Visting Valencia

Valencia, Spain's 3rd largest city situated on the East coast was due a visit.

Travel was smooth, despite the 05:30 alarm :o

Hotel was located in the North-West district of Campanar just outside the main centre.

The centre is more or less bounded  by the long thin stretch of park, Jardin Del Turia, a green lung in a former riverbed.

Also nestled in the park are football & rugby pitches, even a small stadium with a running track which some sweaty indivuals were using for a long distance run early in the morning.

Once I got orientated it was a straightforward 10 minute walk down a busy road, across the park, then another 10 minutes along the calmer Calle De Quart.

Passing through the sturdy defensive fort of Quart Tower leads you into the historic centre.

Here one of my first sights was the impressive Valencia Cathedral.

There was an audio tour in English which was actually rather good, in talking you through the various chapels and the art around the main altar.

Just at the side the cathedral also includes it's own museum houses some huge music books, made for sharing, so need to be able to peer over a shoulder or two.

Also houses an impressive silver room which contains reliquaries, like here's a verberatae of some saint in a shiny silver casket.

But one object isn't in the museum or the catherdral but afforded it's own chapel, the Holy Grail.

An agate cup, which was used by Jesus during the Last Supper. Yep, somebody should have told Monty Python, it's sitting in Valencia.

The Bioparc was just a 20 minutes walk from where I was staying. Lemurs clamber around trees just above your head. It's well landscaped with chunky baobab trees beside African elephants.

Elsewhere a dark glass pane onto a burrow, allows you to peek in at a sleeping aardvark, splayed out limbs akimbo.

Then it was time to feed the hippos (not personally!), which munch down on celery stalks and a gourd or two. All while gliding through a tank chocka full of fish who themselves are feeding on the debritius created by the hippos. Groups of mongooses (mongeese?) were scrabbling around and the sand, not far from the smaller nosy meerkats.

Later there was bird feeding at an amphitheatre, bird flying close to get their lunch. An owl silently appear, some others not so quiet. Large eagles and even a vulture coming in for a feed.


Back near the hotel, I found a few local cafes that were popular breakfast spot, the first had lots of tostado with various toppings. I had avocado and egg (after consulting google translate). Plate came with a freshly cracked walnut on the side. At the weekend, it was busy with the owner running around as everybody came in, but I was happy to read a book and have a relaxing breakfast. Better on the eating side, rather than the working side!

Back in town I visit CCCC (Centro del Carmen de Cultura Contemporánea), which nicely had free entry to 5 or so exhbitions. The pick of the bunch was some interesting giant artwalls with animated video projection from Carmen Thyssen museum which I'd visited a while back in Malaga. Also had a very pleasant leafy courtyard, as it was housed in a former convent!

I saw a queue for another attraction so I joined it, not quite sure what it was. Turned out to be the entrance to one I wanted to see anyway, La Lonja (The Silk Exchange), a Unesco  site.

Even better if you go to the municipal attraction on the right day, it's free, but if not well worth the 2 euros or so entrance fee. Inside the huge main hall, the tall pillars are twisted like cords of silk, joining onto the ribbed ceiling. An impressive architectural design especially as it was built over 500 years ago. Inside a smaller side building with a chequered floor, but looking up is the way to go, just don't strain your neck looking at the dark wooden gilded rafters showcasing opulence.

Another day, another breakfast! Just beside the imposing Quart Tower, I opted for something new, a Guatemalan breakfast at a Mayan cafe. This had scrambled eggs, soft creamy cheese, fried sweet plantain and refried beans(frisole) and was very tasty!

Near the north of the old town lies Casa Benlliure, the house of artist Jose Benlliure, which had been donated to the council and is now a musuem. The house itself was like a time capsule,  certificates dotted around the walls, one a Silver Medal for the 1884 London Internationl Universal Exhbition from the Crystal Palace Company. I nearly missed it, but you can open the door and go out the back and this leads into a narrow garden with a few sculpture, continuing through to the other side and you end up in the studio. A large well-lit airy space full of trinkets and collections. Upstairs from the studio is a gallery showcasing more of his paintings, including one of La Lonja.

Crossing a bridge over the green Turia Gardens, I visited the Valencia Museum of Fine Arts. In Spain only the Prado has more paintings. Entering a big door, brings you into a huge atrium. A striking painting housed here is La visión del Coloseo, by the aforementioned Jose Benlliure. This piece is more than 7m x 5m, no wonder his studio was so big! The downstairs focus in on 13th015th century religous art, not really my cup of tea, but still an impressive gallery to have a whizz round. Upstairs moves forward in time, but still mostly traditional.

Outside the city I visited the Bombas Digital Arts, a modern centre which currently had an exhibition on Tutunkhamun. The first room had a few Egyptian artifacts, although I'm guessing a lot of fascimilies, I'm guessing because it was all in Spanish. Then onto a room where you sit in the middle and a film is projected onto the walls and floor, completing with Scarab beetles scurrying around, it tell the stories of the egyptian Gods in CGI fashion. Next room you sit in a chair with VR goggles and are guided through another story where you uncover the tomb. Finally another VR room, but this time you get to walk around with the VR headset and have virtual hands. The other visitors are digitally represented and the screen turns red to stop you walking into walls. Here you can interact with the scenery and uncover the tomb. Not much of this is grounded in historical fact, but very open to imaginitive interpretation!

Back on Calle de Quart I popped into the Botanic Gardens as I had walked past it a few times, like many of Valencia attractions it is open late till 9pm, so can catch some evening rays. When I visited they seem to be having some corporate event in the greenhouse. I did spot another old greenhouse, built over 100 years ago, but very little there as you walk in and it's a wall, just a narrow strip left or right! Still the gardens themselves were pleasant and a few benches dotted around which I plunked myself down on. Suddenly all the parakeets started screeching a suprsingly large number emerging from a nearby orange tree, then a chunky cat sauntered past.

I was back in the old town for some dinner, this time I visited a small tapas joint Bodega La Rentaora, order a salad which turned out to be substial, but I had another few plates coming, the most eye catching being some sausages which arrives still flaming! I did a good job of polishing it all off, must have been hungry. The propertior then threw in a couple of sherrys as a digestif.

On a hot day, as many things close between 2 and 4 I retreated out of the sun, indoors to the Archelogical museum. This was another municipal museum where it only cost a couple of euros to get in. It shows the history of the town and has well preserved walls along with ceramics. Turned out to be a sizable area that has been preserved as you walk underneath the city and underneath the glass pond outside. The sun dimpling through the water above to show where the traditional baths resided. Was larger than expected from the outside.

A cafe nearby specializes in a Valencian treat, horchata and farton, a cold, sweet, almondy milky drink with a long glazed pastry.

IVAM is the Modern Art musuem of Valencia, huge halls, with nicely presented exhibitions, but some a bit weird! I liked the geometric drawings, some inspired from the dawn of computed art, by Soledad Sevilla. Other exhbition included some clear plastic bag full of water with food dye, hmmm. 

Finally I returned to Valencia Cathedral and after a bit of a wait ascended El Micalet, up the narrow spiral staircase with it's 207 steps, don't trip you might end up all the way back down as I think there it only one landing. Up the top great views of the old historic town centre. As there is only one way up and down, there is a traffic light above the entrance. Have to wait for everybody to come up, and the light to turn green, before anybody can go back down. That explains the waiting time in the queue to get in!

Popping into Poznan

Just a couple of days in Poznan, so begins the tricky decision if what to have for lunch, went for soup in a bowl of bread, which seems popular here. After that, it was over to the Enigma museum which highlights Polish mathematicians work during WWII. Lots of examples of cryptotograpy such as Caesar cypher. Some videos which shoed how one of guy thinking as mathematician, rather than an engineer, worked out formulas to discover working of Enigma. There was only 3x10^120 different possible combinations (number of atoms in the universe is 3x10^80). Quite a few hands on examples to play with, such as invisible ink, or scroll wheels with alphabets. Another exhbit had morse code, sending & receiving by pressing a button short or long. In reality it would be connecting/disconnecting thousands of miles of cables reaching across the Atlantic.

Another city square similar to Wroclaw, but with less gnomes and more fountains, one at each corner. This one is of Aquaman Neptune. It's a mix of European and Polish food in the restaurants with plent of the usual pizza, pasta, burger alongside local grub. Had a nice duck meal at one of the restaurants overlooking the square while a musican played an electic violin with a looper pedal. They had a sesonal asparagus menu, in case you want starter, soup & main of aspargus!

A famous landmark is the Poznan goats who come out of a clock tower and butt heads everyday at 12:00, except for when I was here as they were broken. Still opposite that is another top ranked attraction, the croissant museum! This is good just because of the two presenters having the gift of the gab: Grabs a volunteer, gives her an apron and hat and gets her to roll out the dough. "How long will it take? 5 minutes, okay. You are having fun and I'm getting paid, you keep rolling I'll get myself a coffee." 

Next day there was just time to check out the Poznan Art Museum which seemed to be undergoing rennovations, so quite a few exhibits closed. They did however have one called "Ultra Avant Garde" which was...different! Then off to the airport and fly back home to Edinburgh a succesful Baltic trip completed!

Wroclaw: Dwarf City

Onto Wroclaw which strangely enough is full of dwarves, adapted to specific situations. E.g. withdrawing money from a tiny ATM outside the bank. Or a dwarf with a guitar as a nod to the almost 8000 guitarist that descend annually for the Guitar World Record

I had a bit of laundry to do with meant a bit of a walk outside the centre to SqeedQueen. Lukcily there was a nearby Cat Cafe to pass the time when waiting for the laundry. Here there was a half a dozen cats, either lounging around or chasing toys. They were mostly quite podgy so well fed!

Wroclaw has a large pedestrianed town square, and in the centre of the square the old town hall buildings, yet another smaller square off the main. These are lined with cafes & bars, it was lively but not having when I was there. In the smaller square there is a staircase descending into a bomb shelter which now houses the small MovieGate museum. Here there is a bunch of movie props and costumes, bit of a weird setting but worth a nosy round!

Later I had some borsch with over baked pierogis at on eof the restaurants lining the square, nice to be able to dine al fresco and watch the world go by. The borsch is lovely and warming, but it's 23C and sunny!

 A pleasant walk was round the edge of the old town, in a sliver of park beside the canal. This route envelopes 3/4 of the old town. Quite a few non-dawrf sculpture dotted around town. A giant chair near my hotel for instance. A cluster of farmyard animals down a quiet lane. Outside a theatre a crocodile with a helium balloon tied round it's jaws dragging it up into the sky!

Lost in Lodz

Losz is acutally pronounced more like Wootch but that doesn't work with my title!

I wandered south to a district called Księży Młyn, which was home to a lot of old textile bulidings during the instustrial era. Nowadays they are being revamped as cafes, restaraunts and galleries housed in these distinctive large, red brick buildings. Spotting a promo, I had a nice 'business' lunch from a set menu. As I was paying, the guy noticed my accent, turns out he worked at a deli in Edinburgh which I'd been to,  sometimes it's a small world!

Strolling back through the park, saw the unexpected sights of a red squirell, didn't know they lived here. Also in the park was a botanic glass house (this one was open). It wasn't too humid, around 50% in the main section, and lower in an adjoined desert section. Another unexpected surprise was the fish tanks which seems to house huge fish, the heat must make them grow faster!

Lodz was apparently the Polish Holywood, back in the day, hence the existence of the Cinema museum. This showcased the old move making scene with lots of cameras, props and costumes. Maps of Lodz show an explosion of cinemas, now mostly gone. Near the end a mocked up video store showed the glory days of VHS rentals, with 80/90s blockbusters, split into sections such as Sportowe, Fantastyka, Historyczne and Godzilla.

I jumped on the bus, but it veered off were I was epecting it to go, so hit the top button and ended up back at the train station where I had initially arrived. Deja vu. Back in the centre of town, a statue stands on a tall column, cosily wearing a t-shirt. This feels like the equivalent of a statue with a traffic cone on his head.

Nosing down a side street, there is a rather strange sight of an ordinary residential building which has been jazzed up by an artist. They have placed crazed mirror over the entire surface causing it to gline and shimmer in the sunlight.

 The main street with runs through Lodz is the very long and semi-pedianstrised Piotrkowska Street, the heart of the city. I'd popped into a fancy looking bar for a drink, regretting it when I saw their prices :) exiting later, the sun had set, and the street was rather lively. The majority of cafes are licensed and affiilated with a specific brand of beer displayed on the overhanging sun shades e.g. Tyskie, Książęce, Żywiec. So mostly pointing at the menu as trying to pronounce them wasn't very successful! One of the more unusual bars is Ministerstwo Śledzia i Wódki which serves up herring & vodka. Further down when things seem to be thinning out, there is OFF another cluster of bars/restaurants. There were putting up some large metal flamingos there for some reason! Even had a fresh flower vending machine.

Next day it was time for some breakfast, ended up in a trendy cafe, where they seemed to be doing a morning photoshoot for the instagram crowd, then there is me making the place look untidy. I went to visit the Art Museum but was greeted by a notice that it Saturday was the Night Of The Museum and opening hours were now 18:00-00:00. Went for dinner at a Polish restaurant, had Bigos which is a kind of stew with smoked sausage & bacon accompanies by some hefty bread with something like hummus.

Had another go at the museum, and it was very popular and busy (maybe cos it was all free!). In between popped into a large mall, Manufaktura, near the top of Piotrkowsk. Large area outside it for community events, seemed to have some sort of powerlifting competion, as guys standing on either side of a barbell competed for reps. 

 

 

 

 

Warsaw it again

 After a long 6 hour bus journey (I was expecting 7 hours, but there is a 1 hour time difference) I arrived in Warsaw. Approaching the bridge to cross the Vistul, traffic grinds to a halt. Now entering Warsaw propert with it's 1.8m inhabitants, so a sprawling metropolis.

I had a quick look around the old town, trying to remember where I had been when I firsted visited Warsaw back in 2017. I stayed in a similar area as last time, which helped somewhat to orient myself. Handy to the old town, university.  

I had a spot of dinner with some port that had been minced and reworked into a patty, cabbage, beetroot, potatoes. After I polish-ed that off, I wandered along Nowy Swiat (New World) which had a relaxed atmosphere, well on a Tuesday evening. Might well be different late on the weekend! There is a collection of cafes/pubs/restaurants. At one a guy with a guitar was doing good work with a looper, to play rythmn and solos at the same time. Opposite there is a popular standing bar, with tables but no chairs, where patrons imbibe Ukranian cherry liquor (I had assumed it was Polish!), because that's the only thing they sell. Also nearby was a geeky arcade bar, where you could play old Capcom beat 'em ups. Best one was Cadillacs and Dinosaurs!

Next day, it was time to do laundry, the excitement! Popped into cafe, and get subjected to Wet Wet Wet. Back into the old town, a lot of museums are acutally free on certain days, so I revisted the Royal Palace, which is full of ostentatious golden rooms that like most of the old town was rebuilt after WWII.

Further out I checked out the National Museum. Some interestingly weird religious medieval wood carvings, some of which are kinda gruesome. Such as 'Christ in Distress' covered in hives. In other sections there was 19th century art which was good, then old masters which wasn't so great as bowls of fruit and portraits of old men. Back to Old Town for a few snaps as it's very picturesque at dusk.

Next morning, I went to the fancy Cafe Bristol for breakfast at this historic cafe that's been around for over 100 years. Bit pricier than most places, but I got a dragonfly picture on my latte!

Just nearby in the History Meeting House was a good photo exhibition about Warsaw in it's post WWII rebuilding phase. Showing how the builders would have a scoreboard about who put up the most bricks!

Elsewhere, I found out that the Uni rooftop garden is open to the public, so can have a wander up there and good views near the river. 

I'd bought a ticket to the Copernicus Science Centre as last time I was here, it was sold out. While it was decent, it was abosultely rammed with people, not sure it was worth a seven year wait! Next door was the modern art museum, which had a single exhibit feature Ukranian Folk Art by (checks google) Maria Prymachenko, who had a quite distinct style of vivid animal drawings

Another point of interest was the Melt Museum (everything gets called a museum here), which had some weird AI art. One section used a camera to redraw you in realtime as a cyborg, which is very useful.

Kaunas

 I took a short train to Kaunas, just over an hour. Got coffee & cake with my 1st class ticket (€13). In the centre of the new town in Kaunas there are large wide streets on a grid. Liberty Boulevard runs down the middle, an impressive mile long pedestranised tree lined street through the centre of town, lined with pubs, restaurants and shops.

At the Art Museum 'Woman in Yellow' was the exhibit, seems like a famous painting, as what interesting was the amount of artists who had done their own version of it.

A decidely odder museum around the corner, enter the Devil Museum. Just the place to see a bombast of devils! Mostly carved from wood and painted, there is a suprising variety. On one floors, there are 'devils' from around the world, though taking a few liberties at times, such as the trolls from Scandinavia. It has orginated from a private collector and grew from there, devilish different.

Also nearby was the large War Museum, which houses all sort of rifles & guns, proceeding from basic bored wood rifles, up to semi-automatic machine guns. An unusual exhibit was a crashed plane, Lituanica which crashed en route to Kaunas.

 At a more contempary art galler, there was short exhibit, Black Hole, in which you entered a pitch black room and guided yourself only by a handrail. Ultimately you zig zag back to the start and emerge back into the light. Upstairs, as part of a large exhibit, dealing with senses other than sight, was a similar idea but this time artificial 'vines' dangle down, and you brush against something like crinkely tinsel. On another floor some strikingly vivid, geometric art.

Another day and down to the old town, some grand old churches around the town square. The Kaunas Castle stands as a tower fortress, nearby old building seem to be being transformed into stylish flats. Just down, through the park is the confluence of the two main rivers flowing through Kaunas, Nemunas and Neris. On Mondays, a lot of things are shut, but I visited the Botanical Gardens which, aside from the glasshouses was open, and it was a beautiful sunny day. Lots of rhododendrons, peonies and tulips. Even got into the butterfly house, which was many cocoons evenly placed dangling from a perch. Plenty of actual large butterflies fluttering around also, one escaped, but the staff quickly managed to scoop it back up and take it home. 

Valking in Vilnius

Arriving in Vilnius, fast growing city in the Baltics, seems to be in an era of building and rebuilding. Bus stopped briefly at a large shiny mall, Panorama, before heading to the main station which is closer to the old town. 

I soon headed down to the main city square and the Cathedral. Inside the cavernous area various rooms set off to the side, one holding a reliquary, others host paintings. But it's the main hulking nave with high ceiling that has tourists gawping.

Onto the the Palace of Dukes, like most museum and galleries in the Baltics you are directed to leave your jacket in the coatroom before entering. This has 4 paths through the museum. Path 1 begins back in time with archeological interests, with the underlying foundations on display, this meanders through many rooms as it's a big complex building. After about 45 minutes or so, I finish Path 1 and realise I might not have much time for other paths as they close in an hour or so. Path 2 is similary long, but leading through amazing grand reconstructed rooms with artworks, very swish! At one point the path leads up 6 floors to a viewpoint and then back down. With half an hour to go, it looked like Path 3 was closed, as quite often they don't let entry to museum with less than an hour to go, however the security guard let me through telling me to be quick (he obviously wanted to go home!). Path 3 & 4 were quite a bit shorter, covering weaponry and honours/medals. Got jacket from cloakroom and out before they closed. Baltics are on a fairly similar Latitude as Scotland (albeit 2 hours forward), so stays light late. Time for a walk up the Castle Tower hill, winding path round 3/4 of the hill to get to the ascent path. Went I puffed my way to the top, could see the funicular rail for the easy route to the top. Still not actually that high, probably about same as Calton Hill in Edinbugh, a good viewpoint across the city. Vilnius seems to be a bit of a hodgepodge of architecture from different eras. Walking between the hotel to the old town, go through new shopfronts, but also some dilapidated building with chunks of plaster missing, alongside the ever present roadworks with orange coats digging up the streets.

Another museum, The Old Arsenal. What was Wenger thinking sending Walcott on that early? No, no that Arsenal, but lots of old weaponry, just popped in here, as it was on my way to the Applied Art museum, which had a sign outside advertising Chagal, Picasso & Ernst. However, it was more pottery and textiles, with most of actually made by other artists, but using them as inspiration.

Next up with the Former KGB Detention House, set in a rather grim building, it highlights life behind the Iron Curtain and the contradictions to everyday life. Various rooms go through home life, working, party meetings etc. This was well laid out with good boards in English:  

Somone once said that Brezhnev-era society could be best understood through the myth of Sisyphius: People would keep rolling the boulder uphill, despite the meaninglessness of the act of rolling, the boulder, and ever the top of the hill itself, whic no one believed existed anyway. In truth, boulder-rollers in the late Soviet period cuold at least ironically paraphrase the words uetter by Josef Stalin in the 1935: "Life has become better! And happier, too!"

Next day, it was onto the Museum of Illusions, which has some nice optical illusions and holograms. Seen quite a few of them before, but a couple of new ones, such as a Tie Fighter etched into a record. Also a clever display with feathers being moved in slow motion, some magic with strobe lights I think. Ther was a touch illusion that was supposed to make wire feel like velvet, didn't seem to work with me, maybe I need new hands!

On the way to the House of Histories, I briefly stopped into the Lithuanian independence museum, about the people that helped reclaim independence, not much for the causal tourist here, skippable!

Couple of exhibits, one about Lithunian emmigrating abroad, also the flow of people (and money!) back into the country in the post-Soviet era. The other exhibits was somewhat bizarre about conspiracy theories with Moon Landings, 5G, Coronavirus & JFK all making appearances.

Another day, visited the Radvila Palace Art which one wing classical Western Art and the main wing has Modern Art. Pick of the bunch was a weird video installation with a big cinema screen in the dark. You could lie on a lounger and watch the short movie which, as far as I could tell, was about a mermaid swimming near a nuclear plant. Like a lot of these big government museum, there has hardly anybody else there! Maybe it's still low season, or a coach full of tourists pulls up to swamp the place.

Finally before my pass rans out goto the new MO Modern Art museum, another exhibition about conspiracy theories, what is going on here? On the plus side, I didn't bump into Vilnius born Hannibal Lecter. Listened to some live music as walked past Lucille Blues Bar, the guitarist/singer was certainly into it, in this tiny bar.