VALENCIA, Spain

The city-break to Barcelona was a nice interlude in our trip, but after a few days of baking heat and streets heavy with summer tourists, we were happy to get back on the bus to Valencia and Seven Tenths, this time with Seppe in tow. We were filled with a small tingling of anxiousness at how our first boat guest would adapt to the lifestyle but tried to excite him on the ride south with planning and stories that had by now become exaggerated in the telling.

Since our stop in Valencia before had been so short, we carved out a few days to spend in the city and had invited Eyal to come from Berlin to share them with us too. Although we hadn’t yet experienced the Balearic Islands in summer, we had the feeling from stories and the overbooked marina schedules that finding a stable place to stop and make repairs was going to be very expensive. That meant that mornings in Valencia were spent on little repairs and tweaks until the heat became too unbearable to work and we would get a taxi in to town to walk around the city and dinner with Eyal and Peter.

After Barcelona the city felt much more local. We were taken by the surreal and regal Cuidad des les Artes by Calatrava, although the complex apparently sucks up local funds and suffers from endless broken panes of glass, and it’s contrast with the charming old city. The most memorable part of the city however, especially in the summer heat, is the linear park following the river bed as it curves around and through the town down to the sea. The shade and running water feels like another form of public transport that you can leave at the right stop for the part of town you want to visit. Although Eyal wasn’t going to make the trip out to Ibiza with us, we did manage to go out for a day sail with the boys, trying to keep down lunch in rollercoaster swell anchored off-shore a few miles south of the marina.