Valencia

I kinda wanted to explore the castilla area of spain more and see a bunch of castles, but it seems like it's not so easy to find a place to stay. I thought about heading out there and asking around for a cheap place to stay... but I kinda doubt it would have worked. I probably would have ended up on the street... or spending 60 euro for an expensive hotel. It's semana santa (holy week) so many people are traveling right now. So, I headed to Valencia. This place is much more relaxed than Madrid. And I'm told Barcelona is very much a rushed atmosphere. It's interesting how the locals everywhere have a ton of pride in their regions and have feuds with each other. I've been told by several locals that the people in Barcelona aren't very friendly. I was sitting next to an old guy on the train over to Valencia who had a stroke or something four months ago, and he was relearning how to speak. He lost most knowledge of words. This actually made it easy for me to understand him. Most of the time, the locals speak too fast and use words I don't know. I had a pretty good conversation with this guy though. He whispered to me about the rude Barcelonians after looking around to make sure there weren't any there. Spaniards have more pride in their regions (Valencia, Catalonia, etc.) than in Spain itself. There isn't a strong central government. The provinces themselves are pretty much autonomous and are represented in the European Union.

The Valencians even have their own language, so they say. I think it might just be a dialect. But since Spanish is spelled phonetically, a different dialect should be spelled differently, and I guess be a different language. The street signs here are in Valencian. And stores with Valencian pride also write their signs and menus in Valencian.

Anyway, I explored the city here, then went to the park with some people and drank on the lawn. Then got some tapas.