Le gemme nascoste di Valencia: Guida all'attesa e al tango

Have you ever waited for something, like an appointment?

While living in Valencia, we have experienced a lot of waiting.

We wait for the bus.
We wait in restaurants to order.
We wait in line to pay for stuff.
And now, we wait for our turn at the immigration office.

We have done this before. We have waited in a government office in Barcelona and Buenos Aires.

We await our turn in the Valencia office because I am applying for my empadronamiento. This term refers to a residency document required for obtaining permanent residency in Spain.


Whenever you wait your turn, please proceed to the central ticketing machine and select the service for which you would like an appointment. We obtained our number from the helpful man at the phone booth. In our experience, we typically wait at least 30 minutes. Not so bad.  Wish me luck.

We have been living in Valencia for three weeks. During this time, we were fortunate to discover this incredible city by tuk-tuk initially, but mostly we used public transportation and occasionally took a taxi.


Valencia was founded in 138 BC as Valentia Edetanorum on the banks of the now-dry Turia River. Over the years, the city has been ruled by first the Romans, the Visigoths, then, starting in the 8th century, the Moors, and in 1238, the Christian King James of Aragon conquered the Moors. He claimed most of Andalucía, incorporating this territory into the Crown of Aragon. The city prospered in the 15th century, becoming a powerhouse, and experienced considerable prosperity, during which time it built many Gothic monuments.

The city is physically flat, with an elevation of 15 meters. Biking is very popular as the city is teeming with bike lanes that must be avoided when walking or crossing streets. Here, walking is an active activity, and you must be aware when crossing bike lanes; otherwise, a reasonable probability exists that you will get injured.

After the Turia River flooded the city in 1957, the river was diverted, and the city decided to turn the 9 km length of the dry riverbed into a park filled with bike paths, sports clubs, game areas, and many beautiful garden areas with benches and, of course, cafes.

Starting at one end of the park is the fantastic futuristic architecture of the city of arts and science, including the opera house. At the end of the park is Parque Cabecera and the zoo. It can be walked, biked, or visited using the tourist train that runs the length. We will try the train next week.

This flat city is both highly modern and yet Gothic in its architecture. Visiting a beautiful structure that has withstood the test of time is always a pleasure. One of my favorite buildings is the La Lonja de Sede, a UNESCO World Heritage site renowned for its impressive Columnar Hall, which features eight spiraling, twisted columns. These columns, along with the vaulted ceilings, create a stunning and unique architectural feature.

When we visited the space, it gave me a feeling of total abstraction in a very modern manner, yet I was still aware of the stone’s agelessness. What’s impressive is seeing how gracefully the columns reach for the ceiling, high above us.

It’s one of the few spaces we visited that wasn’t a fort or castle; however, it was used as a utilitarian market. It’s breathtaking to spend time sitting in the garden of orange trees just outside the hall, which is very peaceful.

Recently, a tanghera from Buenos Aires visited us and joined us in exploring the tango scene here. Nice to be able to compare notes about a milonga.

There was a Tango Marathon in the first week of the month, followed by a festival in the second week. We inquired about attending the milongas in the Marathon, but the prices were a bit high at 35€ per person. When asked why, the organizer responded that you have to see a show by tango masters. Hmmm, I said, I want to dance and am not really interested in seeing yet another show by Tango Maestros. Her reply was silence.

At the next festival, in the 2nd week, I started asking questions of this other organizer and became disenchanted with the whole process, so I stopped trying to make things happen when the universe wasn’t cooperating.

Instead, on Friday, we attended the Milonga at the Cultural Center, which is conveniently located near our house.
This is the second time we have attended, as it starts at 9:30 and ends at 12:30. After paying the entrada of €8 to the organizer, Mathis, and walking into the salon, we found a table occupied by a young woman who said she was departing shortly. At this milonga, the host sits in his corner spot, playing DJ and dancer.

There is a small crowd, a few folks that we saw here the previous week. My overall impression is that this space isn’t very welcoming, but we keep saying ‘Hola’ to folks and wait for a friendly response.

Now, surveying the room, I see 16 women and 10 men. A tanda has 3 songs. The music playing at the moment is another Cajenge melody. Tinny, squeaky music, but with a pleasant melody, danceable, but I am not ready to dance.

Sitting and watching the dancers moving on the floor, they are rhythmic and fluid. The music playing is more to my liking as it’s DiSarle. We walk around the tables and enter the floor, embracing one another, and we begin.

The music ends, and we walk back to the table and sit. Our guest, tanguero, cannot seem to get a cabeceo. I encouraged her to move to a different location, and she successfully got a dance.  She continues to try to get more dances with some success.

I dance a few more tandas with my partner and feel exhausted from the heat, even though the space is air-conditioned. Before we know it, the time to depart is here. I had a tanda with the organizer; he is a beautiful dancer and, of course, originally from Argentina. He has hosted this milonga for 15 years. Out of kindness, I did not share my thoughts about his milonga, but we found this milonga to be very unfriendly and cliquish.  People were not curious about a very distinctive group of 3 tangueros visiting his milonga. Unfortunately, the organizer did nothing to create a friendly environment, as if his motto was to play the music, and they would come.

On Sunday night, we went to another milonga, Milonga La Vida. Upon entering the space, we are greeted by a friendly man selling the entradas, [tickets for the milonga], which we are informed include a drink of your choice and a snack buffet.

There were so many people dancing. After contacting the organizer, Barbara Palmer, and making a reservation, we discovered that she was the DJ. Her playlist was excellent, with the music between the tandas bringing good old rock and roll. We found a table, put on our shoes, and the dancing began.
People were friendly and smiling. Our friend spent more time on the dance floor than sitting at the table.

This place was so welcoming, and that is all due to the organizer, Barbara Palmer, who, ironically, we discovered was also from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The differences in the milongas were night and day, as were the spaces. The Friday night milonga space was poorly lit, while the second space was well-lit and even featured a disco ball on the ceiling.
The milonga that we attended was held on the first Sunday of the month.  In Valencia, on Sundays, milongas rotate according to the week’s Sunday number.

As we discovered at this new space, Barbara hosts another milonga on Thursday night.

The Sunday night milonga La Dolce Vita starts at 7 pm and ends at 10 pm. There is an after-milonga, paid by donation, that continues with a different DJ until midnight.

We look forward to attending the Thursday night milonga soon.