WEEK THREE  -   CASTLES, CELLOS , AND OTHER ATTRACTIONS

MONDAY

Valencia again.  Sheila still in Benidorm enjoying Tango,  Dave making his second attempt at getting up to sky dive  (in the end very successful).  So Polly and I went into Valencia for the day  to do the Free Tour,   with Valentina,  a very expressive and informed Italian.    Again this was worth doing, although in  2  and half hours, it seemed we only scratched the surface of what there is to see, just in the old part of the town. We went from the artfully submerged ruins of the Roman city looking down through a small   water feature (but not into the Archaelogical museum and down to the actual level of the ruins) across to the Serrano  Gate (nothing to do with the ham !), used as a prison over the centuries  with only one escapee  (using his bedclothes as a parachute !)  and a store for the art treasures  during the Civil War,then   to  the Bomb shelter used during that conflict when  Valencia was bombed 400 times, often by the Italian air force, for which  Valentina apologized.  There were ghost stories about a government building, and markets to see,   but we did not really go into any of the buildings and it would have been nice to have had more time later to go back to some of the places to get a better look.  No time for the “Tomorrowland” section of Valencia this time either.    It was soon time to come home, thinking that there is still a lot more to see.

Tuesday   we all tried to work on our lesson plans,   and not much else done  that I can immediately remember, and then a short week , during which I was introduced to the joys of marking after a written work lesson.  You really do have to go over them at least twice to see what mistakes you have missed !  Another  conversation class with the Sixth form, which was supposed to be about THE CLIENT by John Grisham on which they had a test on Friday.  Perhaps, not surprisingly, most of them had not yet read it, and so  ended up talking about Las Manadas  (the Pack), on which they were all quite passionate, and cynical about the politics of the judgment and sentence.  This class was not as committed as the last two, and I later discovered that   the teacher has asked for volunteers for each group, so that  as each week passes, the enthusiasm  and ability of the group is diminishing .  Next week should be interesting, although I think there are only a couple of students who have managed to avoid the class so far, so I may have some of the more interested students again.

On Thursday,  I had my second conversation lesson with a teacher, and on Friday picked up another, Pepe.  I now also have a third for the last week, so it will be a full schedule as far as teacher conversation is concerned.   These conversations are a real opportunity to find out more about the Spanish way of life, particularly for teachers.

I was also able to find out, in the staff common room,  some of the best places to eat in Gandia, and on Friday night we went to  a genuinely authentic  Valencian restaurant    Casa Senchis  (it did have menus in English).  We had tapas, but I suspect that we missed some of the more authentic dishes.  Still, we did feel we were in a proper local restaurant.

  Despite my comments about   Valencia above,  I also felt that I had not really  explored Gandia sufficiently either and decided to stay close to home for the weekend.  On  Saturday I finally found the foot route to Castle Bayren, following some flower  stencils in the road, and  enjoyed some beautiful views amongst the very reduced ruins at the top of the hill   (not really a mountain).  On the way back  I tried to get to Ullals Lake, but it eluded me again, and I ended in the centre of town where the flower marks end, at a beautiful park, with a moat filled with water lilies in flower and  little bridges.   It was a good three hour walk there and back, but I found that Dave had run up there and back in an hour, which slightly diminished my sense of achievement !

On Saturday evening, there was a cello concert in the Casa Cultura, which turned out to be the results of a day workshop for children from   about ten to 18.  Most of the pieces played were popular songs,  Ed Sheerin,  ColdPlay,  Halleluia,  and even the theme from Game of Thrones, done by different levels, but there was one solo by a very young girl of a Bach Sonata that was eye wateringly good.  Overall it was great to be standing out in the park watching them in the mellow evening.

Sunday

My plan was to visit the Museu de Faller, but access to a computer for the morning meant that I worthily decided to type up my Observed lesson plan, and so got there just after it had closed for the day.  Polly and I then walked up the footpath beside the River Serpis  (completely dry) to the Viewing point and into Playa Major.  We found a lovely restaurant for tapas just off the square with a waiter from New York, and  watched  rockets of confetti being set off for a first communion that had just taken place in the main church.  I know all this because I met one of my pupils, who explained that it was his cousin who had been taking her communion.

Back to cook a vegetarian supper, not my best  (i am no longer allowed to talk about my good meals !), but we are now thinking about using up all our food.