Valencia was a destination I'd had in my mind for a long time. I had high expectations for this city, and I was not disappointed.
One thing that struck me most about it was the street art. Magnificent, gigantic pieces sprawling on entire 6-story building walls, or beautiful little ones, hidden around the corners. Walking through this city was like walking through a huge gallery, left to the visitor to discover by himself.
The other thing which immediately comes to mind when I think of Valencia is the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of the Arts and Sciences). It consists of two enourmous buildings that seem to have materialized out of the wild dreams of some hard sci-fi author. Having these buildings placed in an environment of palms and blooming vivid flowers completes the surrealistic picture.
Inside there are some kind of exhibitions, laboratories and aquairiums. I never actually went in. I didn't have much time to spend, and everything was impressive enough on the outside. The photo exhibition, in celebration of the Ciudad's 10th anniversary, was a great bonus.
The whole thing lies in the bed of a former river, which is now turned into a stretched out park, running through the whole city. A truly wonderful idea.
Right after that visit, I headed to the beach. I had a little time, but I wanted at least to see the Valencian beach. I was in for a nasty surprise. It turned out to be one of the worst beaches I've seen in my life... Opaque brown water, an occasional plastic bag floating around, and creepy invisible stuff touching your feet underneath the surface. Despite my enthusiasm, I only got to soak my feet, then I ran away.
However, the beach is the only negative remark I had about Valencia.
Altogether I spent 4 nights in the city, with 2 different hosts. I had planned on 3 nights, but having difficulties finding a host in Barcelona, I stayed one more.
My first host took me on a tour around the city with his English-speaking friend, who gave a detailed description of all the sights we saw. Unfortunately, out of all this, I remember only some huge pans, full of free paella, at one of the locations we visited. Well, ok, indeed I do remember some more - the important parts, for example the Fallas and all that, however as I did not see the Fallas myself, I'll leave all this out.
This host also took me for horchata together with his friends. For some reason, I was under the impression that horchata was an alcoholic drink. Well I was wrong of course, it was a drink, a very sweet one too, but completely free of alcohol. Very thick and heavy though. And as if that was not enough, you're supposed to have it with sweet breads, topped with powdered sugar, which you dip in it. Tasty, indeed, but oh-so-freakin'-heavy.
Oh yes and speaking about food, let's not forget to mention the salty icecreams sold somewhere near the main square. I've seen harring flavored icecream in the Netherlands (not to mention liquorice) but I never imagined a flavor such as gazpacho, salmon, or tortilla. I mean, icecream that tastes like fried potatoes, eggs and onions??I'll skip on the paella, this food is kinda overrated when it comes to Valencia, in my opinion. Actually I never got to eat proper paella in a restaurant, since it was kinda costly (and I don't like eating out in general). I just bought a take-away box for 3 euro and ate it on the bus to Barcelona, just to make sure I have "eaten paella in Valencia" on my checklist.
My other host took me mostly for some walks around the city. We sat on the main square with some beers at dusk and watched a guy perform pretty well with fire poi, which was quite a nice way to spend the evening.
The next afternoon, after one last walk around the center, I packed my bags again, and got on a bus to Barcelona.
No comments:
Post a Comment