We thought maybe we'd had our fill of rice dishes for a while once Tastarròs concluded. True, but we had not had our fill of Valencia's natural attractions. The rice-growing village of El Palmar, just six miles south of the city on the #24 bus (emtvalencia.es), sits on the shore of the Albufera. That's the Arabic name for a big, shallow lake that was once a saltwater lagoon. Judging by the prevalence of Phragmites reeds on the shores and in small reed islands, the lake still gets some saltwater inundation. Several kinds of ducks, bitterns, egrets, and herons use the reeds for shelter. Some local residents thatch their roofs with reeds. The lake teems with eels, bream, and mullet. Hm-m-m-m … rice and fish. Sounds...Read More