After a long morning at the City of Arts and Sciences Museum in Valencia we decided to head back to the city for a quick bite to eat. It was around 2pm and most of the cafes were so crowded in Plaza Santa Catalina, we could not find a single place to rest our feet. We walked by this very small, hidden cafe called Horchateria Santa Catalina (which we later found out was one of the oldest and most famous cafes to drink horchatas, eat churros and fartons in Valencia).
Since we weren’t that hungry and really wanted to just sit and have a cup of coffee we walked right in. This horchateria has been serving up horchata for over 200 years and still has a very old, traditional Valencian feel with beautiful tiled walls. Horchata has always been a very strong tradition in Valencia, with many villages drinking gallons of it. It was a nice to walk into this historical place. Instead of coffee we sat and ordered glasses of fresh horchata (made from crushed tiger nuts), fartons (a sweet long breadstick) and churros.
It was our first time trying “fresh” horchata and it was divine. Jaf and Lou Lou weren’t big fans of it, but since both hubby and I can appreciate a good glass of horchata we drank that up, no problem. We even got more adventurous and dipped our farton into the glass and let all that goodness soak up that creamy liquid. Mmmm….
Horchata 🙂
As we focused on the drinks, both kids were gleefully enjoying their churros. These churros were different from those we normally eat back at home. They were not drenched in cinnamon sugar and were shaped quite differently than the normal long churro stick. Spanish churros are served with a cup of thick chocolate, just for dipping! Oh my, I think we went through at least 4 orders of churros just to finish the cup of chocolate. Incredible!!
We were so happy we stumbled upon this Horchateria, it was the best ending to an already beautiful day!