Short break in Valencia

Attractions for visitors are manifold, and obviously, I was only able to select things I particularly wanted to see, given only a short time. As always, I ignored anything that could be seen at home or in many places, including many museums. Even then, there were at least three things I regretted not seeing through lack of time. These were the Quart, one of the two surviving gates to the city; the Botanical Gardens, which are some of the oldest in Spain and therefore have mature trees from many parts of the world; and the Museo de Arroz [Rice Museum], which is something I don’t expect to find elsewhere in Europe and that I can barely envisage.

That leaves enough! La Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias [see www.cac.es] comprises some outstanding examples of 21st-century architecture. I know at least one distinguished writer here finds himself unmoved by these buildings, a view that I accept but with which I totally disagree. I had resolved not to pay the high price of entry and simply to enjoy the external photography but my resolution faded quickly and I bought a ticket for the Oceanografic.

These buildings were in what used to be the valley of the Nuria River, but the river has been diverted away from the city, since it caused extensive flood damage. Although something had to be done and their use of the river bed has been highly imaginative, it still feels to me that something of supreme importance is missing. Imagine Prague, London, or Paris without its river. Could anything compensate?

On the other hand, nothing I’d read prepared me for the splendour of the buildings in the Plaza de Ayuntamiento or the sheer delight of wandering through the streets of grand or just generally pleasing buildings.

Quick Tips:

Another place that clearly had to be seen was the Fallas Museum, not something to be found anywhere else. I’ll leave the explanation of this for later. Another museum that I rated very highly was the National Ceramics Museum. On the other hand I failed to respond to the Museo de Bellas Artes [fine art] museum, since I’m not into religious painting and it stops at the 18th century. The Fallas Museum cost only €1, and the other two were free, as was the Lonja, the ancient Silk Exchange. For those better at going up steps it was also free to go to the top of the Torres Serranos, an old city gate.

The Mercado Central [Central Market] is one of the largest in Europe, a modernist building. Unfortunately for me, the wonderful ceiling and dome were undergoing restoration.

The cathedral has a separate tower, the Miguelete. The complex is a mixture of architectural styles and in the Cathedral is what is supposed to be the Holy Grail, the cup used at the Last Supper.

The north station is a superb art deco building, something we don’t have in England where our finest stations are all older.

Best Way To Get Around:

The suggestion in the guidebooks that everything is within walking distance depends on an assumption of extreme fitness. It obviously made more sense before the Palau de Música and the Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias had to be counted in, though even then, to try to embrace all the sights would have needed quite a time and quite a walk. If you are tired, there is an extremely good bus network between almost any two points you want and a standard €1 fare [April '05]. Thus, I can see no point in using the tourist bus to see the city. However - and it’s unlike me - I did use the other tourist bus to the Albufera, the lagoon south of the city, which is one of the noted wetland bird observation sites of Europe. The service buses are much cheaper, but the times weren’t convenient, and the tourist bus fare includes a very pleasant boat trip.

I chose the lodging for its location, only a few minutes from the Plaza del Ayuntamiento in one direction and the airport bus in the other. It is a two-star hotel that provides the basics, comfortable en-suite rooms with telephone and TV. Some of the plumbing leaves a bit to be desired - though they did re-room me readily enough when the handle on my toilet broke! They do not serve food, but there was no shortage of places nearby.

I've only been into the Oceanografic, and I'll put up a separate page for that. This concerns the city in general. In addition to the Oceanografic, it covers the Umbracle [botany and outdoor sculptures]; an interactive science museum; the Hemisferic IMAX cinema; and the Palau de las Artes, a building with four separate halls, allowing for a variety of presentations.

These are all done in modern architectural forms, which present possibly the most remarkable use of the bed of the Turia, diverted outside the city because of mid-century [20th] flood damage.

It’s possible to wonder whether Valencia will attract sufficient new visitors to gain from all this without damaging attendance at the 1987 Palau de la Música, the Museo de Bellas Artes, and the Museo Nacional de la Ceramica. I can only say of this that I was drawn to Valencia primarily by pictures of the Ciudad and that, while there, I visited all these places. In spite of the high cost of going into the Oceanarium, there were huge crowds going in.

When I took bus no. 35 out to the Ciudad, it was solely with the intention of photography, and I was surprised to be tempted into the Oceanografic, particularly to find it worth 3.5 hours of my time! This doesn’t alter the fact that, for the rest of the Ciudad, photos speak louder than words – so that’s it.

I only meant to photograph this from the outside because, believe me, it's not cheap - but I saw the crowds going in, and my resistance soon evaporated. I stayed ages, so that gives a indication of my view of it. Really outstanding. I strongly recommend that you see the website.

First, a general comment: Since this forms part of the City of Arts and Sciences, you can assume that every building has architectural appeal, that the signing in Valenciano, Spanish, and English is excellent, and that you are never far from a modern, clean toilet. There are two restaurants and several places to buy snacks, as well as the normal souvenir stalls.

Now, to the point. They claim to have 45,000 creatures of 500 different species in the Oceanográfico and, give or take, the odd one--I don’t doubt it. The outside area is pretty phenomenal in itself, with numerous islands and masses of lovely rock, which is home to pelicans, spoonbills, flamingos, scarlet ibises, black-winged stilts, turtles, and other creatures.

The entrance building represents a whale’s head and tail and gives access to the islands outside or to the Mediterranean pavilion. This alone has seven large aquaria with something like 7,400 creatures. The Arctic Pavilion has two huge aquaria for Beluga whales and walruses. The Antarctic Pavilion, called Ocean on the website, has a large aquarium where Humboldt’s penguins can be seen swimming at terrific speeds. The pavilion called Oceans is actually the Oceanos one, where you walk through a long underground tunnel with fish, some large and fierce-looking, swimming on both sides of you and above you. The Temperate and Tropical Pavilion is very impressive, with big turtles and giant spider crabs being prominent, along with a sort of underwater kelp forest. Two particular areas must surely deserve major praise. First comes the Wetlands, where there are two different temperature zones within the pavilion and a spectacular array of birds. Then comes the Delfinário [Dolphinarium], with five pools and 26 million litres of water, the largest in Europe, and big even by world standards. I thought I knew what a dolphin show was, but I had never seen anything like this one, three times a day with a huge seating area, about half being in shade. At least twelve bottlenosed dolphins and half a dozen wet-suited humans put on a real spectacle, and the adults, including this one, were roaring applause as loudly as the children and not merely encouraging the creatures [who do love the attention] but paying a well-merited tribute. Lastly, the Red Sea Auditorium will take 400 at a time and shows frequent films on a large screen.

The fallas (bonfires) of Valencia, held in March, are well-known. The whole city is apparently humming all night, every night during the festival, and those, like me, who need substantial sleep, may be best advised to keep out of the city, at least at night, during that period.

HUGE amounts of both time and money are put into the creation of impressive floats, ninots, which are paraded through the streets, exhibited, and finally burnt on the bonfires, stuffed with fireworks.

However, since the mid-1930s, there has been a people’s choice of the very best overall and in the children’s section. Only the ninots chosen are preserved from the flames and exhibited in this museum with a 1€ entry. Sadly, they don’t follow the general policy of permitting photography without flash and permit none at all.

Much is lost on us foreigners, who will not usually understand the lampoonery of politicians and other well-known citizens, but you don’t need any particular knowledge to appreciate the skill and artistry involved.

Websites with pictures aren’t easy to find, but the first six on http://community.webshots.com/album/11062116KeUHYoCMSF are very good.

The Albufera is a very large lagoon separated from the sea by a narrow strip of land. It's rated next to Doñana as a wetland site for birds, and many of the birds to be seen in the Oceanográfic in Valencia are supposed to breed here. The village of El Palmer, at the south end of the lagoon, is said to be THE place to eat paella, and it would be great to stay there both for this and for leisurely trips in hired boats.

Buses from Valencia are only €1 each way, but the times aren't very convenient if you're in a hurry, and I preferred to spend €12 on the tourist bus, which included about half an hour in the boat.

I saw no exotic birds, but I have never seen so many herons anywhere, and there were numerous egrets.

The building is baroque in style - and how! It is a bit over the top you might well say. Inside is a splendid ceramics museum with a lift, thus readily accessible to anybody. Photography is permitted without flash, and the cabinets are generally light enough to make this a reality. As well as its permanent collection of historic ceramics, the museum often has an exhibition by a practicing ceramics artist.

I am grouping a number of sights here, as I don't know enough about them to put each separately.

The Torres Serranos comprise one of the two surviving gates of the city, and not far to the right after crossing the bridge is the Museum of Fine Arts. This is reckoned second in Spain to the Prado in Madrid, but it's not my scene, too much of saints.

The Lonja de la Seda is the 16th-century Gothic Silk Exchange, a most impressive and very large building standing opposite to the modernist market, one of the largest in Europe. Unfortunately, the lovely roof and dome were covered for restoration.

The Cathedral has what it claims is the Holy Grail.

The Plaza Redonda [Round square - would you believe it?] has numerous habberdashery stalls.