Valencia

We are now settled in Valencia for the next 3 weeks. Both Jan and I have to go back to the UK for a few days and the marina here is relatively cheap (at least in comparison with the Balearics); the city is fun; and flights to the UK are not expensive. 

So far we have only had a brief look at the city but it looks really exciting. There is some amazing architecture and the river through the centre of the city has been converted to a park.  

I went to the aquarium yesterday, which is very interesting and well worth a visit if you come here. The tanks are huge, the variety of fish is really extensive and the explanations are in English as well as Spanish and just about the right length! One particular highlight was watching the staff in diving suits inside the tanks feeding the fish, including their several octopuses, by hand.

Valencia Aquarium

Sleeping sea-lion

The last week of our stay in Ibiza was great because Miranda came to join us. We were anchored in San Antonio and took a bus trip to lunch at a great restaurant in Eivissa, Sa Vida. I had to give it 5* on Trip Advisor,...great food and really good value.

From Ibiza we paid a brief visit to Formentera. It was interesting to see Superyacht "A" anchored off the coast there. I am very undecided about that boat, its not pretty but it certainly has a sort of brutal beauty when you see it close-up - I would love to see it sailing in 20 knots!

Superyacht "A"

Formentara was a bit of a shock. We couldn't find anywhere to anchor because they are very protective of their seaweed, so we had to pick up at mooring buoy at a cost of €48 per night which was a bit of an ouch!

From Formentara it was back to Ibiza, where we found a great anchorage in the bay next door to Eivissa. There was a nice handy dinghy dock and though it was a bit of a walk into the city centre I wish we had found it earlier, Eivissa is a great town and much nicer that San Antonio where we had been anchored for most of our stay in Ibiza.

For Miranda's last night we went out for the night in Eivissa where it was good to find Solomun putting on a free DJ set by the waterfront in the marina. 

Ready for a night out in Eivissa....

I hadn't heard of him before but Miranda is a fan and was very excited by the prospect. If you like dance I would recommend you check him out on Spotify - he's excellent! 

Solomun by the waterfront

Did I mention that the generator failed AGAIN! The engineer we used to fit the new water pump in Palma had told us that a part (the drive wheel pulley) was old and worn so needed replacement, so we had expected the fault - but it meant that staying on anchor was difficult so from Eivissa we moved directly to Valencia. Once we arrived in Valencia a local engineer we found then explained that the problem was not with the part, but with the fitting of the water pump. Do not use Mike Parkin in Palma for any work - he is expensive and not very good!

 Anyway, we are now here for a while. as you can see from the photos it looks like a fun place, I will update you soon.....