Hasta Luego to València
My last days in València were pretty quiet ones. I probably could have done a lot more sightseeing or museum visits but it was time for me to reflect on all the cool things I have been able to do, the nice people I have met, and great food I have eaten. It will be difficult to leave, and I am promising myself to come back, most likely in August, sooner if things in the north of Spain don’t go as planned.
While I was here I was able to do many fun things including attending various cultural events. Here is a non-exhaustive list:
- Multiple movies at the Cine Babel, the one theatre showing original versions of movies, i.e. subtitled (George Clooney’s The Midnight Sky, It Snows in Benidorm, and Mood for Love by Wong Kar-Wai)
- Multiple movies at Cinestudio d’Or, the cheapest movie place for double features (Oscar nominated La Boda de Rosa, the French L’incroyable histoire du facteur Cheval, and Sentimental)
- Opera on the big screen (Tosca)
- A couple of plays at Teatro Talia (El método Grönholm, Heraderás la Lluvia) and one at Teatro Olympia (Trigo Sucio)
- Multiple movies at Museu de Belles Arts de València as part of their “Femme Fatale” cinema presentations (The Devil is a Woman (1935), The Letter (1940), Double Indemnity (1944), Gilda (1946), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Out of the Past (1947), Basic Instinct (1992), and Gone Girl (2014))
- A movie at La Filmoteca (The Front Page (1974))
- Various concerts (Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, Grigory Sokolov playing Chopin, and a couple minor ones I’ve already written about)
As you can see, I’ve been busy. And every time I attended I kept thinking how easy it is to keep artists performing (and earning a living) during a pandemic when proper safety protocols are used. Contact information collection, sanitizers and temperature checks, separated seating, masks, masks, and more masks … all these measures are very much in place here and I never once felt unsafe. Sure, you can’t fill a hall or arena 100% but you can fill it 50% and that’s way better than nothing. The artists appreciate it and we, the viewing public, appreciate it even more. It pains me to see so many performers in Canada suffering especially since I know that it isn’t necessary. I also feel very grateful that I have been able to support the arts here in Valencia as much as I have.
As much as I will miss the city, I will miss my new friends more: Ewa, Sagrario, and Gisela, all of whom have made my stay here so wonderful. I couldn’t have seen as many little towns or eaten so much great food had it not been for Sagrario’s generosity and willingness to take us on those trips. Ewa was instrumental in my reconnection to the Polish language, to the point where there were times I didn’t know which language to speak, think, and even dream in. My brain has been getting quite the workout with the three languages living in my head. I wish I had a chance to spend more time with Gisela and I vow to remedy that in the future: she’s a lovely young woman and I’m sure we’ll hang out lots soon.
To celebrate our friendship we not only had a little get-together with cake and everything, but Ewa and I also had to have one last meal at el Molinon. The owner knows us now so I had to tell him I was only going away for a while and that I’ll be back as soon as I could. We had another great meal, crowned by the famed octopus and we toasted our friendship with the house special cider.
Besides saying hasta luego to my favourite restaurant, I also had to say ciao to all my usual shopping places at the Mercat Central. Particularly, I had to go say ‘bye’ to the girl from the bakery where I always bought the best buns ever. I even bought a few to take with me to Denia because who knows how long it would be before I find anything comparable.
This one trip isn’t going to be by train or bus: Sagrario offered to take me to Denia, a place she knows really well and one she wanted to show me, as well as hang out with me for a few days. This will be possible since I’ve rented the whole house this time and not just a room. I think we’re going to have fun!
