Europe

We weren’t really quick out of the blocks again this morning, getting down to breakfast at about 10:00 am.

After breakfast, we went for a short walk, browsing in some of the local shops.

We returned to the hotel around midday, to catch a taxi to the Lladró factory, where we had arranged for a guided tour. The Lladró company was founded by brothers Juan, José, and Vicente Lladró, on the outskirts of Valencia in 1953. Lladró’s porcelain products are renowned around the world, and since we own some of them already, we were quite excited to visit the place where they were made.

Our guide, Maria, showed us through the entire process of making hand-made porcelain figurines. Seeing the skill of the porcelain artisans first-hand gave us a new appreciation for what goes into each creation.

After the tour, we wandered around the Lladró museum, which houses a collection of pieces ranging from small and cute, through to large and elaborate. The most impressive piece was the “Carnival in Venice”, of which only one hundred were made. It took 35 artists more than five years to create it. It is Lladró’s most complex and ambitious porcelain work to date, and sells for a cool €250,000!

We left the Lladró factory at 2:30 pm, and caught a taxi back to the old town. We decided to go for a walk to tick off something we had not yet done in Spain: eat some churros! We found a nice little place that sold churros and orxata, a Valencian sweet milk drink. We thoroughly enjoyed the churros and the orxata, and definitely over-indulged.

After enjoying way too many churros, we walked around the cute little streets of Valencia for a while, before heading back to the hotel. We stopped in at the Lladró Lounge Bar in the hotel. The Palacio Vallier Hotel and Lladró have a collaboration, so there is a lot of Lladró porcelain on display in the hotel.

We rested in our room for a while, before heading out for dinner. We opted for an Italian restaurant called Casa d’Aragona, which was very good. Having Italian food in Valencia is not as out-of-place as it might seem. In the Middle Ages, both Sicily and Valencia came under the rule of the Crown of Aragon, creating a Mediterranean empire that stretched from eastern Spain through the Balearic Islands to Sardinia, Naples, and Sicily. This allowed for major movement of people, goods, and recipes. Hence, there is quite a strong relationship between the cuisines of Valencia and southern Italy.

It was about 10:00 pm when we left the restaurant and walked back to the hotel. The city was very active, since Spaniards consider 10:00 pm to still be early, many not even having had dinner by this time. There were plenty of people out in the Plaza de la Virgen as we walked back through it to the hotel.

We arrived back at the Palacio Vallier Hotel at about 10:15 pm. The hotel looks beautiful at night.

Before going upstairs, we stopped to look at the incredible 17-metre-long chandelier created especially by Lladró for the hotel. It is an incredibly impressive creation.

On the way back to our room, just outside our door, was a beautiful clock that we admired each time we walked past it.

Back in our room, we got a lovely view of the Plaza de la Virgen, which was still very lively.

It was now well after 11:00 pm, and time for bed. Tomorrow, we’re driving to the airport in Valencia to drop the car off, and then we’re catching a flight to Frankfurt.