Found a flat

We arrived on a Thursday and by Sunday we found a neat apartment in the old section of Valencia. It? near the Serrano Towers, dating to the 15th century and which were once part of the town wall. There is a view of the towers from the roof we can access. There are two bedrooms, so there is room for friends who plan to come. From the living room you look over a small courtyard which feeds into the network of mostly small, narrow streets that extends about a kilometer to the south. A short alley away there is a major pedestrian zone leading to the Plaza de la Virgen. A more charming location would be hard to find, if you are a fan of Roman era towns. Our landlady lives downstairs, her daughter upstairs and her son in the ‘finca’ (here it means a building) next door. We connect to his router. Getting cable internet installed here is a bit complicated so we give him 20 euros and we have a good connection. The Central Market is about 15 minutes. It is in a large domed building built early in the 20th The Central Market century, decorated with mosaics. Fruits, vegetables, olives, cheese, nuts, pork, beef, fish and more are available from the many vendors. It looks to me like one of best markets to shop in Europe, comparable to the one in Barcelona and the one we shopped in Madrid. You can get most everything here and the prices seem reasonable. For basic goods you can not get in the market there are a number of reasonably priced supermarkets a short walk across what once was the river, which was diverted to another channel after a major flood, in the 1950’s I think it was. It is now a garden and soccer field and I don’t know what else, sunken well below grade. The Corte Ingles is a short bus ride. It is Spain’s only department store. It’s upscale. We bought a great kitchen knife from them 12 years ago and it is still in fabulous shape. You might find grocery items there that you might not find elsewhere.