2-3-07 Valencia

Well even though it was not Las Fallas, Valencia turned out to be more than worth the trip. It started off interestingly enough with our taxi not knowing where the hell our hotel was…. You know its bad when the taxi driver stops every passerby to ask them where your street is. We found it soon enough though and made our way to our room, our hostel apparently believes that each room should have a different theme… so we were in the China Room… thankfully not the plate ware, just some paper lamps and oriental styling.

Since we arrived mid-afternoon we just wandered about and left the big things for the next day, although we did make it to a nice café called Templo de Café, and we went to a horrible restaurant for dinner that isn’t really worth naming. On Friday we did the majority of our exploring… this city is really different without all of the giant sculptures…. Ahhh Las Fallas… anyway we went to the Mercado Centro for the morning rush, the market was very lively and like all markets smelled of fish…yay… After that we wondered down through Plaza de la Reina onto the (former) river.

For those of you not familiar with Valencia, it is famous for the Las Fallas (or Bones) Festival that is held year around Lent time. The city becomes a one week war zone while fireworks are legal and giant paper mache sculptures adorn each street crossing. Anyway the other thing that Valencia is known for is its (former) river. I am not sure of the specifics… I guess I need to look it up sometime… but the river that used to flow through downtown Valencia has either changed course or had it course redirected to the point that water no longer actually flows in the city’s riverbed… gross right? Now they have all of that nasty junk from under the river exposed, right? Well no actually.

Valencia has turned its riverbed into an amazing asset, by converting it into a series of parks, playfields, and museums. So now just 20 ft. below the street level, there is an amazing place protected from the noise of the street and filled with things to do. There are soccer fields, bike paths, gardens, playgrounds (including one that is called Gulliver and is shaped like a fallen matador…. Very cool, think of Gulliver and the Lilliputians, and the kids are the Lilliputians), and a series of famous museums done by Santiago Calatrava (including an art museum, science museum, planetarium, and an aquarium). Also each year during that Las Fallas Festival there is a great fireworks show at the river area, and the fireworks are actually shot from a Calatrava bridge… damn can you tell this is his hometown or what, actually there was even a Carre (street) Calatrava near our hostel.

Anyway after the river we got lost… fun! Again! Then was lunch and on to the Mercado Colon, another amazing market that a series of shops that stay open all day, unlike the Mercado Central which is more like a traditional farmers market. It seemed like there was going to be show, but nothing happened so we eventually we left to go find something to do for dinner. We actually ended up in an area that I was somewhat familiar with from when I came for Las Fallas a couple years ago. And well now we are off to Barcelona for our longest stop yet! I’m excited and well Jeannie is just along for the ride, so until then, Adios!