A travel to the Space Age, 29/12/08

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I know I missed a day (28/12/08). That's because we did almost nothing except for driving from Granada to Valencia with a short stop in the melancolic town of Almeria.

The 29th, on the contrary, was full. It was something like those Sundays when you are a child and your parents take you to the park and you feel like they would last forever, not because you get bored but because you get to know so many new things.

It was practically our last day in Spain and we had planned to spend it in Valencia. Since the old part of the city is like the old part of many other spanish cities more or less, we decided to visit the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciencies (City of Arts and Sciences, www.cac.es). A futuristic complex designed by Santiago Calatrava that makes you feel like you are taking part in a science fiction movie.

The name "Calatrava" brings to the mind of a Greek the Olympic Athletic Center and the synonymous bridge that were constructed in Athens just before the Olympic Games of 2004. I don't know much about architecture, but I think constructing a Calatrava bridge in the center of Athens is like putting a huge postmodern sofa in a house cramped with old-fashioned furniture. In the City of Arts and Sciences, however, the materialization of the Calatrava's vision was, I think, more complete and the buildings had air to breathe.

Once more, we woke up late in the morning and we made the mistake to arrive late at the City of Arts and Sciences. This complex comprises of 3 main parts: the Prince Philip Science Museum, the Hemispheric Planetarium and the Oceanographic Park. (There is another building, the Palace of the Arts, but I think it is still under construction.) In general, you need at least 3 hours to visit each, which means 9 hours in total.

At 3 p.m., when we arrived, we discovered that during the low season the complex closes at 7 p.m. Since we were too optimistic, we bought a ticket for both the Oceanographic and the Science Museum. As a result, we had almost no time to visit the second one. At least we enjoyed our visit in the Oceanographic, that gives you a good idea about how marine life looks like. Each of its buildings represents a different marine ecosystem, from the Carribean Sea to the Antarctica. It's practically a huge, impressive aquarium that hosts medusas and plankton, crabs and sea turtles, sharks and whales... There was also a performance with dolphins.

I think that this place is a paradise for children. But even if you have none, you will probably have the time of your life. Even if sometimes questions such as "what on earth is a whale doing thousands of miles away from her natural environment" may come to your mind.

When we left the complex a spanish friend took us to a cafe to taste the so-called horchata, a typical drink of Valencia. More friends came for the good-byes and we spent our last night making jokes and discussing till late. May be it's another cliche, but it's worth visiting Spain more for its people than its monuments.

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Photos

Medusas
Alien light creatures in the Oceanographic Park

Sea turtle
Finding Nemo...

Oceanographic Park
A typical Calatrava designed building

The City of Arts and Sciences
By night...