or
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if your kids want to do something, you're going to someone's house with a pool. I mean, that's just kind of what's
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happening, which is kind of nice. [Music]
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We had talked about I think we had talked about this before. Maybe it was just you and I having a conversation. I there is a go-kart place and I did I
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think we had mentioned that and I walked by it the other day and um we're going without the kids because it's like
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double decker. Like it looks like really Yeah. Like it it goes up and down and
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over the tracks and like it's really So as you're going on the track, you go up and down or you have to pick the up
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and the down? No, it goes up and then like it does a loop and then you go down does a loop. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
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As people that listen to us regularly might be able to gather, we're not competitive with each other at all. So,
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this will not end badly, right? This may be our last podcast.
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Stay tuned. So, nice. Um, please still hit subscribe. Our our
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children will need the inheritance. That's true. Well, they will have disowned us for not taking them. So that
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whole that whole situation has fallen apart, too. So this is just going really really badly.
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True, true. I do want to do that. That sounds like a really fun thing to do. I'm I'm on board
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for that for sure. I I think we have to. You know, the kids will be in school. They'll never even have to know.
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They'll never even have to know. When they go back to school, we do it. That's true. So I will say like one of the things that I love in the summer is
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paddle tennis. And that is kind there are indoor paddle courts but a lot of them are not air conditioned so they
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might have big fans and I haven't really experienced a lot but the one place I did go to was not air conditioned so I
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can't say that's the case for everywhere but it is very much an outdoor sport even though you're playing in a in a
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court that has walls it most of the courts outside and that is one of the lovely things about it during the winter
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right because it's nice to do that outside and in the summer I will say my paddle tennis just kind of goes like I
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don't really do that much of it. Um but so that sort of those sort of outdoor
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outdoor activities that we have the other part of the year do it's just too hot really. Yeah. I mean I mean you talk about us
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having this fair in the city and and they have it to keep people in the city because it is so hot. So even when we're
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walking around the carnival, it is it is a little sweltering and and it like the the actual fair the carnival thing
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doesn't even open till 6:30 at night. So, it's not even open during I was going to ask like all these outdoor festivals and outdoor like
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concerts. I mean, definitely where we are, they're happening in the evening. Like they're not trying to do these things at midday, you know? No.
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Um I think that would be quite miserable for everybody involved. I mean, I I feel like you you really
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experience siesta in the summertime because in the winter time people I feel like they're still out. There are shops
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in the center open. People are enjoying their their siesta break from work and
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getting things done. I swear once mid June rolls around between those those
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siesta hours the streets are dead. People are at the cafes but it is like it's no one's out and about, right?
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And you understand why, right? You're like now I get it. Yes. Because it's it can be quite hot.
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Um um that makes sense. Um, and the other I was going to say something else that
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that I like that they do and we at the city of arts and sciences and this goes on kind of the end of um, July, but I
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think they they do it through there certain times through throughout the year or ongoing at times throughout the
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year. I guess sporadically, I don't know the word I'm looking for, but the there's the Berkeley College of Music
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from Boston has a campus here at the City of Arts and Sciences and they do these free concert series and they have
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a stage set up on the lake and you and or the lake you the pools that they have there and then it's where there's also
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this big grassy null area. So people come out at night and they bring their picnic baskets and their blankets and
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kids are running around and the the the the I can call them kids because I'm
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very old, but these these adult-aged young people who are going to co the
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college of music are performing there. So it's very lively and you hear this fresh new music from unknowns. So that's
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a really nice thing to do. Yeah. And they they run from April to July and then September to October. So
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they're also skipping August and I mean so just to put a little bit of a a pin
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in the August thing. I mean the they've done the all these festivals and most of these things are happening in July with
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the you know we also have museums to go visit. There's lots of great museums in Valencia. Does everything closed? Do you
25:30
think the museums are closed in August or do you think So August is my favorite time to be in
25:36
the city because all of those things are open and there's no one here. So the
25:42
city to me in August feels like you got like a pass to Disneyland when it
25:48
closed, right? like there's cuz all the residents have like kind of like got all
25:53
obviously but they've all fled and if there there's not a lot of tourists and if there are I wouldn't
25:59
know because so many residents have fled that you don't notice a crowd right like that there's no cars on the street it's
26:05
very I mean all the stores are open now mind you some stores like the mom and pops in the neighborhoods will be closed
26:10
for a week or two or some of the restaurants and some of the restaurants
26:16
but not for the whole month you Not in this city. I don't know what it's like in in in the in the suburbs in the
26:21
countries, but they'll be closed for a short amount of time, but you there's things that are still going on. You have to adjust your schedule, but the museums
26:28
are open and it's such a wonderful time to go because they're really empty. So, you really have these places to
26:34
yourself. Yeah. Like that's I mean to me that is the favorite. So again, like people seem
26:40
to not come to certain places because it's going to be hot, but you're not getting the benefits of being in a city
26:46
where everybody has not everybody, but so many people have gone that you actually can feel the less amount of
26:52
people. You can feel it. You can see it as you're walking around, right? And it's so delightful. I would say where we are is the complete
27:00
opposite cuz guess where they're going? To the mountains. To their cottage.
27:06
Yes. to their to their little house that has a pool. So our from where we live goes from it's very funny. So from where
27:13
we live it goes from like we get like 30,000 extra people in the summer.
27:18
Okay. So doubles or triples the town size. Probably quadruples the town size. But
27:24
what happens which is great is that means that our consume supermarket is now open on Sundays. like the opposite
27:32
happens which is we start to have things open more as opposed to open less. So,
27:37
we have a situation in August where our little town starts looking like Valencia, which is really funny, where
27:44
everyone else is everywhere else is dead and we're like, you know, we can't park on the street outside our house. Like,
27:50
it just starts to be like everyone's having parties. Like, it's just everyone's up and and in, you know, here
27:55
in Spain for sure, like, if you have a house in a place like where we live, it's like you don't just come yourself,
28:01
your whole family comes with you. So, there's just extra extra extra people. And we have a festival, I've mentioned
28:07
this before, we have a festival in August that goes through like two two and a half weeks in August where they
28:13
have and they do these sorts of things in the city as well. So in the town and in our urbanization and other
28:18
urbanizations and stuff, we have like paella contests and they have foam parties and color parties for the kids.
28:24
They do that in the city which is really fun. So you have to explain to me what is a
28:30
phone and maybe to other people because I don't know what is a phone party and a color party. What what are those
28:36
separate or is it the same? No no no they have to happen separately but one is they just have those big
28:41
machines that just pump out foam and Okay. Like bubbles like like bubbles just like you're in a big
28:47
bubble bath without the water, right? just bubbles and bubbles and bubbles and it's on it's done on like a like a concrete like football pitch or
28:54
something in the city center where they have like a area and they they basically just put up these massive foam machines
29:00
and then everyone just is running around in the foam machine like in all the foam and everything
29:05
and then the the color parties are I'm sure you've seen pictures of this somewhere whereas the city makes all
29:12
these like balloons with different colors inside them and they have bags and bags and bags of these balloons and
29:17
you throw them at people and they explode and you get color powder all over you. So you come out of that with
29:23
just like color all over you. I have never heard of such a crazy and thenless thing
29:29
if you're if you're Z. No, it's again it's pointless and super fun. Like it's so fun for the kids and it's like so
29:35
what she does is she goes around and she finds all the pink balloons because then she gives them to me and she wants to be hit only with the pink balloons, right?
29:41
But generally speaking, everyone's just getting whatever color they whatever color they want and this and it's organized by the city. They bring in the
29:47
color the little color bombs and everyone's just throwing them at each other and it's really it's really fun.
29:53
On your way home, do you just strap your child to the roof of your car or like change your clothes? You have to be
29:59
prepared. Yes, you have to be prepared. You should wear a white t-shirt so that you can see the colors on you and it's all I mean
30:06
it's all over your hair and every it's really fun and everyone's in everyone's doing it's not just for kids. All everyone's involved.
30:11
Okay, random question. Do they have sprinklers like we did in the States? like crazy sprinklers that move around
30:18
and kids jump around. Have you seen that in the in your country life? I've done that at our pool. We have a we
30:24
have a slide that has a sprinkler on it and we put the sprinkler up and we do that. But no, I haven't seen that like in a public place. And in fact, in
30:31
America there were a lot of um where we live because it was quite a hot place. I
30:36
mean in the summer they had a lot of kids parks and playgrounds that I don't know if you had that with which had
30:41
little sprinklers and little they were jumping waters. Yeah, they were quite water parks, but they were like wet
30:48
playgrounds kind of and they Yeah, the sprinklers and maybe some things. I think they are in this city here. I
30:53
haven't seen them, but I feel like I've run across a picture somewhere, but I don't know. I'm sure at those water park
30:59
pools I was, you know, the mini the mini water parks, the the city pools probably have those.
31:04
Maybe I just stand there with a hose and hose down anybody that wants to be hosed down. That's how it works in our house.
31:11
So classy. Oh, I know. It's amazing. Yeah. The Speaking of water though, the other
31:17
thing which I've done, I haven't done So, what you can do to it, this is another thing you really need a car for.
31:22
So, um you they have a lot of places up in the mountains where you can drive to
31:28
and then you hike down to these um water little um I don't know what they call them like little water ponds
31:34
like springfred water hole things. Yeah. And yeah, water hole. Some of them even have waterfalls. And
31:40
the reason why you might denote some bitterness as my voice is because I've seen pictures and I've read about them
31:45
and I have yet to go and someone I know has a car and could take us. I'm just saying we could I will say one of the things is
31:52
you have to be prepared for possibly in most cases I think a little
31:57
bit of a hike to get to it. But what is nice is and I will say none of the ones that I've been to have looked like the
32:03
pictures. Okay. So when they have the maybe I've just been to the wrong ones, wrong time of year, I don't know. But these ones where you see it, it's like
32:08
all this clear blue water and all this kind of stuff. They've never really looked like that when I've gone to them.
32:14
They're a bit more like I mean the bottom is rock so it's it's I mean it's
32:19
brown or whatever and it's just kind of I mean it's not dirty but it's nice and and that water is very cool. So that is
32:26
one of the nice things about going to those places is that water is cool and you get a little bit of a hike out of it because you usually have to park
32:32
somewhere and then you have to hike in. Um and then the waterfalls as well. I would like to do a waterfall one. Um,
32:38
and that's that's really fun and and very cool. And I think the further north, obviously the further north you
32:44
get in Spain, the cooler the waters, right? So, I mean, right, we have friends that go up to the north
32:49
of Spain in the summer and they're like in the winter the the water is really an ice bath and in the summer it's still
32:56
really quite cold. So you can escape to different parts of Spain too and get some very cooler climates
33:03
and fresh water as well which is lovely. Um because I would say the the pools in
33:09
the arts and sciences are not for swimming in and probably not that refreshing or
33:16
although I did just see them clean that for swimming. Yeah, they were cleaning those. Oh my god. Yeah, they have the little machines
33:22
that go back and forth like it's very Yeah, it's very nice and clean. And there's one where the steps go down into
33:29
the water so you can actually like walk around that one and cool yourself off. The one that's by the
33:35
in the one that's by the the forum that the the blue building you the one the
33:42
one that's the only one that's blue around there. There's like steps that go down the water so you can actually walk. I mean it's like ankle deep water.
33:48
You're not swimming or anything. No. But that's still refreshing and that's nice to know. I mean, if you were to take a picnic down there because the
33:54
TIA park or what we talked about the river that I learned from our from our TIA um poker po I'm now going to I'm
34:01
going to say this correctly. If you go down to the river um and take your picnic and there's loads of shaded areas
34:07
to have a really nice picnic and if there's a place to kind of cool off a little bit that's quite nice I think
34:14
and this and the park is alive in this heat because there is so much shade there and you know the city itself has a lot
34:21
of trees but I I do notice in the some of these smaller towns it's surprising how very little trees are on some of
34:27
these streets you know they're very true to to escape the to to escape the heat
34:33
somehow, right? So, yeah. And and and of course there's the beaches, right? I mean, we haven't even we haven't even
34:39
got to the beaches yet. Like, haven't to the beaches yet. I mean, what I find surprising what I
34:47
thought and I I may have I I know we've talked about this is that to me, what's surprising to about Valencia when I
34:54
moved here is that this is a city on the beach, but it is not a beach town as in like a beach resort town. No. um like
35:02
you would find like in Malaga or even up in Sichus. It's not that kind of vacation area. And the the the towns
35:10
north and south of Valencia on the coast are really these summer places. They're not year round places. So, I mean, you
35:18
go there in the winter, no one's there. If people live there, they're they might be the only one in their whole high-rise building there all winter long, but then
35:25
you go in the summer and it's these like lively towns, but there still aren't like beach chain hotels and beach
35:31
resorts. It's really for the Valencianos and maybe foreigners that own condos there, but it is a place you go
35:36
vacation, but not like live it up as it were. You know, it's not a resort town. No, definitely not. No, it's it you're
35:43
absolutely right. Like it it's kind of bizarre. Like was it You're right. There's no beach vibe here really. It's
35:50
not that's not what you get. But so even up like we're just just north of the city, but the the beaches that we go to
35:56
that are maybe 15 20 minutes from the city, right? So if you you were to take a if you were to take a bus out to the
36:02
city, you out to the beach, you're going straight to the beach that's like right at the city. We're just going to the ones a little bit north. And both the
36:09
towns, all the three of the towns that we would go to, which is El Poo, Puall, and Sagunto, all three of those towns
36:16
have a town part and then the autovilla goes through. And on the other side of
36:21
that, which would you'd have to drive or take a bus, it's not walkable for the most part, is another part where it's just the
36:28
beach. So, if you were to live year round in one of those towns, more likely than not, you're living in the town area
36:33
away from the beach. And the beach is for condos. They might have one supermarket. They might anything that's
36:40
open there restaurantwise is probably closed during the winter. Um or at least for mo some of it. And
36:46
then it's very Yeah, it's very just like you live there. People live there in the
36:52
summer. They have their condo there. They go there. You can go there in the summer and go to the beach and there's some stuff there. But it's not crazy
36:58
beach vibe. Not at all. Right. I mean, it's nice. It's very interesting to me. Yeah, it's
37:03
nice. But I was say the American to me is like this is a missed capitalistic opportunity. Absolutely. That's what it looks like.
37:08
Three western hotels here, right? That's what it looks like. But it's but what it's really nice because you know
37:14
you can you can just pop down there and we we drive down and actually one of the towns El Pooch has a really big for the
37:20
for an outside of the city little sort of festival in the in the summer where they have like the food trucks come in
37:26
and they have all the stuff going on and that's right on the beach and it's it's you know and at night they have bands
37:32
and stuff playing and and then in Sigunto they there's a there is a carnival one of those little f one of
37:38
those places where you buy the cotton candy and spend far too much money trying to, you know, do rides and things
37:44
like that. So, they have that like throw a beer bottle off a shell shelf dart for a balloon that's never going to
37:51
pop. Yes, I know that. I've spent many of money there. Yeah, we've done those things in the Yeah. So, the all these towns have all these
37:57
things going on in the summer, too. But just going to the beach, and I will say, we've talked about this before, that there's a point in the summer where the
38:04
water is very warm. Like almost not really not that refreshing. Not not
38:09
refreshing at all. I would say, but still delightful in the still happy. Still not complaining that I'm living near the Mediterranean. But if you if
38:16
you spend time at the you'd have to I'm not a I'm not someone that goes to the beach and lays out on the beach and
38:21
gets hot. I I need shade because I just get too hot. And for me, if I So therefore, I have to bring a lot of
38:26
stuff to the beach to enjoy the beach because I got to bring something to sit on. I got to bring an umbrella. And then
38:32
if you get too hot, you can kind of jump in the water. But then if you're in the water, you're getting like a ton of sun. So, like there are people and there's
38:39
people that come with tents and and and places to eat and chairs and
38:44
tables and they spend the whole day there with the kids or whatever and they're making a whole day out of it and they've got a full-on thing going and
38:51
it's awesome to see. It's awesome. But that's not me. I'm a backpack, a blanket, and a beach towel
38:57
and some sunscreen. Um, that's how that's how we do. But yeah, the the the beaches themselves don't provide a lot
39:02
of shade and the water is not warm. But if you wait out, you you get to the cool to the cool water for sure.
39:08
And I will say I read I read something that I that I hope is true. We'll have to maybe fact check it that the the
39:14
beaches all the beaches in Spain are public. There are no p private beaches. Even if you have a beach in front of
39:19
like a five-star hotel, it's still a public beach. So all of the coastline of Spain is accessible, which I think is a
39:25
really nice thing. That does not surprise me. Yeah, I think that's really cool. That's wonderful. And it doesn't surprise me. Um
39:31
and also, you know, people escape. I know there is no shame, but people do escape to the beach here all night long,
39:38
right? So, it's they're escaping the heat too at 7 o'clock at night when they're going to the beach to to cool
39:43
off and and they still go in the water. And what's very exciting here, as we talked about, it's not like a beach
39:49
town, but they have all these beach bars that are only opened during the kind of summer months, like in the middle of the
39:55
sand, not on like the sidewalk area where there's a bunch of restaurants, but they will have them in the middle of
40:01
the sand, and they might rent out the the beach chairs and stuff, but then these things are lively all night long
40:07
with their stringed lights around. So cute. And they just pop them up like, and they spend a week just I mean, it's
40:13
just like wooden walls and stuff. And then they put everything in there and they just pop them up, have them there for the summer. They're on the beach.
40:19
You can get Yeah. You can get a drink, ice cream. Not Not a lot more. I mean, just your basics.
40:25
Um, but it's awesome. Yeah, I love I love that. And they when you start seeing those popping up in this in
40:31
sort of probably a little bit before now, like probably maybe a month ago or
40:36
a few weeks ago, you okay, the summer's coming, right? Like it's an indication, too, that they're that they're popping
40:42
up. And I love that. Yeah. Um, and it does allow you going back to what you said about some of these beaches not
40:48
having a lot of restaurants and things along the beach and they have most of these beaches will have prominards where
40:54
you can walk, but it's like it's homes and and apartment buildings, right? So, these little um these little beach huts
41:01
will kind of give the give the the drinks and the things that people need when they're on the beach, which is
41:07
awesome, I think, as well. I do love the beach here in the summertime, not gonna lie. I mean, it's hot. It's the water, but like just the
41:13
culture of it. And then, you know, and I and again, you get on the bus and you and the people are getting off the bus
41:19
still. I just love that it's just ongoing that there isn't like a traffic jam to leave at 6:00 p.m. Like there's a
41:26
traffic jam still trying to get in. Do you know what I mean? Like No, it's amazing. Active. Yeah. We went down because, you know, we
41:32
went down to take Blaze for a walk and we were down there at around 7:30 in the morning, I think, in one of our little
41:38
beaches. And people were already there with all their stuff and and going in the water. And I was like, "Oh my god,
41:44
this is how it's done." You go first thing in the morning when it's super early. The sun hasn't really
41:49
started to get crazy hot. You're not crazy hot yet. The water's
41:55
probably quite delightful at that hour in the morning. And and then when people
42:00
really start showing up, you're like, "Time to pack up. Time to go home." And you got the rest of the day ahead of you. So I'm like I was like, "This is
42:06
how I want to do it." Cuz sometimes I like going at the end of the day, maybe around 5:00 or something. But I don't
42:11
always feel like it then. I'm like, "My whole day is I'm like, "Oh my god, now we got to go to the beach and we got to drag our stuff." And so I was like, you
42:19
know what? I think this morning thing might be the way. I'm I'm gonna try that this summer and see. I would like to say we try, but we have
42:25
a hard time getting up in the summertime. We're still we're still just we're still in like um coming down from
42:32
being off of school mode and so um I'm getting up at 10:00 and my kids are getting up at noon.
42:37
Okay. So, this would not work for you. But when you have a dog that's probably going to wake you up because they didn't realize that school is over and they're
42:43
like, "Oh, don't you usually wake up at 7:30? This is now what you should but you should wake up right now." So, you're like, "Okay, well, get going."
42:50
And you know, there's work to do. There's things to do. So, I feel like we can probably like
42:58
probably get up early and give it a shot because we also need the siesta in the afternoon, right?
43:05
We need the siesta. Yes. Well, I think that I think that kind of covers sort of how we spend our summer.
43:11
I think if you're if you're not escaping to a cooler climate um or what turns out to be not a cooler climate,
43:18
kind of covers what's going on. That's how we survive. Yeah. And I would like to I would like to add a final note to escaping the heat
43:25
in the summer. Um the I the gelato here is some of the best in the world. Just
43:31
gonna say it. And they're everywhere. And I feel like in the summertime, these gelato places, they're open till 2
43:36
o'clock in the morning. And it's like a it's like a nightclub. They're packed with families and people. But I mean
43:41
like you go at 1:00 in the morning and the place is jam-packed because people are like, I need that little bit of ice cream to go back before I go back home.
43:48
Oh my gosh. Well, we have a we have a little bit of an issue with with the ice cream which is starting to get better
43:55
which is that they don't do toppings here really and maybe in the city it's a little different and but I even there
44:00
we've been to places where they don't even have sprinkles and we're very serious about our sprinkles.
44:06
Okay. So going and getting ice cream and not having sprinkles to put on the ice cream is a little bit of an issue. We're
44:12
starting to see it more. Sounds like a personal problem. It is. But I can I can I can show you I
44:19
can point you to some gelato um places in the um tourist areas of town that
44:25
have that have sprinkles. Yes. That have them that have more toppings. But what I
44:30
will say is some of these gelato places has so many flavors that all your toppings are like in the flavors.
44:36
I still want sprinkles. You know, it just makes it look pretty and fun and festive and you know I'm like I want
44:43
sprinkles on my ice cream. But yeah, you're right. Some of the flavors maybe don't warrant that, but when you're when you've got the kids going around and
44:49
they're looking for that and then their face when they're like, "Yeah, you can have the ice cream, but there's no sprinkles." It's like, "Oh my god." Again, really?
44:58
Like I said, not a big issue. I think you spoil you spoil your kid too much cuz we do not get sprinkles in our
45:04
house. What's wrong with you?
45:09
That's got to You're just figuring that out? Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Just one more
45:16
thing that I have to add to the list of things that's weird. Yes. Oh, well.
45:23
Well, on that note, uh en enjoy your summer, enjoy the heat, and um I look
45:28
forward to seeing you back on Yeah. in in Spain soon. I think we have some grand fia
45:34
activities to attend to. So hopefully we'll do that. Looking forward to it. And we'll see you
45:39
later. Bye. Aloego. Hey, can't get enough of us? Follow us
45:45
on Instagram and Facebook at Ospain Podcast and on our website.com, which we will be
45:51
updating with exciting new things as we grow. We would love for you to message us with any topics you would like to hear about.
45:57
See you next time. Bye.

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From Ah Spain Podcast