As the third largest city in Spain, Valencia is often overshadowed by Barcelona and Madrid. But if you're on a romantic holiday in Spain, you'll want to head straight to this seaside city to get your fill of culture, food, nature and love.
We arrived in Valencia on the first stop of our International Love Affair book tour, a journey to promote our latest book, Married with Luggage: What We Learned About Love by Traveling the World. We believe in the sexiness of long-term relationships, and we arrived in Valencia ready to romance.
Thankfully, Valencia did not disappoint, and we left satisfied and yearning for more.
- LaLola is a funky eatery in the historic old town of Valencia. The owner Jesus has taken great care with the decor and the food, so you can sit outside in the cobblestone street terrace or inside the modern eatery with rose petals sprinkled on your table. You can order a la carte, or you can take advantage of the excellent lunch (15 Euros) or dinner (25 Euros) "menu" options. We had the lunch menu and especially enjoyed the fresh cream of almonds with try tuna and cantaloupe sorbet and goat cheese in phyllo pastry sachets. Our main entree was the Valentian moist rice of duck confit and wild mushrooms, and we enjoyed all of this outdoors on a sunny day with local Turia beers. Dessert was an oddly delicious beet root and chocolate cake with ice cream. Bonus: They have a gluten-free menu.
Valencia is a city built for romance and sensory indulgence. This was our first time there, and you can bet we'll return.
But first, we have nine other European cities to visit on this International Love Affair book tour, and I hope you'll stick around to find out what else we learn about love as we travel this world!