Mitzyboy

I love Aragon .... we started just popping off for weekends, but the more I go to the area the more I like it :-)

steviedeluxe

Yes - even in recent years there have been villages that have completely died as everyone left to go and work in towns/cities. It's a bit like a lost world in parts, in contrast to the Zaragoza developments and now this mega-casino. I'd be hesitant about travelling around there in winter though - all too easy to get cut off by snow - it gets really cold there.

Lynn R

Thanks for all your responses, some good ideas there. Teruel certainly looks like my kind of place, I really prefer the historical to the modern!

poolboy

Valencia wise I would start with breakfast in the central mkt, they do fab pistacchios (gigantic ones) only 13e per kg. Walk round the cathedral shops etc, lunch on the beach - got to be a paella. Stroll it off, swim.

Albufera & boat trip.

Oceanaographique

New zoo

football stadium visit

Enjoy

Lynn R

We are just back from Valencia and really enjoyed our visit - you were certainly all right that we wouldn't be short of things to do! We visited the Museo de Bellas Arte and the Museo de Fallero, which we loved. I think I am too much of a wimp to ever experience the Fallas for real as I can't stand huge crowds or loud noise! The Central Market was foodie heaven and we drooled to see stuff we can't buy in Andalucia such as a stall with about a dozen different type of mushrooms. We bought some dried ones to bring home and I can't wait to try them. Prices for everything were much more reasonable than Madrid or Barcelona and we found some good restaurants too, particularly El Refugio in Calle de Alta in Barrio del Carmen, and Atmosphere, the cafe within the Institut Frances which does a great menu del dia, 8.60€ for 2 courses or 10€ for 3 and has a lovely quiet courtyard for outdoor dining. Both are vegetarian friendly (my OH is a veggie and often struggles to find good food in Spain).

We couldn't help but notice a few marked differences between Valencia and Andalucia, such as:-
- people in general seemed much thinner
- I've never seen so many fruit and vegetable shops in one place before
- we were struck by how many bars are run by Chinese people in Valencia,
at home we only see them running bazaar shops and a few Chinese
restaurants.
- we could understand everybody! They spoke lovely clear Spanish unlike the
Andaluz which we struggle to understand despite hearing it around us
day.

steviedeluxe

One of the things I love about Spain is the huge differences between different regions. You would have thought the two areas would be very similar (Med coast, lots of tourism etc) yet as you've found out there are still big differences. But, go a few miles inland to Aragon, and you're in another world (climate and scenery wise)

cricketman

I think that's just the difference between city and campo. If you go to Sevilla, Granada or Malaga they have great central markets with loads of choice and the people are generally thin. Just like in Britain, it is the poorest who tend to be the fattest.

As for Chinese people running all the bars. It was the same in BCN. I have a Spanish friend in Malaga who says the only people willing to run bars now are the Chinese or the British!

Lynn R

Well, I've been to the central market in Malaga many times and it's not in the same class as the Valencia one.

I actually live in the historic quarter of a big town (Velez-Malaga), not in the campo, and we don't enjoy anywhere near as much choice as the people of Valencia.

I do agree about obesity being a socio-economic issue though. I can see the children of families living near me being fed a diet of fizzy drinks and sugary cakes (and that's just for breakfast!) and I shudder to think of the consequences for their health in later life.

cricketman

I used to live between La Boqueria and Santa Catalina markets in Barcelona, possibly two of the best markets in the world. And yes it was great having the choice of things there.

But I also think the Malaga central market is very good. They have different products from Barcelona, they have a lot more local produce from the areas surrounding Malaga, but thats to be expected. For example Setas and calcots are very big in Catalunya so there were big selections of those in the Barcelona markets. In the Malaga markets there is a big choice of olives, embutidos and semi-exotic fruits.