Virgin Voyages Transatlantic Ep. 4: Valencia, Spain Feels Like Home

Virgin Voyages Transatlantic Ep. 4: Valencia, Spain Feels Like Home

We were not expecting this. Of all the places we visited on this 14- night transatlantic journey, Valencia was the one that felt the most familiar, like something we couldn’t quite place until we did. The alleys, the architecture, the outdoor cafes. It reminded us of home. Watch this video until the end and we’ll show you exactly what we mean. There are some places in Detroit that feel just like Valencia. And maybe that’s why we fell in love with it. Welcome to episode four of our Virgin Voyages transatlantic cruise. This is Valencia. What up? What up though? This is your favorite travel couple, Wendell and Shannon from Detroit, Michigan, and this is day 14 on our 14-day transatlantic virgin voyages sailing. And we finally arrived at our fourth port, Valencia, Spain. In this video, we’re going to show you everything that we explored in our three-hour tour in this beautiful city of Valencia. Let’s get started. All right. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. It’s Friday morning and uh this is day number what? I lost track. I don’t know what day this is. What day number this is, but we’re still on the uh transatlantic sailing on Virgin Voyages and we’re about to embark on an epic epic uh experience here. Unbelievable. that uh that I never But you pointed it out before we actually even realized that you were looking at a map, right? And you when we were like before we even got to Morocco, you were looking at a map and you discovered that we are sailing uh through the Straits of Gibralar. Uh, and the Straits of Gibralar is uh is a narrow passage that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea. Uh, it separates uh the continent of Africa uh from the continent of Europe. Crazy. And it’s only how how wide is it? It’s about it says seven nautical miles, whatever that means. But like I guess that equates to 9 miles. So it’s a 9mm stretch between the two continents and we are sailing through that through that. And on the I guess I would say the south side we just passed the city of Tangiers. So we are posted up on the Africa side. Yes. Yeah. And then on the other side of the ship is the Europe Europe side. So this is uh this is an experience that we will not forget. I know it’s amazing. God is so amazing. And we’re going to show you some views uh of the straight of Jibralar. Uh when uh when we get there, we’re almost there. We’re about 13 minutes away. Yeah. So what they do is they send out messages. So, Virgin Voyages doesn’t have announcements, but they have a messenger in the app. That’s why the app is so important. So, they sent out a message yesterday saying that what time to be where on the ship to be able to view it. So, um very important to check your messages. So, we’re up on uh deck 16. Mhm. Uh right outside of Rich’s rooftop. and we have the uh the camera set up and we’re going to give you some shots of the straight of Jibralar. All right. All right. What’s going on? This is uh Saturday, Saturday, May the 17th, and this is uh day 14 of our transatlantic virgin voyages sailing. And we’ve reached the port city of Valencia, Spain. Valencia. Yeah. Valencia, Spain is one of the oldest cities in uh Spain. Uh it was founded in 130 BC by the Roman Empire and uh after the fall of the Roman western Roman Empire. Uh it was conquered by the Islamic rule, the Moors. The Moors conquered the city uh and uh after the uh Roman rule and they brought agriculture and uh irrigation to the city. Wow, look at you. You know, I just want some oranges and some paella. So, it’s a beautiful day here. It’s supposed to be in the 70s. Um, it’s another ship here, too. Here, let me show y’all. Uh, let me turn the camera around. I don’t know if y’all can see, but out in the distance. Oh, here. Let me blow it up. Is MSC. Y’all see that ship over there? MSC. And then I’m going just do a pan of the city. So, obviously, you know, it’s like a commercial port, too. So, it’s like a lot of um shipping containers and yeah, it is one of the busiest uh ports in uh Spain. The port of Valencia. Port of Valencia. Sitting right on the Mediterranean Sea, beautiful city. So, we just have a short um excursion today. It’s like a 3hour tour and um it’s in the afternoon. and it starts at 2:00. So, we got some rest this morning and we about to head off the ship. Let me back that up. Okay. Um, so we’re we just going to be in port for like 3 hours and um our we depart or kind of early like 5:30 I think is the allboard time. All 5:30. Yeah. Yep. So, um we’ll check back in with y’all later. All right. Okay. Bye. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. That’s We hope you’re enjoying the video you’re watching. While you’re here, we have an exciting invitation just for you. Join us for a romance on the Riviera, the ultimate couple’s getaway aboard Virgin Voyages luxurious Scarlet Lady. November 16th through the 21st, 2025. Picture this. No kids, no buffets, just 5 days of adults only fun, romantic date nights every night, and unforgettable moments at sea. Spots are limited and cabins are selling fast. Don’t wait. Click the link in the description to reserve your cabin today. Now, let’s get back to the video. We’re in Valencia, Spain, in a city center here. And uh as you can see, it’s a Saturday afternoon. There’s people out walking around. Uh and we just saw a uh a old uh city center wall. And this wall is uh from it was built in 1424. And all right, this is the the old medieval Valencia city center wall. It was built in 1424. And if you didn’t get in uh before it closed, you would have to sleep outside the city. on hall. But today this is the president of the region of Valencia. You know that Spain is divided into regions and every region has the provinces. In the case of Valencia, there’s no Barcelona. Nothing to do with Barcelona. nothing to do is Valencia, Castillo, and Malikante. There is three provinces. So the whole management of the whole region is made here. So this is the president of Valencia working here or like it Wakanda forever. Sangria. Oh, Sangria. Sangria. Sangria. I don’t drink alcohol. You look good. Looks so good. But we would like a couple of coffees. Coffee. All right. All righty then. So, we just finished our tour of Valencia. It was a really nice tour. Um, it was a shorter tour. Um, we saw a lot of It was called the best of Valencia. And we saw the best of Valencia. Yes, we did. We did. Absolutely beautiful city. Um, uh, I don’t know what else I want to say. What you want to say? Oh, yeah. It was it was a the tour. I I really enjoy the 3 to 4 hour tours uh because it it they start later in the day and they bring you back uh earlier so you’re half so your the whole day is not taken up by a tour. So we got a chance to sleep in this morning and now we’re back at a decent time to enjoy dinner uh tonight. Thank you so much. You might be wondering why we’re talking about Detroit in a vlog about Valencia, Spain. But hear us out. This isn’t clickbait. Walking through parts of Valencia, we kept saying this feels like home. The architecture, the outdoor cafes, the mix of old and new. Some of the buildings even had us wondering if parts of Detroit were influenced by Spain. The revitalization of Detroit is real. cafes, green spaces, old facades getting new life. It’s giving the same kind of energy we felt in Valencia. Relaxed, walkable, rooted in history, and also looking ahead. Is Detroit and Valencia exactly the same? Of course not. But the feeling, the vibe, the connection, we felt it. And here’s the wild part. Detroit was founded by a Frenchman, Antoine Demof Cadillac, and the name Detroit literally means the straight. The city sits between two great lakes. And this vlog, it starts with us sailing through the straight of Gibralar, the waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and flows between Europe and Africa. So maybe it’s not a coincidence at all. Maybe that familiar feeling was rooted in something deeper than we realized. And that’s a wrap on Valencia, one of our most unexpected surprises on this transatlantic journey. If you’ve been watching this series, we want to say thank you. Next up, we’re answering frequently asked questions about transatlantic sailing. If you’ve been curious about what it’s really like from sea days to packing tips, don’t miss it. Until next time, keep black loving and black traveling. We’ll see you in the next

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We didn’t expect to feel at home in Valencia… but something about it reminded us of Detroit. 🧡

From the outdoor cafés to the revival of old buildings and the laid-back vibe — it all felt familiar in the best way. And then we found out the name Detroit means “the strait”… just like the Strait of Gibraltar where this vlog in Valencia began. 😲

Maybe the connection runs deeper than we thought.

📍Come explore Valencia with us in this unexpected stop on our transatlantic cruise — new vlog is live!

#valencia #detroit #blackcoupleswhotravel #transatlanticcruise #cruisingwhileblack #travelvloggers #blacktravelmovement #virginvoyages #blackloveblacktravel

As I Figure by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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