Today we visited the third largest city in Spain. Valencia didn’t make a big impression on Ton or me during our first visit. It wasn’t bad it just wasn’t that memorable. So for me at least it felt like a first visit as I could only vaguely recall what we had seen here last time. For Ton, she had more complete memories of the town, it just had not made a strong impression on her. Of course, for Stephen and Kit it was their first visit.
Our campground feels like it is quite a way out of town, so I was surprised when I punched in the city center on google that the ride into town was only about 20 minutes. So the day got off to a good start as we arrived quickly in the Plaza of the Virgins.
We debated whether to join a free tour, but after some thought we decided to tackle the city on our own. So of course we headed off to the Cathedral first. It was impressive of course, but not particularly memorable. We were more impressed with some of the towers we passed in route to the Cathedral.
We next went to the city hall which is located on a monumental square surrounded by 8 and 9 story buildings. The city hall is an impressive building, but what struck me was that the square was constructed in the 1880’s when most of the city walls were torn down. So the square is relatively new construction which explains why the buildings are a little taller than those that usually surround these major squares.
Ton was joking as we walked today that we have a pattern down for visiting cities, first the Cathedral, then the main square, and then the market. So we headed off to the central market.
The market was the highlight of the day. It is quite large, and like Murcia still focuses on selling unprepared food. There was a dizzying array of fish, meat, spices, alcohol, vegetables, and fruit to look at. Ton was in heaven. I tried a Horchata which is a famous drink from Valencia made from almonds. It was better than I expected, and Ton really liked it.
The next hour was spent going from stall to stall looking at what was on offer. Valencia claims the invention of Paella. In our time we have eaten a great deal of Paella in Spain, and Ton had made it clear that whatever we had for lunch it was not going to be Paella. So while we saw a lot of Paella being produced to take home, we were not tempted.
After the market Ton wanted to look at a section of town that is famous for street art. We never quite found the center of it, but did see a few buildings with nice art on them.
After our quest for street art, we stumbled onto a nice tapas place. Stephens one question to the waitress was did they have Sangria, she replied of course so we sat down. Sangria was Stephens number 1 priority for lunch as he realized we had not had any on the trip and he could not return to the US from Spain without tasting Sangria. It was delicious.
After lunch we were on our way to the Serranos towers, when we noticed a museum that had an interesting courtyard. We poked our head in and a lady informed us that it was free today. The museum was located in a Gothic era convent, so without the art the building was fascinating.
The art was very modern, and some was done digitally which is not something I have experienced before. I found it fascinating and really enjoyed it. I was happy that we had wandered across it in our walk.
Our final stop for the day was at the Serrano Towers which was the old main entrance to the old town when it was walled. Today the various gates from the walls are all that remain as the walls were removed over the years to make for better flow within the city. The Serrano Towers are impressive.
Stephen and Kit decided they wanted to climb the tower which is about 200 steps. Ton and I volunteered to watch their packs so they could be unencumbered for their climb. So while they did the climb Ton and I sat in the shade on a nice bench.
After the tower we headed back towards the bus to the campground. While the distance to the bus stop was relatively short, it took a while as there was Gelato to be eaten as well as some last minute gifts to be bought. We finished our day off with another game of Portuguese Rummy.
I think we did Valencia a disservice after our first visit. After today Ton and I wished we had another day or two to visit so we could continue exploring Valencia. There is more to the city than we realized after our first visit.