So today I spent the morning doing absolutely nothing. I slept in, went for a late breakfast, and walked some of the old part of Valencia before walking to the Torres de Serrano (the old Muslim arch) where I was to meet up with my guide Jorge and the rest of the group for a tour of Albufera Natural Park, about 7 km outside of Valencia, but renowned for its magnificent beaches, Valencia Lake, birds colonies and fabulous sunsets.
So just after 4:30, Jorge picked me up at the arch along with two other couples. There was a total of seven of us on the tour. Perfect. And after about 20 minutes fighting traffic, we were on the open highway headed to the park.
Now first up was Platja el Saler a pristine Mediterranean beach located in the Albufera Natural Park near Valencia, Spain, known for its natural dunes, pine forests, and clear waters. It is a popular spot for water sports like windsurfing. And once we walked toward the Mediterranean, I immediately spotted a windsurfer and after a few attempts managed to catch a nice picture of the dude windsurfing.
The views from the beach were spectacular with downtown Valencia in one direction and the Port of Valencia in another direction. And all around us there were sand dunes that serve as breeding grounds for egret, sandpipers and even flamingoes.
Even better, though, is that the area has seen sea turtles starting to make their nests in the area because of the warming temperatures of the Mediterranean. So while global warming sucks, the positive is that sea turtles are increasing their numbers because of the warming temperatures.
Now the name of the area, El Saler, and the nearby town of the same name, means “salt in” and is so named because water would flow in from the Mediterranean during the wet season leaving salt deposits everywhere which the locals harvested and sent to markets for sale.
Anyway, after the stop at the beach, we drove for about 10 minutes to one of the many stops in the Albufera Natural Park. After a short walk, we stopped at the edge of the L’Albufera de València, the lagoon that is one of the star attractions of Albufera Natural Park where you can see a variety of bird life.
Unfortunately, we did not see any flamingoes, but there were a number of little egrets on the island in the middle of the lagoon, along with mallards and common sandpipers. The views here were absolutely magnificent with birds flying in and out of the island area and even one little egret flying very close to where we were standing and landing on a small outcrop in the lagoon.
The area was absolutely gorgeous with lots of reeds growing out of the water and a gentle breeze coming off the lagoon to cool us off in what was a pretty hot day.
So from here, we climbed back in the van and headed to the little village of El Palmar. As we drove, we passed a number of rice paddies. The area is renowned for rice paddies and is actually the area where paella was born. The local fishermen were pretty poor and because the area becomes quite wet in the winter season, the fishermen began planting rice. They then harvested the rice and added veggies and (originally) rat meat (remember they were VERY poor), cooked the whole thing in olive oil and a world wide famous dish was born.
Anyway, once we reached El Palmar, we made a short stop at a local barracas. A barracas is a traditional marshland home used by fishermen and residents of the local marshlands. The building has low rectangular walls and an “A” frame steep roof historically made of wood, mud, and reeds. And as mentioned, this area gets a lot of rain so the buildings were designed to withstand heavy rainfall.
Now this home was pretty interesting because it had retained the old traditional “refrigerator” which was a wooden structure with a lot of holes in it through which the cool air from outside would pass through keeping the food items cools.
We ended up walking around the home for a bit, took in the courtyard and the outside thatched roof before calling it good.
From here, we loaded back in the van and headed to our boat trip on L’Albufera de València, which as mentioned was the freshwater lagoon in the park and the largest freshwater lagoon in Spain.
Now the lagoon is made up of 70% brackish water (salt water flooding into the area during the rainy season and 30% coming from the nearby Juba and Turia rivers (so begs the question why is is called a freshwater lagoon, but I can only surmise that is its because the salt in the lagoon does not occur naturally). In addition, to feeding the lagoon, the Juba and Turia rivers feed the nearby rice paddies.
So once on the long, narrow boat, we pushed off and headed out towards the middle of the lagoon. We passed a number of barracas and reed covered islands before reaching the middle of the lagoon where we could see the sun starting to set. The views were absolutely gorgeous.
And overhead we saw numerous congregations of little egrets. It was fascinating to watch them fly overhead first in a “V” formation and then shift into different formations. I have no idea why they change positions and neither did Jorge. All I know is that it was absolutely magnificent to watch against the backdrop of the setting sun.
Our boat driver made his way across the lagoon and then we doubled back on the other side of the lagoon taking in more reed islands before reaching the narrow waterway we had started out from. And as if we had not seen enough beautiful views, the sun was setting at just the right angle so that sun was bouncing off the reeds on the island creating a magnificent reflection in the water.
Once we docked just before 7:45, we jumped back in the van and headed back to Valencia. All in all, a fabulous four hour trip.
Tomorrow, I have a four hour paella cooking class before heading to the train station and back to Madrid where I will spend the night before taking a VERY EARLY flight (7:00 a.m.) to Algiers.
