Valencia

Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia I love as places but can’t stand their main teams.
The diverted river bed park is superb especially the bit by the coast with the amazing concrete architecture. I’d recommend the hop on hop off bus which are great ways to scrape the surface of any city quickly but no doubt the travel bores will be on poopooing them.
After a 4-1 Depor loss to Valencia I ended up off my face in some back street indie club bopping about on the dance floor on my own to The Monkees I’m A Believer and The Cure Boys Don’t Cry at 2AM on a Monday morning. The then GFwasnt amused.

Seville, Cadiz and Bilbao are still on the list.
 


Went to Cadiz last week, 90 mins on the direct bus from Seville. Three massive cruise ships were docked there, loads of tourists (irony). We were there for only five hours, nice buildings, a lot of places seemed to be having a siesta so no way as busy as Seville. Still defo worth a visit. It hit thirty degrees, too hot for wifey. If anyone goes to Seville, I'd recommend the Hop On Bus, two days for €32, great way of seeing the city plus extras for free including tour of Real Betis football stadium.
 
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riffraff said:
Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia I love as places but can’t stand their main teams.
The diverted river bed park is superb especially the bit by the coast with the amazing concrete architecture. I’d recommend the hop on hop off bus which are great ways to scrape the surface of any city quickly but no doubt the travel bores will be on poopooing them.
After a 4-1 Depor loss to Valencia I ended up off my face in some back street indie club bopping about on the dance floor on my own to The Monkees I’m A Believer and The Cure Boys Don’t Cry at 2AM on a Monday morning. The then GFwasnt amused.

Seville, Cadiz and Bilbao are still on the list.
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Bilbao is awesome (hook up with the bilbao black cats)
also Zaragoza is class. its a little bit off the beaten track, really nice city
 
psr said:
Bilbao on my list, is it a trek getting there?
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aye from sunderland.

direct flights from manchester and gatwick only i think. maybe edinburgh.

we got a late train to gatwick via london and the 8am flight to bilbao. flight was about £40 with veuling but it was a trek like, drinking from 7pm in sunderland, metro to newcaslte, couple of pints, train to london, couple of pints, 2am train to gatwick, bloody mary's in the departure lounge, fell asleep at 7am waiting to get on the plane
 
Thewper1 said:
Think I stopped at an NH in the centre…possibly the Colon one, wasn’t shit like the name might suggest!

Great city, very walkable with loads to see and excellent bait and food all ower.

Make sure you try the Agua De Valencia
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you spend time in a few colons ive heard
 
A few mentions of football stadiums. Interesting.

I have never, in my entire life, gone on holiday anywhere and thought “I’ll go to the football stadium”. Each to their own.

I enjoyed Cadiz more than Seville tbh. The time of year I visited meant it was quieter and, for me, more ‘real’. Jus loved meandering around the streets etc. taking it all in.
 
Theres only one crap city in Spain.
Albacete. Shit and leave as the saying goes.

Salamanca
Cádiz
Cordoba
Girona
Vigo
Coruña
Santander
Valladolid
Vitoria
Pamplona

All hidden gems after the obvious plces
 
Definitely worth a trip out to the paella restaurants in the rice fields where there loads of varieties. Sunday is the day to do it really but most are open most days.
 
BiG said:
A few mentions of football stadiums. Interesting.

I have never, in my entire life, gone on holiday anywhere and thought “I’ll go to the football stadium”. Each to their own.

I enjoyed Cadiz more than Seville tbh. The time of year I visited meant it was quieter and, for me, more ‘real’. Jus loved meandering around the streets etc. taking it all in.
Click to expand...

If you are interested in football in general (rather than just following SAFC) then visiting stadiums around the world for a tour or attending games can be very interesting.

I only had a wander around outside of the Valencia ground - it's very close to the city centre.
 
pablo casals said:
Theres only one crap city in Spain.
Albacete. Shit and leave as the saying goes.

Salamanca
Cádiz
Cordoba
Girona
Vigo
Coruña
Santander
Valladolid
Vitoria
Pamplona

All hidden gems after the obvious plces
Click to expand...

two smaller ones i've been to that are cracking are Ronda (andalucia) and Logrono (rioja region)

Logrono is the centre of the La Rioja vinyard region and unsurprisingly the wine offerings are top notch, its on the pilgrims route to santiago de compestela, has loads of history
 
Darlo1973 said:
If you are interested in football in general (rather than just following SAFC) then visiting stadiums around the world for a tour or attending games can be very interesting.

I only had a wander around outside of the Valencia ground - it's very close to the city centre.
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I went to the grounds of both Barcelona and Valencia as part of organised excursions while on family beach holidays. Me and wifey went to Real Betis last week as it was for free and the local bus stopped outside (very handy).
 
BiG said:
A few mentions of football stadiums. Interesting.

I have never, in my entire life, gone on holiday anywhere and thought “I’ll go to the football stadium”. Each to their own.

I enjoyed Cadiz more than Seville tbh. The time of year I visited meant it was quieter and, for me, more ‘real’. Jus loved meandering around the streets etc. taking it all in.
Click to expand...
Depends if you are a football fan or not really.

If you visit a city where football is at the heart of the city’s culture why would you not want to go and get amongst the people.

I can’t imagine visiting museums or art galleries. Much prefer just mooching about, people watching and sampling local food & drink and seeing how other people live their daily lives.

Like you said, each to their own.
Darlo1973 said:
If you are interested in football in general (rather than just following SAFC) then visiting stadiums around the world for a tour or attending games can be very interesting.

I only had a wander around outside of the Valencia ground - it's very close to the city centre.
Click to expand...
Love it me. The architecture of the mastella is interesting to footy fans. On my list.
 
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Deckchair said:
Depends if you are a football fan or not really.

If you visit a city where football is at the heart of the city’s culture why would you not want to go and get amongst the people.

I can’t imagine visiting museums or art galleries. Much prefer just mooching about, people watching and sampling local food & drink and seeing how other people live their daily lives.

Like you said, each to their own.

Love it me. The architecture of the mastella is interesting to footy fans. On my list.
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Completely agree about football being very important to the culture of certain countries, even regions.
Also the normal people & fans in those cities are just as fervent or fanatical as in Britain.
Having been lucky enough to see games in Germany, Spain, Portugal & Italy, the city that has the most recognisable support (people wearing shirts/scarfs, shops having merchandise of the club in their windows etc.) is Bilbao.
Didn't manage to see a game when I was there as they were playing away - but will definitely return to see a match there.
The Sunderland fan who lives on here and lives there (has a Basque flag on his avatar) gave some top tips on what to see and do.
Was well chuffed they won the Spanish Cup recently...
 
Rhyd59 said:
Completely agree about football being very important to the culture of certain countries, even regions.
Also the normal people & fans in those cities are just as fervent or fanatical as in Britain.
Having been lucky enough to see games in Germany, Spain, Portugal & Italy, the city that has the most recognisable support (people wearing shirts/scarfs, shops having merchandise of the club in their windows etc.) is Bilbao.
Didn't manage to see a game when I was there as they were playing away - but will definitely return to see a match there.
The Sunderland fan who lives on here and lives there (has a Basque flag on his avatar) gave some top tips on what to see and do.
Was well chuffed they won the Spanish Cup recently...
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Really fancy Bilbao and San Sebastián and time a game in both cities.

Love the history of Athletic with their basque only player policy.

The people love their food, drink & football. What’s not to like.

I can see why some people would think it’s a bit crass but football is culture / identity for millions all over the world.

There’s no way I’d visit Valencia and not go to a game or have a mooch around the stadium tbh. I’d feel I missed something. One of the most iconic grounds in Europe.
 
I've taken my wifey, while on holiday, to Barcelona, Valencia, Rangers, the San Siro and Real Betis. She enjoyed going to all of them.
 
I will be in Madrid this weekend. Just annoying that El Classico is on Sunday night when I will be on the flight home. Bad planning on my part.

Might try to do the Real Madrid stadium tour on Saturday. Did it before about 10 years ago but it would be good to see the redevelopment.
 

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