Sat, 18 Oct 2003

author Tim	location Barcelona, España
posted 11:17 CEST 25/10/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/Espana ( all photos )

NOT to Morella, but Valencia ( 4 photos )
Our general aim for this day was to get a town called Morella, inland in the Valencia province, where we wanted to meet up with Jono and Penny who have been walking around Spain for a month or so. I went to uni with Jono, and interestingly when we went out for dinner back home a few times, we always ended up at Spanish restaurants. So now we were keen to go one better while we were here with them.
Up early, we left our large blue carry bag at Marty's (a welcome change with all the weight in it), and got the Metro back to Sants, where a ticket guy who spoke little English did a little 'running' mime to indicate that the train we wanted was about to leave and we should be quick. Very helpful, and we got the point and high-tailed it down to one of the platforms.
To get to this little town, we had to get a bus in from either Vinaròs or Castello, both stations on the train line south from Barcelona to Valencia City. Marty had helpfully phoned the bus company and used his Spanish to extract from them that there was no bus from Vinaròs (the closest station to Barcelona) on a Saturday, but there was one from Castello - a bigger town but further away. And none from anywhere on Sunday, which often isn't counted as a day here in Spain at all. For instance, buses run "every day" from some places, but if you ask what time the bus on Sunday is, they say "oh no, not Sunday". Weird.
We spent the hours on the train looking at the citrus trees all around the area, and doing the maths, basically working out that we would probably make it in time for this only bus at 1:30pm by about fifteen minutes. All was going well right up until two stops or so out of Castello, where the train proceeded to stop. We egged it on, knowing that our chances of meeting up rested on this useless slow train getting moving again. Soon a fast train sped past us, but still we didn't move. Something eventually spurred the driver into action, just in time to get us into Castello about three minutes after the bus left.
We ran around like mad things trying to find another way, ask people or just generally get to Morella in anyway possible. Disheartened, we were about to go back inside and get on a train to Valencia City when we noticed on the electronic bus noticeboard that there was another bus to Morella at 3:50pm! All we can guess is that this one is operated by a different company that we didn't know about.
So, we sat and waited, doing some supermarket runs for food, but cursing the fact that carrying books to read would mean more weight, so we don't really do it.
I amused myself for a while playing with my new camera, a Kodak CX6330 (3.1MP, 3x optical zoom) which takes great pictures, weighs not much at all and is tiny. However, it's designed for people who just want the photos and as such is pretty dumbed down. No arguments from me, it's going to be just fine for what we want it for, and it was cheap!
By 4pm, plenty of buses had come and gone, and we had asked all of them if they were going to Morella, but none did. We could have gotten to Romania though. By 5pm, we were part of a growing crowd not happy that there was now no way to get to this little place until Monday. Once most of that crowd got into a car that they had hired or borrowed or something at around 5:45, we decided that we had done enough waiting for the day, went inside and got on a train to Valencia instead.
This was much better, as we were actually at the far northern reach of the city's Metro system, so the journey in, while stopping at every little stop, was nice enough and plenty efficient. Not so the buses around this region.
Valencia City didn't look significantly different to anything else as we walked North from the train station, and to Hostal-Residencia Alicante, a pension (cheap hotel) located above Calle de Ribera, a lively pedestrian street with cafés and bars. The price was good but not fantastic, so we had a quick look at a few other options before deciding that we had had enough for the day and just taking it.
The room was great - a little double with its own shower and sink, very clean and also convenient. We relaxed, not having to wait for something for a change, except for our stomachs to start rumbling.
When the eventually did, we headed out for a wander around the town, where a cheap tapas run by a lively local turned out to be a great option.

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