Valencia - Spain
Old town
We spend an extended weekend of four days in this lovely city. Honestly, I didn’t expect much, we just wanted some warmth and some tapas 😄 But we were both surprised by how gorgeous this city is. The old town is beautiful at every corner and there is so much more to see than we thought. On the first day we just strolled randomly through the streets and really enjoyed it. That is why on some photos I don’t know what building it is that I shot.
On the second day we took a free walking tour to get an overview. Afterwards we took some city bikes, which you can rent easily by app, and drove though the Jardín del Turia, a former river bed, which is now converted into a park. It was a little dry, as we visited in high summer, thus I don’t have great photos of it, but we still enjoyed.
Following my impressions, first of the downtown area and then the other areas we explored the following days.
Torres dels Serrans which were a part of the city walls which used to surround the old town.
View from the Placa de la Reine to the Catedral de València in the middle of this picture.
El Micalet the bell tower is part of the Cathedral. You can have a view over the city from it by walking up a ton of stairs. It is supposed to be worth it, but as I’m not such a big fan of heights and it was super hot, so we skipped it.
The Mercat Central is as the name suggest inside the old town. It is a great marktplace to gather some fresh fruits or like we did two or three times, some tasty bocadillos, a from or Spanish sandwich with diverse toppings.
The market hall itself is quite nice to look at too.
Another nice market is the Mercado de Colón not to far from the old town. We went there for some horchata and tasty baked goods.
The Basílica Sant Vicent Ferrer is just a minute away from the market above.
Just a train station closer to the airnb that we had, but I liked how it looked.
City of Arts and Sciences
The City of Arts and Sciences is a magnificent architectural masterpiece close to downtown Valencia. Even if you just walk through it, there are so many stunning buildings and sculptures to watch and it is absolutely worth spending some hours or even more. We didn’t enter the art or science museums, nor did we do the stand up paddling, but we enjoyed the views and also the shades of the gorgeous buildings, as it was a super hot day. We even dipped our feet in the water as many Valencian people did as well. But let the pictures speac for themselves.
The Queen Sofia Palace of Arts right at the start of the area.
Around the Museum of Science you’ll find a large pool where you can do stand up paddling, lend a kayak or other gagets to enjoy the water.
The only building we went into to relax a bit was the L'Àgora Forum. In the picture above you’ll see it on the right and on the picture left to the text and below the fascinating architecture from the inside.
Can you spot the City of Arts and Sciences from above?
Btw, this is how crowded the beach Platja el Cabanyal was on a hot summer weekend. Mostly locals, but the cool water was worth it.
Port Saplaya
Not far from Valencia is a small town that is known as the Spanish Venecia, because it is a cute town build around canals. Even though it is super small, we enjoyed the visit. We did a half daytrip to visit is, which was easily reachable by a public transportation bus. We also ended the day there by spending some hours on their beach cooling down after walking by the canals.
