In the typical Spanish fashion, history, modernity and national pride combine to create a fascinating social landscape in Barcelona. It’s just that in the Catalan capital, the nation inspiring the pride is Catalonia, not Spain. (You can read more about it here.
It’s a complex situation that made it difficult for Katie and I to find or create a place for ourselves. After about two months I put my Teach Yourself Catalan aside (great book, by the way as is Teach Yourself Spanish) and shelved my ideas of learning the language. I wasn’t drawn to life there in the way I had been back in Madrid. That decision made it pretty clear to me that Barcelona wasn’t a long-term home for us. Katie agreed and Oscar didn’t care one way or the other.

Google Earth became my new best friend. I spent way too much time (read ‘not working when I should have been’) combing Spain, France, Italy, Malta – anywhere warm, though I was loathe to leave Spain – for our next destination. That’s when it first occurred to me that Valencia might be an option. And why hadn’t we considered it before?

I’ll have to take the blame for not giving Valencia a second thought in the first place: I seem to recall flatly telling Katie that it wasn’t a great option. And here’s the odd thing – I didn’t think that I had ever been to Valencia but only because I had completely forgotten a trip that I took back in 1999. (I get scared for my coming battle with senility when I think about that total lapse.) It wasn’t until we were actually here that I started feeling a kind of déjà vu sensation. Eventually I asked my former girlfriend and travelling companion (thanks, Facebook!) if we had indeed gone to Valencia. She was kind enough not to deride me as she detailed our visit.

While I can recall being at the beach (it came rushing back to me on New Year’s Day when Katie, Oscar and I went for a walk along the boardwalk) I don’t remember anything else. But I have to wonder if that forgotten first experience is partially responsible for the ease I feel here in Valencia and the certainty that this is the right place for me to call home. Katie had never been to Spain before June but feels the same – maybe she was here in another life? Implausible…