Although in some respects, spring is the most eligible season for travelling in Spain, late autumn, and even the confines of winter, have many advantages. Both seasons have their charms; spring is the peculiar season of flowers; and in those extensive tracts in the south and east of Spain, which are covered with a thousand flowering shrubs and aromatic plants, and where particularly, the beautiful oleander, the caper, and the various species of gum-cistus, are found in all their perfection and variety, spring is doubtless the season of beauty; but amid different scenery, the later autumnal months disclose many as beautiful, and to a stranger, more novel scenes; for it is then only, that we can understand the beauty of an orange grove, and that enchanting union of the most lovely green, with the bright mellow fruit that sparkles among its leaves; then only can the strange charm of the palm tree be felt, as we look up to its broad green crown, and golden treasure of dates; then too, the olive is covered with fruit; and the ilex and the algarrobo being evergreens, little is lost in the beauty of forest scenery. The finest and rarest flowers may be seen in the conservatories; and the imagination can easily multiply them, and cover a mountain with their blossoms: but where, in our own cold clime, shall we find the stately palm; or where, but in the regions of the south, enjoy the beauty and the fragrance of an orange grove. Valencia is seen about three leagues before reaching it; and from this point, a straight avenue leads through the plain to its gates. Its widely extended buildings, its massive wall, and numerous spires, strongly impressed me as I approached it, with an idea of its magnificence; and with excited expectations, I passed the gate, and alighted at the Fonda de la Paz. This is not considered the first hotel in Valencia; the Fonda de las quatros Naciones enjoys this reputation; and in the department of the kitchen, I believe deservedly; but the superior situation of the hotel I made choice of, outweighed in my mind, the culinary advantages of the other. CHAPTER XX. VALENCIA.--JOURNEY TO BARCELLONA.