Restoration & Renewal

I have chosen to end this month’s Squares series with another visit to l’Albufera. It was there that I went on my last afternoon in Valencia some years ago. I’d gone to learn Spanish, for two weeks only, staying in the home of a Spanish woman who spoke no English – which was challenging, since I’d started my stay on Page One of the Spanish book provided by my language school. I’d had an exciting time exploring the city in my free time, but the experience was pretty full-on. A bus journey to nearby L’Albufera, a natural park set amongst lagoons seemed to offer a perfect last afternoon. And so it proved. I’ll never forget the sunset I enjoyed there, as one of a very few passengers on a lazily wandering boat, puttering gently through the reedbeds. It was renewing, transformative, and throughly reconstructed my somewhat battered mind.

Thank you Becky, thank you everyone who has contributed to this #SquaresRenewal. I’ve seen so many interesting, beautiful, thought-provoking posts: and all thanks to Becky, who after a long and understandable break has once more launched and managed this month of photos, fellowship and fun. Looking forward already to the next month of Squares

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

47 thoughts on “Restoration & Renewal”

    1. ( went too soon!) poignant and wistful landscapes. And that hope of restoration or the knowledge that another dawn follows eventually. Certainly a place of natural beauty.

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  5. Such a serene and lovely spot! I doubt I’ll see it like this, Margaret. It’ll be too hot when I’m there, but you never know. Thanks so much for sharing it.

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  13. What a wonderful memory, Margaret!!! And a perfect way to begin language lessons. A few years ago we travelled to Italy to attend a Dante Alighieri language school in a small village Marche. No one would speak English to us in the school, which was brilliant, but I have never felt so illiterate. I didn’t know how to ask for the time, when a class began or how to order coffee and talk to the clerks in the grocery stores. I gained a greater understanding of what it was like to start over, to become a child, without the speedy learning capacity of a child. I will never forget those three weeks.

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    1. Oh, I once attended a Dante Alighieri School in Florence, when I was an au pair there. I’ve never forgotten my Italian, and my French is still good. But it’s been so much harder to get my Spanish going. The elderly brain …

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  14. Beautiful photos! The light just before sunset is just the best. Sounds like a great experience – I wish I could speak Spanish. So useful when traveling. 🙂

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  15. My Spanish hasn’t come on as well as I hoped. My comprehension and reading skills are good, my ability to communicate meaningfully less so. With no opportunity to practice in England at a stage when I wasn’t grounded in the language, I haven’t made the progress I had hoped for.

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  16. Such beautiful scenes, no wonder it has stuck in your memory. Delicate colours, like watered silk. A most wonderful ending to both that day and this challenge.

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  24. Me again! I was going to email you but didn’t want to be too much of a pest. Valencia is almost upon us and my son is busy booking restaurants! I note that you did Albufera in an afternoon. My travel enquiries suggest that it takes a couple of hours to get there, but they’re a bit conflicting. Did you use the ordinary bus- 24 or 25, Margaret? One goes to El Palmar and one to El Perellonet. Did you just then get off and wander and pick up a boat tour around sunset, and it’s still easy to get back to town then? That’s my intention. It’s obviously going to be hot in August, but the rice will almost ready to harvest. We’ll leave the youngsters to go off and eat sushi.

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