Yes, life in Valencia is still fantastic. Amazing in fact. I know Iāve been MIA for a long time. I just havenāt felt like blogging. Lately, I have just been posting on Facebook, Instagram, and some TikTok.
Why have l been tired of blogging? I have no idea. Well, maybe a little. I think the major reason has been the boredom of blogging, to be honest. I havenāt had the need to go chasing the numbers and, reach, and, all the other things that come with running a website.
Life in Valencia is still fantastic: Yes, it is!
Iād always done it for fun, and to cover the hosting costs. Lately, that hasnāt even happened :-), soā¦even though Iāve always said when it started to feel like work, Iād stop. I find that I just canāt quit it entirely, so I will recycle some posts as well as post new ones.
I was also a bit more active on the other website that is Valencia focused. Now, though, even that passion is weakened. The reason is that Valencia has now become so popular with expats and tourists, I donāt need to shout it out from the rooftops. If you havenāt read about it, here are my feelings about that.
Prior to the love thatās been showered on the city by all the magazines, there were probably three of four bloggers and/or vloggers that wrote about the city. Now, there are more than 1,001 :-). They can say and show it better than me.
We havenāt slowed down on traveling either even though it seems like it. This year alone, we had a two-week trip to the north of Spain in January and we visited several wonderful cities like Zaragosa which reminded me of Salamanca. San Sebastian was great too, but very pricy.
Next was another two-week trip to Italy that I dubbed Mangiapalooza. We stuffed ourselves from Turin to Parma to Modena and ended up in Bologna. Yeah, We ate a lot :-).
After that came a week in Palma de Mallorca, a place that reminded me so much of Valencia. It was a great trip too, and the weather was awesome most of the days. Our first day sucked. It was the most rain theyād had in yearsā¦haha!
We spent two weeks of the last month in London and that was excellent. We got to catch up with family and enjoy our favorite city and we finally saw Wicked. I liked it more than I thought I would.
Between all that, weāve gone about our quiet lives, enjoying what the city has to offer. My Spanish class ended in June and Iām still undecided if I want to do it again. The school only offers basic and conversation classes and I might have had my fill.
I joined a language exchange group and I like it a lot. I hang out with friends and find new places to eat, such as a new and amazing bbq place in the city that brought back Houston feels. I saw the show āTinaā recently that was direct from London.
The view from the very first row was amazing. My friend hadnāt checked the tickets properly and we thought we were in the nosebleed section because the price was reasonable. That was a nice surprise.
We lost our old lady Bella about three months ago. She has gone to join Sky on the Rainbow Bridge. They lived great lives and enriched ours a lot. She lasted just four months without him.
She was 15+ as well. We will not be replacing them at this point. For me, itās 31 years that Iāve had pets and even though it feels weird not having any now, weāll get used to it eventually.
The weather has been hot here. Most days itās been hotter than Seville, incredible as that sounds. It has flipped completely the other way and some days, I wonder why we left thereā¦haha! The humidity makes it worse.
So, thereās our lives in a nutshell. After five years plus here, life continues to be awesome. Iām happy to say life in Valencia is fantastic and normal, and, we wouldnāt have it any other way.
I hope all has been well with you too.
Sorry to hear about your dogs Kem. I do miss living vicariously through your blog posts but enjoying life always take priority. I have had several people in the US contact me in the past year about moving to Valencia so it is definitely much more popular than prepandemic. As for myself, I will probably buy an apartment near the beach once the interest rates start coming down again. So like you and Federico, I might be making it permanent soon.
Hi Kris, Hope youāre doing well. You travel a lot too, so youāre not living vicariously through me..haha! I still need to hear about your last trips and would love to get together sometime. Yeah, I have people contact me as well, even though most have scratched the city from their list now as you know. Too expensive they say. My friends are moving out of their apartment next month and the rent is going from 950 to 1500š§. It has become insane.
Oooh.. I canāt wait till you buy a place by the beach, we will visit you often. Him for the water, me for the heck of it.Haha! Talk to you soon.
Thanks for the update, Kemkem. I definitely enjoyed reading it and looking at the amazing photos.
The blogging world is definitely changing. If it becomes a job instead of something you do for pleasure, you should definitely take a break. I am sure that youāll feel like writing again sooner or later.
Even if there are more people talking about the city, your insights will still be valuable. We all know that some like to sugarcoat it a lot, while you always said the truth, even when it was not glamorous. I think this will become more and more important in the future ā being genuine and true.
Either way, I loved reading this update. Keep āem coming, no matter how often.
Thanks C! I knew you would enjoy the food picturesā¦hahah! Yes, it seems like the blogging world i a different landscape altogether and I know a lot of people have quit altogether. I will keep going for my musings.
Youāre right, I think authenticity is going to become more prominent. Iāve always told personal stories which has been a double-edged sword. I donāt find my blog posts scraped for example because itās laden with my personal viewpoint and pictures which makes it hard for them to repurpose. By the time theyāre done, they would have spent so much time, they might as well write theirs. š¤£
When the mood strikes, I will definitely write more. TTYL.
Lovely to get this catch up post and very sorry to hear about the dogs. But like you mentioned it, they have given you so much pleasure and have left many happy memories.
Like you I have not felt like blogging for quite sometime, not sure why. Just lost interest, but might get back to it at some pointā¦ maybe.
Valencia has become quite popular, but totally understandable, it is an awesome city. I am not surprised that life there has been amazing.
Sounds like you have been doing some lovely travelling, keep having fun š
Hola Gilda! Iāve so enjoyed watching yours and Brianās trips. Iām also glad that itās just not me who is feeling like this. Yes, Valencia has now become almost impossible and getting closer to being another Barcelona. I know you guys enjoyed it on your visit :-). Maybe weāll see again at some point? Here, thereā¦ somewhereā¦haha!
Iām still loving hearing your insights and comments, KemKem. But I get that everything can eventually become drudgery.
We are still on the slow look-out for an apartment in Valenciaā¦ currently we are watching one in Cabanyalā¦ With my motherās health still my primary focus, It may be a while before I get backā¦sighā¦ but hubby took our daughter there in January and she came home in love with Valencia and begging us not to give up our dream of getting a little aprtment for ourselvesā¦ Itās crazy when I think that we first said weād get our slice of Spanish heaven back in 2001! But life always has itās own plans. Keep posting when you feel the call!
I like how you say life always has its own plan because itās so true. We have friends that bought in Cabanyal almost a year ago in hopes of doing what youāre planning, but they are from the U.K. so a little closer.
At this point, your momās welfare is of the utmost importance and lām sure sooner or later, youāll make that dream come true. 2001 was just yesterday :-). The prices have become insane, but perhaps they might settle down at some point. Weāll be waiting for you, and Iām glad your daughter loved it too. There is so much to like.
Looking forward to seeing you on your next trip.