The pictures in this post were taken from the days of the pandemic — well after the strict lockdown had lifted, but before life in Valencia had fully returned to normal. We were just starting to get back outside regularly, and it felt like the city was just waking up from a long, surreal dream.
The lockdown in Spain was serious. For weeks, we were only allowed to leave our homes for grocery shopping, and even that was limited. Even after the restrictions were lifted, there was still a sense of caution; most people wore masks outside, and didn’t congregate in big numbers (except, naturally, for football matches).
The pictures we’ve gathered here show a side of Valencia which is almost unrecognizable. A sense of quiet pervades these photos, with streets bereft of tourists, and none of the big, multitudinous events that the city so revels in. By now, we had started going out regularly, but ran into people less frequently, or didn’t immediately recognize our friends underneath their masks.
I’m not going to say that we miss the pandemic, but these pictures are a reminder of how relatively calm the city was back in 2021 — a far cry from the atmosphere today, as Valencia welcomes record numbers of visitors. Enjoy this little time warp to a strange time in our lives, just a few years in the past!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbXC7szgqUo