Valencia, Iron Maiden and the handmade way to it all!

Happy Friday everyone!


I hope you all had a great week, and are getting ready for a fun weekend, or those like me, who work this weekend, will have an easy time at work!


Finally, some overdue shots for G's trip to Spain! In this blog post I'm gonna focus on our weekend in Valencia, where we went to catch Iron Maiden's last concert of their tour for this year!




Instead of driving all the way or going by plane (fast but more expensive) I opted for going on a fast speed train, it took less than 4 hours, no hassles about parking, no check-ins and it was quite a comfy ride, and less than €50 per person. Next year, with the proper High Speed train (called the AVE), it'll be like 2 hours going to Valencia!


Once we were in the station, we could see a lot of people sporting Maiden tees, and of course, all of them were taking the same train we were, which must have been curious for other passengers, as well as the train staff...


Upon arrival at Valencia, out of the train station (quite a nice train station, as you can see in the photos), and on our way to the hotel (I chose a hotel close to the station instead of close to the venue, cheaper and more convenient for the day after when you sleep in after an amazing concert) we saw loads more people all around with Maiden tees, and before us to register at the hotel, there was a group of 4 guys, all sporting Maiden tees, to the bewilderment of a middle aged couple behind G & me, that were wondering if there was a Maiden "convention" during the weekend!

Valencia's Estacion del Nord

We had to wait for a bit for our room to get ready, so we went for lunch, some yummy ice cream, and G did take some really great shots of yours truly at the hotel's dining area!

On the foreground you can see my awesome Warning Label Maiden bag!

Sporting my Maiden top by Vivifromage!

After a bit of a nap it was time for us to get ready and head to the concert. Doors opened at 6'30 pm, but we were getting ready to leave at around that time. Now sporting my leather pants and my very awesome AngryGirl Gear Iron Maiden corset, we went on our way to the Auditorio Marina Sur! We went via metro, and like us, many other Maiden fans!

Ready to rock with my AngryGirl Gear corset!

Even if we weren't 100% sure of the way to the venue, all we had to do was join the dressed-in-black crowd, and sure enough arrived there! The venue is quite nice, with a location right by the sea, and I'm sure the amount of people dressed in black, with long hair and tattoos must have been bewildering enough to the families coming out of the beach!


The concert was simply A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! These guys are all over 50, and have such an energy on stage that I'm sure not many other groups can top! And of course, I just loved listening to many songs that I hadn't listened to live yet. This was my 4th Iron Maiden concert, and the third one that G & me have been at. Since we've been together we've gone every year to a Maiden concert! And next year, we plan to go to both the India and Spain concerts for their next tour (if they play in both countries, of course!).


After the concert and figuring out how to get back to the hotel with Valencia's public transport overwhelmed with 22'000 people, we had some kebabs from the only place near our hotel at 2 am, and went to sleep close to 3 am!


The next morning after checking out in our hotel, we did some tourist shopping for G to take back home, and found ourselves a nice place to eat brunch! We had some pan tumaca & iced tea as starters, while we waiting for our awesome Valencian paella for two!

Pan tumaca is just bread, slightly toasted with olive oil and natural tomato!

Valencian paella is made with veggies and chicken, and doesn't have any seafood in it.

After our yummy lunch, sporting our newly bought at the concert Maiden tees, we headed to the train station to go back to Madrid!

G wearing his new Maiden tee, he wants it reconstructed into a hoodie, I'm a bad influence!

It was a short trip, and we wish we have had some more time to visit Valencia a bit more, but we did the best we could with the short time we had!