Highlights-Valencia Day 2

Lowlights exceeded highlights today. I like to think of such days as the “adventure” part of my travels. Today I learned how NOT to travel to Sagunt (or Sagunto, the Castilian Spanish version). It is a half-day (max) trip north from Valencia and was “suggested” by an LLM for my Valencia itinerary. Why? Ruins. Visiting small towns (at least in Europe) always comes down to ruins, a quaint “old town” (ruins with cafés), or some bucolic scene (e.g., sites from a hill with ruins). There is often a church or rich person’s villa involved. It appeared easy to take a 30 minute train ride at 1215 from Valencia Nord station to Sagunt. The summary version: it wasn’t (more in Notable Items section to come, boy was this trip effort notable). After reflecting on “Why am I doing this?” during my second hour on the immobile bus, I abandoned the effort to get to Sagunt. I departed the bus—more akin to a building given its “I’m not moving” stance, if buses can have stances—for lunch (another adventure to be described later). Short version: I demonstrated complete failure to understand the service model. I walked to the Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia to appreciate roomfuls of retablas. These are paintings on wood positioned behind the altars in Catholic churches to explain the Gospels to illiterates (it wasn’t their fault). No day is spoiled when you can see great art, even biblical cartoons.