In my last post, I promised some more pictures from Valencia. In the meantime, I have found out that the network connection I am using here is a bit shaky, the access point comes and goes, seemingly at random. Let’s hope I can put these pictures up, though.
In the end, I wanted to venture out for Sushi last night, and of course, the sushi place recommended is on the other side of the old town. This turned out to be a good opportunity for a walk, and without really getting lost, I found myself at the sushi place, which , however, was really really small, and all tables were taken. With only half an hour of dinner service to go, I decided to go elsewhere, as it was not very likely that I’d get a table and order in that time.
In the end, I went for tapas (what a surprise), had some of that great iberico ham and some fried baby squid. And I made contact with one of the more annoying things in Valencia: panhandlers. If you eat outside at night, you invariably get numerous visits from Africans selling you fake leather belts and all the other things that they also sell in France and Italy. These guys are OK, you tell them you don’t want anything, they move on. More annoying was a guy who came by bike and wanted some handout. He was unfazed by me not speaking spanish, and continued in broken English. He wasn’t even really impressed when the restaurant owner told him to go away. It’s sad, and annoying at the same time.
However, here are some more pictures from my nightly stroll:
First off, here’s me moving fast in Valencia’s shadier side streets: 
On my way back, I snapped this picture of a building around the mercado central. Quite a few buildings in Valencia are in this very massive style of architecture: 
This is the government building of the Valencia region, on plaza de l’ajuntamento. It (no surprise here) is very massive:
If you look at the plaza de ayuntamento from the side of the government building, you discover more grandiose architecture. This all looks very impressive, especially since it’s well lit at night: 
