Valencia - Day 2

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Geo: 39.4748, -0.375508

The plan today was to walk to a place called Plaza de la Virgen and join a walking tour. The tour started at 10.30, by which time I was hopelessly lost at the other end of the city. Apparently I was supposed to turn right when leaving my hotel instead of left. I found myself near the bullring so I figured this was a good place to start the day. First I had some breakfast, unlike my hotel in Madrid, my current hotel dies offer breakfast but its €12, outrageous I say. So I had a coffee, croissant and juice fr €2.50. Then I made my way over to the bullring.

Now firstly, for any animal rights activists out there, I did not attend a bull fight. Although in their museum they do have a highlights reel from one. I gotta say I felt really bad for the poor bull. It is definitely not a one on one contest. The matador is the leader of the team, but he has two picadors and three banderillas with him. At any point if the bull looks like he might be getting the better of him, they rush in on all sides and confuse the beast. He really has no hope.

The first part of the fight is between the matador and the bull, which is mainly firing him up and getting him charging. Then a rejoneador comes in on a horse to torment the bull some more, note the horse had a very heavy plate down one side so the bull cannot gouge it, but I bet more than a few horses have suffered some nasty injuries. Then the picadors come in with their lances that they torment him with then stab him in the withers. The lances have hooked spikes in the end so once the bull is stabbed they stay in. Finally the matador comes back with his cape and dances with the bull. The more artistic he makes it the greater the matador. Finally he pulls out a sword and drives it through the bulls withers into the heart. The sword must be incredibly sharp as the film I saw cut through the bull like butter, and thats a lit of muscle and flesh to be tearing. Poor bull. Prizes are made of his ears and tail and if/when he dies he is unceremoniously dragged from the ring while the matador is hoisted on the shoulders of his team to the applause of the crowd.

After the bull ring I stopped for some lunch. I wandered through the city after that but it must have been siesta time because so many of the beautiful old buildings were closed to the public. I found the Cathedral of our lady. It's squeezed into the corner of Plaza. I found out later that it used to be at the end of a street, but the buildings on one side of the street were torn down to create the plaza. They do have lots of little green spaces in this city. The entrance to the cathedral had lots of ornate stone carvings, it was really something to see and a prelude to the beautiful church inside. The church was originally a mosque, built by the moors in the 5th century. It was converted to a church by the christians in the 13th century. It has been modified and expanded over the centuries so its architecture is a mix of moor, romanesque and gothic architecture.

As I walked around the Cathedral I noticed in one of the chapels there was another "relic" Seriously these things freak me out. Here I am admiring the paintings and the sculpture and then there is St Vincente Matirs arm just lying around. Creepy creepy church practice. To the right of the cathedral was the chapel of the chalice. Guess what! They have the holy grail right here in Valencia! All those conquests and its been here for the last 600 years. The chalice has been dated back to the first century but it looked a little rich to be held by a poor preaching carpenters son. It looked to be gold to me but goggle tells me the chalice is made from agate (stone) which is the 2000 year old bit, and the golden handles and base were probably added in medieval times, which is a little more believable.

So after my deeply moving religious experience I really needed a wine. I found a Plaza next to the Cathedral and sat down to enjoy some sunshine, wine and a bit more of my book. As I looked around I saw a plaque on the wall, Plaza De la Virgen, the place I had started looking for at the beginning of the day!

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Comments

[sraeb ynnuf]

gotta love a lexdysic day plan !! no bull