all senses

traveling down to southern europe prooved eventful. from alarming train strikes in france, leading to inconvenient route changes, through withering help desk assistance (language barrier) and little sleep...

... to finally reaching my destination, settling in, smelling valencia, walking streets of the 'hood for the first time, blinking at the sudden southern light, feeling the warmth, kissing the wind, expecting, ah. 

i pinched my forearm that first afternoon, before sharpishly submitting to walking my feet in the ground and riding my bike through Tùria park lanes, looking up, looking down, hearing, oh,...  the noise!

the ring road traffic underneath my apartment windows, the valencians' incessant natter into their phones or shouts across alleys, the clanging of delivery and garbish vans and the screech of passing mopeds.

also. the low toned peal of cathedral bells, the deeming sound of sea waves crushing on a barely visible shoreline, the ancient town market stalls' criers, the silence of darkness in stowed away thruways.  

then the persistent sweet fragrance of orange blossoms everywhere around you. the rustling, wavy waft of stately palm trees that literally seem to be sprouting up from pavement corners.

letting it all wash over you as you walk, not talk (for you don't speak nor understand valéncian), listening in however, for imminent future reference of those sweet events to pass by, always too soon.

sun will be shining around here this weekend. we live in hope and have a jolly one. ♥ 
for those wanting a little {more} sight seeing, here's where it's at.