Valencia was one of the nicest trips I’ve taken. Our apartment was in the centre, the weather was nice, the food was delicious and we had enough time to see everything and to take it easy. And so when we went up the Cathedral at the end of our 4 day trip in May, we knew what we were looking at. We saw the terrace of our AirBnb where we had breakfast, we saw the City of Arts and Sciences in the background where we went to twice, we saw the Gate Tower we had just climbed and we looked at people’s terraces, longingly, as people who don’t have such a luxury at home. We saw the old town and the modern part. The palm trees and the brown buildings. The view was well worth the small entrance price to the tower of the Cathedral and the climbing of the winding steps that I so viscerally hate.

Climbing towers is the most exhausting and yet most rewarding thing a person can do in a new city. I’ve climbed towers in Pisa, Prague, Copenhagen and Edinburgh. And yet, if there is an option for an elevator, you can bet your ass you will find me on the queue for the elevator.