Learning spanish, cooking a paella and exploring a national park

Spanish students visit La Albufera and enjoy it for a valencian paella

 Valencia. To learn spanish it is not enough to attend the classes. Also enjoying the nature and the valencian gastronomy is a part of it. 50 spanish students are able to confirm this fact, those students participated in a organised excursion through the La Albufera national park, last weekend.

 The La Albufera lake is the most biggest lake in whole spain and one of the most important wetlands of the iberian peninsula. It is a place of great ecological interest, where many unique waterfowl species are wintering. There is no better way to get to know the ecosystem than with a boat tour on the La Albufera lake and the subsequent visit of a country house, a barraca. The spanish students were enchanted by their travel manager Manolo and his explanations.

 The waters of the la Albufera lake are traditionally used by fishers and rice farmers. This leads to a delicious cuisine. In order to taste that themselves, the group went into the village El Palmar. Right here they discovered the typical valencian dine with the valencian paella and as a starter they tried All i Pebre, which is prepared with freshly caught eels. But they did not enjoy those sepcialities in one of the many restaurants in the village, as every other tourist would do, but on a place off-road. Typical under an open fire and self-prepared. A unique expierence.

 “We are alway trying to integrate our spanish students and to show them the real spanish life, not from the vantage point of tourists”, explains Andreas Tessmer, escort person of the spanish language school Costa de Valencia. “ The easiest would be to set the students into a bus and go with them in a restaurant. But we want them to see how a paella is made, how the people live here, what kind of problems they have, for example the pollution of the lake. And the most important thing of course is to learn spanish with the locals, how they learned it in spanish class”.

 But La Albufera is not only famous for its gastronomy and nature. To watch the red and golden colors of the sunset on the water, is an memorable moment. The group of the students were able to watch this picture when they returned back on the boat, before it went right back with the service bus to valencia.

 Exploring the national park La Albufera and cooking a valencian paella gives a new meaning to learn spanish.