Roman Valencia

Roman Valencia: Romans Underground

By Max Milano (Travel Writer) In the quiet suburb of Lliria, just outside Valencia, Spain, I find myself standing beneath an apartment building, where a grand subterranean space was once meant to be a parking lot for the luxury apartments above. But a builder’s shovel struck more than just rock; it hit a Roman tombstone. The city’s swift intervention preserved the site, at the cost of the building losing its underground parking. This is a […]

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49 Fideusa festival Gandia Valencia

Are You Team Paella or Fideuà? Meet Paella’s Noodly Sister

By Max Milano (Travel Writer & Photographer) When one thinks of Spain, the image of a steaming paella often dances through our collective minds. It’s practically a culinary postcard from España. But hold onto your forks! Upon touching down in Valencia, some of you might be shocked to discover that what we’ve been calling Paella all this time is actually called “Arroz a la Marinera”, which is a delightful mix of rice, saffron, and seafood. […]

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Cartagena Roman Spain: Carthage vs Rome

By Max Milano (Travel Writer & Photographer) I’m deep inside the ruins of the Roman Forum in Cartagena, Spain. This was New Carthage (Carthago Nova). The sight of 2000-year-old amphorae, mosaics, and Corinthian columns is mind-blowing. Ancient lewd graffiti on the walls reflect the phallocratic obsessions of the average classical Roman. Two stories above us, in the modern city, a Spanish waiter yells at someone in an even more lewd tone, invoking the same phalluses […]

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Valencian Paella

L’Albufera: Birthplace of Valencian Paella

By Max Milano (Travel Writer) A green sea of rice sways in the wind, stretching as far as my eyes can see. It’s a magic carpet of green waves shimmering under the bright Valencian sun. Just weeks ago, this was all water – a vast lagoon, an inland sea divided by dirt roads extending for miles. But today, all you see are green waves with golden flashes as the rice stalks dance in the breeze, […]

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Tabarca Island

Alicante: A Day Trip To Tabarca Island

From the Road to Damascus to an island paradise in the Mediterranean, because even Saints need to relax once in a while. Welcome to Tabarca Island (once known as Saint Paul’s Island, as it was rumored that St. Paul stopped there on his travails), the perfect antidote to the hustle and bustle of Alicante and Benidorm.

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Villajoyosa: A Jewel On the Costa Blanca

By Max Milano (Travel Writer and Photographer) Roadtripping in Spain is always a journey of discovery. You might stumble upon the ruins of a Roman domus, almost forgotten by the roadside, or a string of 1,000-year-old Moorish castles on hills above the freeway. Spain is a country where Roman aqueducts dot the countryside, some just a few miles from seaside tourist hotspots where pale British visitors sip even paler beer and feast on English breakfasts […]

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After The Floods: We’re All Valencians Now

By Max Milano November 2024. I’m standing on the beach, but the beach is gone. Instead of miles of white sand and clear blue Mediterranean waters, there are now massive piles of debris stretching along the coast, fading into the horizon. The debris is stacked high in mounds, separated by lower stretches of rubble. It looks like the city bulldozers, usually here at dawn to smooth the sand, came early to build a grim mountain […]

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