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!
