Sometimes when you travel it feels like the place you’re visiting only exists while you are there and, when you get back home, that place will only exist in your memories. But it’s still there. And peoples’ daily lives continue on just as yours does. That’s why I find it fun to revisit a place. It’s a way to prove to yourself that those other worlds — other ways of life — continue to exist in time with yours. Almost like parallel universes you can jump between.
The photo above is one I took on March 1st, 2016. That was my first visit to Valencia, Spain, and it was part of a press trip to experience the beginning of the Fallas Festival. I only spent three or four nights in the city itself, then our group moved south to stay at the Parador de El Saler where we could further explore the region. Press trips are always a whirlwind of experiences. You’re scheduled and guided so that it can often be difficult to really get the lay of the land and understand the relationship of different landmarks within the city.
A month ago, when I made my second visit to the city of Valencia, it was very different. I was not on any kind of hosted trip and had 10 full days to wander and explore the city on foot. It was a very different experience. I’m glad I had the introduction in 2016 so that I had some idea of what I wanted to return to see again and what I wanted to see that I had missed the first time, but it was especially nice this time to be forced to find my own way around.
I do a lot of preparatory work with online maps and other resources before I visit any place, so I do tend to land on my feet fairly well. That said, when I’m on a trip where I am just “going with the flow” of whatever has been organized, I don’t always build as solid of a mental map of a place.
The photo at the top of this post is from the 2016 trip. I remember taking it as we were making our way to our first Mascletà (a daytime fireworks display that is mostly loud bangs and smoke). The bank building at the end of the street became a bit of a landmark to me as we would make our daily walks going to this museum or that cathedral.
The next photo (the vertical one) is one I took on this trip on January 12th. Same street. Same building. It was the last of my 10 days in the city and that same bank had become a landmark for me once again. This time it marked a corner my wife and I would take to re-visit one of our favorite restaurant finds and shopping areas.
This was the view from the balcony of our 2025 room. When I booked it, I knew if was in the same general area as the hotel I’d stayed at in 2016 but I hadn’t given it too much thought. When I recognized the prominent church tower, I realized it was the same one I’d photographed out of the window of my old hotel — just from the other side. I’ve circled the 2016 hotel in the distance.
Once I got home and went back through my 2016 images, I found this photo taken from the upper story breakfast room of my 2016 hotel showing the roof deck balcony of my 2025 hotel (circled). Quite the coincidence.
I’ll finish this post with two photos of the tower of the Church of Saint John of the Cross. The first taken out of my 2016 hotel window and the second taken from my hotel in 2025. It was a nice synchronicity to be back in the same area, sharing some of the same landmarks, and yet be able to have an entirely new experience.
The tower of the Church of Saint John of the Cross in 2016.
