Vibrant Valencia

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As we left our Hotel Francabel early Thursday morning on our way to the bus stop, we paused for cafe con leche and a chocolate crepe for breakfast. We finished our decadent first meal of the day early and were able to get on an earlier bus. As we arrived at the station we found seats to await our 12:32 train bound for Valencia.

As we exited the train station in Valencia, the first thing we saw were trees laden with...big, juicy Valenica oranges!! We found our way to the metro station and once again stood in front of the map trying to determine our route. Mystified, we finally asked for help and after getting our tickets made our way to the platform. Still somewhat confused, as we thought we were looking for Green Line 5, we asked a man and he told us that the train we wanted was actually Orange Line 7 which was just pulling out! We thanked him and waited another 7 minutes for our train. As we climbed up the one million stairs (well it feels that way with a heavy backpack) coming out of the metro station, we came to the bridge that we saw on Google Earth. We crossed this large structure and followed the street towards our hotel. We had no trouble at all and after making a few turns down the old streets, we came to the stone archway of our hotel, Ad Hoc Carmen. Our room is very nice with a loft area which we use to hold our backpacks. After organizing our things we then headed out to explore Valencia.

Upon leaving our hotel we walked less than 3 minutes and came into Plaza De La Virgen. This large square has gleaming white marble tiles to walk on and a huge fountain in the centre and just beyond this there was a huge statue of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus. This was cordoned off by steel barricades and the statue itself was encased in wooden slats right up to the heads of the two figures. Seemed rather odd at first glimpse. There were several outdoor restaurants in this lively square which was filled with tour groups, locals, families, and school children. As we wandered past this plaza we came to the beautiful Valencia Cathedral. We went inside and admired this gorgeous church consecrated in 1328. We entered the tower and climbed up 207 steps where we were treated to an incredible view of Valencia. We used our tourist map to orient ourselves and to identify different churches as well as the towers of Valencia. We soon wound our way back down and walked to the Central Mercado, which is a huge fresh food market. The facade of this building is covered in beautful ceramic tiles. Unfortunately it was closed. We sat down in a little outdoor cafe beside the market. Apparently I can speak some Spanish but when I do the locals answer me back in a flurry of words that I can barely follow! We did figure out through translation that the market is only open each day from 8am to 3pm so we decided to head there on Friday. We continued our wandering, admiring the beautiful buildings, churches, and plazas of Valencia. It is the 3rd largest city in Spain and its vibrancy is very much like Madrid, in fact we have come to love this place and wish that we had more time to spend in this bustling city. Most of all because Sunday is the beginning of their Las Fallas (Fire Festival) where Valencia overflows with tourists and locals who celebrate the coming of Spring. Everywhere we turned we saw huge dolls, up to 20m tall, which were extravagantly designed and painted. They are 3D and apparently made of cardboard!. There were movie characters, political figures and torreadors. These dolls are carried on parade through the city on the last day. The roots of this festival come from many years ago when carpenters would put the wooden lamps that they used all winter to work by out on the street. They would make them look like humans by putting old clothes and fabric on them. They would then set them afire on the night before the feast of San Jose. As years passed this figures became larger until they have reached the amazing size of today. Everywhere we walked we saw these figures being erected, vendors were setting up bars, and decorative lights were being strung across streets. We continued our exploration until we came to the bullfighting ring, Plaza de Toros. Not quite as impressive as in Madrid but still an amazing sight. We walked around outsideto see if they had a tour office but no luck. So we followed the curvature of the building back to the front and soon found the ticket offices. What a surprise we had!!! Now, I have to recant something I said earlier. If I recall it went something like, "I would NEVER go to a bullfight!". Well, 10 minutes later we had tickets in hand for the bullfight Friday at 5pm. When in Spain...

After making our way back to our plaza we stopped in the beautiful Santa Catalina church and admired the beauty of the ornate altar. We then stopped for dinner at Navello's which makes fresh paella. Curtis enjoyed seafood while I had theh chicken and vegetables. Before our meal we savoured over toasted bread with garlic cream and fresh tomatoes! The paella was absolutely delicious and we enjoyed our meal immensely. We then made our way down to the extensive park in Valencia. With its numerous paved paths, grassy areas, trees and the whole area ablaze with lights we were in awe of how used this park was even at 9:00 at night. We saw so many people running (hated them), walking, exercising dogs, riding bikes, etc. We watched guys playing soccer on one of the two huge fields in the middle of the park. There were people everywhere enjoying the 9km length of this wonderful area.

We rose early Friday morning and made our way to the Central Mercado where we walked around gazing at the blood sausages and pig's legs suspended above the fresh butcher stalls. Fruits and vegetables were overflowing out of crates and some were huge!! Everywhere we turned we were astounded by the sights, sounds, and smells. Baskets full of nuts and spices. People were buying fresh meat - rabbits, pig's feet, tongues, roosters, who still had their heads attached! We wandered down the fresh seafood aisles where mounds of fresh shrimp, clams, squid, sardines, etc. were chilling on ice. Heads were being lopped off of fish and sharp knives perfectly filleted them. We picked up 2 huge Valencia oranges, some fresh bread, olives, dried kiwi and roasted corn to have for our lunch later. As we left, the market was quickly filling with people bustling in to take advantage of all the fresh foods.

After leaving, we stopped into visit a couple more beautiful Catholic churches and the La Longja de la Seda where in medieval days they traded silk. We made our way down to the Garden Del Turia, the beautiful park we admired last night. We walked to one of the bridges and headed down where we joined hundreds of people, young and old alike taking advantage of this long, flat surface to enjoy the warmth of the sun, exercise or play. A huge playscape of Gulliver lay in one area where children scaled all over him and slid down. Restaurants dotted the paths along with beautiful pools of water and orange trees. Small exercise areas were set up in the park, being used by seniors. We walked along, trying to avoid tripping the runners (we are a bit sad we did not bring our running gear) and soon stopped to have some of our market treasures for lunch. We then headed to the L' Oceanographic, a marine centre which is set admidst some very architecturally interesting buildings. I kept clicking away as I came across 3D structures to show my class next year. We walked by a strange-looking building that could have come right out of Star Trek and finally arrived at the L' Oceanographic Centre. We wandered through this amazing display of fish, sharks, belugas, seals, walruses, and other sea creatures.

Then came the bullfight! We headed back towards the bullring where the area out front was abuzz with people! Excitement was thick in the air. People lined up to get last minute tickets, bought souvenirs, cheered and chanted. We went in to find our seats with the help of some of the employees there. Of course we were up in the highest section of the ring! As we sat down a group of men sat just down from us and proceeded to take out fresh bread, cigars, and bottles of wine! Apparently you are able to bring your own alcohol in! Our water bottle and bag of corn paled in comparison! We watched as other people wiped down their seats before sitting. Oops, didn't realize the dust from the ring would saturate everything. As I brushed off my pants, we dug out our small handtowel to wipe down our seats. An older man moved in just down from us and was trying to wipe his spot down with a pamphlet. Curtis offered him our towel but his waved us off as he finished his sweeping. Not long after, this same man gave us a pamphlet about the matadors in the ring today, what bull they were fighting, the kind it was, its name, weight and birthdate. He explained everything to us (in Spanish) but we were able to figure out what he was telling us. We thanked him and began watching as people filled the ring. The man then moved down two rows where there were wooden chairs to sit on that were right at the railing. He motioned for us to do the same for a better view. We did so and soon the band began playing, the matadors and their bandilleros entered the ring to a huge fanfare. We watched in excitement, getting caught up in the moment. Soon the first bull was released. It was huge, even from the nosebleed section! We watched with nervous anticipation as matador after matador finished the fight. We gasped as two of them were actually thrown by the bull but luckily were uninjured. We had some knowledge of how the Presidente decides if the matadors performance warrants the bull's ear and the man beside us also tried to explain it to us, pointing out where the Presidente sat. People waved white handkerchiefs to try to persuade him to award the matador an ear. We only saw one ear given out to the delight of the crowd as they gave a standing ovation. Curtis' new found Spanish friend dug into his plastic bag and gave each of us a cold San Miguel beer and then gave Curtis one of his tuna sandwiches on a bun!!! He was so sweet! I took his picture with Curtis and he dug into his wallet and gave us his card, indicating that he would like us to email the picture to him. As the bullfighting came to an end we made our way out into the hugely crowded street, stopped for some tapas on our way back to the hotel and then wearily climbed up to our room.

Valencia is truly a magnificent city! It deserves more exploration and hopefully some day we will return! We are off to Barcelona tomorrow where we can unpack our things for a week, do laundry and cook our own meals!!

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