It looks to me like it DOES have a great deal of character compare dot many places! We ate there once long ago. have not been back, but not for any particular reason. Glad it turned out fine for you

When we were in Valencia we stayed across from the beach ( in an apt)
Neptuno is near restaurants and bars. Did not stay there but seems like a busy ( noisy?)
and fun area.
Las Arenas is beautiful and really upscale.
It was the end of Oct. so it was rather quiet.
The beach is fantastic.

lin - not sure i was as clear as I could have been - it was not the restaurant El Encuentro that lacked character, but the hotel Melia Plaza .that we stayed in [though we didn't eat there at all so can't comment on the restaurant].

oh.. yes. that hotel is not an "old world" place ( the Astoria has a bit more character.. or used to at least!) but that chain is usually quite reliable. I haven´t been in those rooms though so I do not know. And is there a pool on the roof????

there may well be a pool on the roof, but I never got up there to it!

as for the rooms, as I get older such things as character seem to matter less than a comfy bed, a decent shower, enough wardrobe space, and decent lighting. [not saying that you can't get these as well as character but the Astoria came at a significantly higher price unless i was prepared to prepay.]

BTW, Lin, do you know the name/species of those lovely trees with the blue flowers that are in bloom all over Valencia at the moment? The leaves looked like acacia, but I've never seen them in that colour before.

Jacaranda trees..


http://ih2.redbubble.net/image.93760...x550,075,f.jpg

and I agree about rooms. I go with the right price..and I am really curious if there is a pool on that roof as you had mentioned as one of your deciding factors. I'm going to find out! I'm so glad you enjoyed your visit!

lin, i have a terrible confession to make, after all that fuss about the pool - i forgot my cossie. How stupid is that? of course for a short trip like this i thought that there was no need to consult my packing list, and duh - no swimming costume. When we got back from our walk on monday, I should so have liked a swim! What an idiot!

Jacarandas! i had never seen them before, so it never occurred to me that that was what they were. just beautiful. i'm pretty certain we can't grow them here, the same as bouganvilla, which we also saw a lot of. I'm assuming that you never suffer from frost in Valencia?

We do have frost sometimes but they seem to suffer but then come back..

I'm surprised in that case, lin, that I've never seen them here in Cornwall where quite a lot of tender plants survive due to our mild climate. My researches suggest that outside they might survive a couple of years if we were lucky, but would probably be carried off by the first heavy frost.

alternatively, I would need a really large greenhouse!

when we have a frost, it would be slight, and not followed by months of cold or rain.

lin, thinking about it, it would probably be the months of cold wet weather that would kill a jacaranda here, even more than the odd frost. I have to replace my thyme plants every year, not because they aren't hardy but because they just can't cope with months of having wet feet.

i know how they feel!

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