We get a great surprise today when we dock in Valencia – we are docked at the good pier!!!  Yay. We are at the ferry pier where we can just walk right out into the terminal. We haven’t docked there in years!  Bonus! Needless to say, it was easy off – we were 2nd passengers off – and a fast walk out to the front of the terminal where we were 1st in line for the taxi. Oddly enough, even though this is a fairly large and busy ferry terminal, there are no rental car agencies here. The closest is at the train station, which is an hour’s walking distance from the pier. Nah. We’ll taxi!

It is only a 20 minute drive, even with traffic and the bizarre way we have to drive around the block to enter the station. Just weird. But, we are here and ready to go. There is a little bit of a tussle trying to pick up the car as we don’t have our actual passport, but a color photocopy. The rental agent is not happy with that and gives a fair amount of grief before finally completing the paperwork. Note to self – bring original passport next time!

Locating the car, we navigate our way out of the confusing parking lot, around the stupid block again to get out onto the main road which rather easily leads us straight to l’Abufera, the 750,000 square acre nature park south of the city. We find the Interpretation centre fairly easily, but when we pull up, there is a gate across the entrance. Hmmm….they should be open now. What gives? As we are trying to decide whether to back out of the driveway, a guard comes up and lifts the gate. Oh, ok, parking control. Got it!

Depositing the car in the gravel lot, we begin our exploration of the park, starting with the centre, where a lovely lady gives us a map and explains the different areas, pooh poohing me when I ask about hiking around the rice fields. Way too big, much too far. Ok – we drive! But first we explore the watch tower in the centre with 360 degree views out over l’Abufera lagoon. Beautiful.

Climbing down from the tower, we wander around the boardwalk paths that wind through foliage and skirts the edge of the lagoon to get to the viewing platform where we can sit and watch all the birds peacefully floating across the surface of the water and exploring the banks right beneath the viewing hut.

Very beautiful and very nostalgic for us as it reminds us so much of Sanibel. Retracing our path, we reclaim our vehicle, driving out under the guard lifted gate to begin exploring the huge rice fields that make up the bulk of the park. The road skirts the lagoon, taking us through El Palmar, a small little fishing village that consists of 3 narrow lanes along a canal that leads to the river and lagoon, then turning right we move out into the huge fields that seem to go on forever and ever, before ending at the foot of the mountains in the distance. We know they don’t stretch that far, but from this vantage point, it sure looks that way.

The narrows and winds its way through the fields, where we pass abandon farmhouse – or maybe rice mills – and freshly plowed fields where the bird watching is great.

Further on in the park, we reach the highest point – a whole 27 meters or 88 feet – Muntanyeta dels Sants – the “mountain” – where a there is a chapel dedicated to Els Benissants de la Pedra – the crop protectors. From up here you get a much better perspective of just how massive this park – and the rice fields – truly are. Also, the little chapel is pretty picturesque as well.

Heading back to the north, we circumvent the rice fields on the same narrow little roads, passing hardly a car on our way – so peaceful – until we are out on the main road again, heading to the forest area of the nature preserve where we can hike through the woods and out onto the beach along the coast. We get a little turned around and end up parking where we think the forest walk begins. There are lots of cars parked here, and there is forest, but there aren’t any sign posts with directions or paths and after about 10 minutes of wandering, we decide we should be safe rather than sorry and head back to the car to see if we can find the main hiking paths.

This of course is easier said than done. You can only make right turns on or off the 2 lane main road that runs through the forest and the park. Roundabouts for u-turns are placed every so often, but just every so often, making for additional driving in the opposite direction of where you want to go. Annoying – but you can see the logic, especially during the busy season when this road is probably jam packed with tourists and beachgoers.

Afrer a frustrating 10 minutes or so, we do make it to the to the parking area for the forest paths and proceed to meander about along the lagoons and canals that lead to the white sandy beach. It is a beautiful, if not windy, day, making for a lovely walk out along the coast and through the trees on the paths.

But, now it is time for lunch. And the pickings are slim around here. You’d think there would be more restaurant selections as this is a fairly densely populated tourist destination with rental condos and hotels, but we only find one little cafeteria that doesn’t look all that appealing. We make the decision to go back to El Palmar – even though it is in the opposite direction of Valencia – because we know there are a slew of restaurants there. Plus we know where we are going, which makes things a lot easier!

Unfortunately, upon arrival in El Palmar, we see that there are 3 huge tour buses in the parking lot. Darn it! We hadn’t really looked at the ship tours, but apparently there is one here. Pooh. We were hoping to not have to fight too many tourists, and definitely not ship people. So, instead of parking in the lot, we continue to drive through El Palmar, along the canal as we did before, looking at the restaurants that line the little lane and trying to decide if we want to stop at one. We quickly reach the end of the lane – and as it is one way – have to turn back into town. As it turns out, it was a good thing – because we found a great parking spot at the end of the village from which we could walk into the center and find a restaurant. We actually didn’t even make it all that far! There were 2 restaurants right on the corner behind our parking space, one of which Raco de les Eres, was open and already had a table occupied on the terrace. Perfect! We plopped ourselves down and ordered what turned out to be a fabulous lunch of grilled sepia and fresh hand battered fried calamari. Totally yummy and totally peaceful with only a handful of other patrons there.

Full and happy, we wander back to the car, passing a couple of lovely murals, before driving out of this cute little village on back into Valencia proper to drop off the car.

Surprisingly easily, we find the parking lot entrance, drop the car and are in a taxi an on our way back to the port in short order. Back aboard, it is time to pack. Really? Wow. That went by fast! With plenty of time to spare we split our time between the balcony and the bar for drinks (the bar manager has taken a shine to us so I get double wine pours!!), then hit the buffet which was a zoo review.   Holy cow!! It was serious crazy up there – like we have never seen it!!! Dear me!  Total scrum. We are clueless as to why. Our sweet little waiter, Ruben, said it’s always like that the last night. And everyone up there was Spanish – we were probably the only native English speakers up there!

After that craziness, we just hung on the balcony for the rest of the evening. A lovely way to end a very fun and adventurous short cruise! Next up – puffy coats and cold Netherland temps!