We arrived at our hotel just after midnight, exhausted after an excruciating flight that we barely managed to board from London. As soon as we got to the hotel, I collapsed on the bed, and I was out cold. The next day, I jumped out of my bed enthusiastically ready to explore the new country I was in. But as we had just come from England, I felt as though my body was starting to melt under the intense heat of the sun as soon as we stepped out into the street. Still, we heroically dashed from one shaded area to the next until we managed to reach our first destination, the Amphitheater. Today, we can only see the deformed ruins of its past glory but back when it was constructed a few hundred years ago it was used for many exciting events like battle to the death, group battle to the death, and my favorite, battle to the death with lions! Not only was this amphitheater used by the Romans, but after it began to lose its popularity, people decided to build a big church over it (although currently, that too, is just a big pile of rocks). This might have been a surprise to some of you but this was actually a very common demise for many old Roman buildings because of their plentiful supply of perfectly cut rocks just waiting for the next person to come along and use them for themselves. This is the reason why some of the old buildings you see have chunks missing in some areas.
After our little tour of the Amphitheater, we set off for our next great mission, Lunch. We wandered along some cute piazzas and alleys, with a short break consisting of the world’s best ice cream (The Spanish really know what they’re doing) until we spotted a Spanish restaurant just across the road. We sat down, ordered our food and before we knew it, we were preseted with our first of three big courses. I learned a new thing today, which is that the Spanish do not go light on their meals. We started with a plate that could have easily been enough for two people, mine being a delicious plate of cheese, meat, and eggplants. At this point, we were already quite full but thanks to my greedy teenage stomach, I plowed through my second meal, paella. For anyone who doesn’t know what paella is, it is usually a dish for many people to share and is served in a shallow pan filled with crispy marinated rice with mussels and other seafood delicacies (I recommend it). Feeling as though I might burst at any given moment, I mentally prepared for the main course, dessert. I can not recall a single moment of my life in which I didn’t want to see a chocolate cake being presented in front of me, until now. The cake itself was good and I was able to eat it all but I was seriously judging my past self for ordering such heavy food.
After our feast fit for an entire school, we dragged ourselves to our next home in a town called Valencia. I guess the lesson learned for the time being is, that eyes are bigger than your stomach.
8/1/23