Memories of SD

On my second day in Valencia, Spain, I decided I would spend much of the day at the beach. A short ride on the metro and then a tram took me from my hostel in Valencia’s old town down to the Mediterranean. That trip took me back to the old days when I lived in San Diego (SD, as I refer to it) and summer visits to the beach.

It was a warm day–warm enough to be wearing the sandals I had brought along for the trip. Before going along the beach I walked out on a long pier that had the city’s yacht fleet next to it. Out at the end were some people jumping off the pier into the water, as well as teenagers messing around (it really is the same all over the world). I came back to the beach after this, and then started walking north along the boardwalk. Below is a photo of it.

I took a seat on one of the benches to eat lunch. There was row of restaurants behind me, and one of them was playing music from Maroon 5’s album Songs About Jane. For those of you who don’t know, this album came out back in 2002, and I distinctly remember this album back when I was in high school.

I kept walking along the boardwalk after I finished eating. After a mile or so I went onto the beach and down to the water’s edge. Valencia has a fairly nice beach, and there were not many people at the section I was at. On the down side the waves in the water are almost nonexistent (boooo!). Below are some photos.

Looking north along the beach. Most of the people were crowded in the southern part of the beach.

Yours truly.

Looking back south. For whatever reason, most people prefer to be at the southern end of the beach.

I slowly walked south along the beach back towards where I had started. As I did I was thinking about those old days at La Jolla, Del Mar and other places in SD where I would go to the beach with some of my old friends from high school. Those were simpler times.

I was in no hurry to get anywhere, and at several times I just stopped and gazed out at the sea. Because I did not have my swimwear on me I didn’t go further than knee depth into the water, but it was still nice. I would have stayed at the beach longer, but I had other places in Valencia I wanted to see before leaving the city. Nostalgia can only last so long.