"I Told Him We Already Got One..."

The last couple days have been gorgeous and sunny. However today the weather has decided to throw a small temper tantrum and it's raining buckets. (Funny... it never goes half mesures here in Spain. It's either all out sun or pissing rain.) But this just means it's a perfect time for a recap!

Tried out another beach the other day as the La Malvarossa city beach left me wanting. So a girl from my hostel and I trotted off to discover... El Saler! Dun, dun dun! Directions were hazy. Our grasp of the language was more shaky than an earthquake. And we failed to bring adequate provisions. (aka Water). But after much waiting, wandering, and even a bit of bushwacking through a sea of mini holly bushes, pine trees, and every other sort of prickly plant we reached the beach at last. And it was much much nicer than the city beach. Hardly any tourists, which was lovely. Definitely a locals beach.

Prior to that adventure, I'd done a bit of wandering around town. Valencia's just a regular city, with regular people, doing regular things. But it still has a neat Spanish-ness which was neat to see. But DAMN do I hate the siesta! Don't get me wrong. I enjoy a mid day nap as much as the next girl. But 5 hours is pushing it. Especially in the middle of the day (anywhere between noon and 6pm) when you're trying to get things done. Oh well... just gotta go with the flow.

So to fill up my time during one of these prolonged siestas I went and saw... wait for it... the HOLY GRAIL! (Weren't expecting that one were you?) That's right, Valencia is home to the only holy grail officially recognized by the Vatican, albeit tentatively. They've got it locked up behind glass pretty tightly, but here's what I could make out (with a bit of help from the postcards!). The cup is maybe 8-9 inches tall, with the cup part made out of carved agate (this is the part that is supposed to be from the 1st century). The stem and handles are gold, riddled with rubies and emeralds, and probably a few other gems. (This part is from the middle ages.) Near as I can figure the cup's validity owes a lot to it's apperance is certain famous renaissance paintings of the last supper. But who knows, maybe the papal powers have super grail detection skills that we mere plebs are unaware of. Either way it was neat to see, even if I did have Monty Python running through my head the entire time. "I Told Him We Already Got One..."