Gandia Palacio Ducal & Weekend Happenings

On our way to Gandia we made a quick stop at Albufera. This is a freshwater lagoon with an abundance of fish surround by rice fields. Dustin and I were able to stop here briefly last year as well. Dustin and K stayed on the board the bus while Ash and I got off for a few pictures.

Our main attraction to visit today was the Palacio Ducal. “The oldest part of the building dates from the 15th century, but was restored and turned into a sanctuary by the Society of Jesus. It is attached to the wall that surrounds the city and has two gates, a Gothic one and one from the Renaissance.” (Source Wiki). It was originally built with gothic architecture and then was transformed as the years progressed. So inside there was quite a mix of styles.

After the tour, Ashley was very hungry and we stumbled upon the Pastelería Roselló. This place brought flashbacks of our 2012 tour to Europe. It reminded us of the french bakery we stumbled upon in the french countryside on our way to Barcelona.  They also had apple strudels that reminded of us of Prague. Dustin had the pastry pictured below with fruit on top. Kenley wanted to try, so we did let her take a few bites mainly of fruit as she ate her banana. I tasted it too and it was delightful. Ashley had a few small croissants filled with cheese.

Once we got back to the bus we were dropped off near the beach were we found lunch. The restaurant was supposed to have a German twist that we found, but the Spanish version of German was not so great, ha. It was ok but not the best place we have eaten here. I ordered a salad that I expected green lettuce (tried to make a healthy choice) turned out to be coleslaw with lots of mayo. Germans don’t use mayo in their potato salad, it is vinegar based, so it surprised me. But I did have a bratwurst and Ashley enjoyed another order of patatas bravas.

We cooked dinner at home, the one ecological “organic” store here has the best chorizo sausages! Sunday was super low key, we didn’t go to the beach today because we were there on Saturday. I cleaned in the morning while Dustin took Kenley to the park. Our apartment gets so dusty so quickly because it is very dry here and with walking everywhere. Even though we take our shoes off upon entering I feel like we need to mop every other day!  

For lunch we tried to go to one oriental restaurant, but the kitchen wasn’t open yet and we were hungry, so we stumbled upon a restaurant called Sake in the same neighborhood. It was a Buffett but the food wasn’t out on a buffet line, it was more all you can eat ordering. Dustin and I had had WAY too much sushi (well food in general). Ash enjoyed some friend chicken and rice. We packed K’s lunch but she also enjoyed some rice and pineapple. We tried to give her a California type role that just had cream cheese and avocado but she wasn’t sure about it!  Dustin and I ate so much that we didn’t really eat the rest of the day.

On Sunday evening Ashley and I enjoyed a Flamenco show with Ashley & a few students. I got to see this in Madrid last year, so I wanted Ashley to have the opportunity to see it. This was a very small cafe that was packed to the rafters with people but it was only an hour long. It was fun and the students loved it!