Valencia Day 1.

16.9.11 Denia

It’s 1130 the weather again is hot and sunny, I am sitting outside at our picnic table in the shade, enjoying a pleasant cooling sea breeze. We arrived here just out of Denia (named after the Goddess Diana) about an hour ago, after a pleasant straightforward trip south from Valencia. We even found the campsite without an effort (by accident really) which was great. It is 50 metres from the sea, we haven’t explored yet, just set up camp, made a cup of tea/coffee, filled up our water containers and organised our space. Awning out to provide shade (though we are right beside a small tree which casts a small shadow at the side and back of the truck).  The trip down was about 90 kms, on autopiste predominantly with speed limit ranging from 50km in the small village it sometimes went through, to 120km/p/h when out on the open motorway. Lots of small blocks of oranges, fields of some seed crop, which had been harvested down to about 2 feet off the ground and the remainder (stalks) now being harvested for animal feed, pretty yellows and greens. Very hazy, a combination of temperature inversion I guess from the sea/land heat exchange, and burning off which the horticulturalists seem to do here a lot. The areas which are planted seem to be done so intensively, small plots which are harvested one day, and ploughed the next and then replanted the next. I guess the climate allows for all year round growing of crops as it has highs averaging around 20 even in winter.  Amongst the planted areas are quite big wild areas which seem to have weeds prospering, small villages scattered around, high hills (very rocky and dry and barren looking interspersed with very hardy looking scrubby flora), down to the sea. We haven’t seen the sea for a few days though we haven’t been far from it all the time, the next few days we will indulge in more swims and water play though.

Impressions of this area well all the “Costas” actually are; golden beaches, blue seas and sky, glaring sunlight, white, pink and cerise oleanders (everywhere), bright cerise, purple and reddy/orange bougainvillea, swathes of deep blue/purple morning glory, multi-coloured yellow/pink/red/orange lantana, palm trees, and today squawking green parrots.

14/15^th September. Valencia City.

We arrived in Valencia having driven the 40 kms or so from our campsite at Olimar through countryside on a main highway which links Madrid and Valencia the A3. The trip into the city was fairly straight forward, following main roads the whole way, though signage was spasmodic at times so we weren’t totally sure we were in the correct place or following the correct Avendida sometimes. We did miss a turning at one point, only noticing the road we wanted was right there, across three lanes of traffic at the red lights!, never mind we managed to get back on route at the next turning and follow the main road into town. We were looking for another pay and display parking lot which also had power and disposal areas (rubbish/water/toilet) which we had in our book, and which we had googled just to ensure we had the directions right. Hilary and Di noticed the place we wanted as we sailed past, it was on the left, we of course on the right, separated by about 6 lanes of traffic and a large concrete barrier. We didn’t stress though, just kept going until we eventually found a round- about (no left hand turns as it obstructed the narrow but busy roads) and were able to return on the other side of the road to the parking lot. It could have been a bit tricky, but we managed it, it was a case of one of those Spanish roads where 2 lanes at a red light turn into 8 I think it was, at the other side of the intersection, and we wanted the far right one, so had to cross seven lanes to get there in the length of the intersection. We did it, without a car horn sounding. In fact I haven’t had a toot since we left France, either I am getting more adept at the nuances of European driving or the Spanish are more tolerant (or both).  It turned out the parking place we found wasn’t the one we were expecting to find, but it was good enough for us, and the bonus was it had power whereas the other one didn’t. It did cost 25 euro a night for the privilege however but was not smelly at all which was a bonus after Barcelona.

We powered up,  had a cup of tea, unloaded the bikes from the stands at the back of the truck, made some snacks and loaded fluids into backpacks, donned sunglasses and helmets, armed ourselves with a map of Valencia (Hilary had asked the man at the gate for), and set off into the sunshine and chaos of 800,000 Valencians and how many tourists I don’t know. 

Firstly we biked past the beautiful old railway station (still in use) but we didn’t stop (I’ll tell you about that later), and a huge bull-ring, which I think is still used for bull fighting, but at present is set up for music and other shows.

We used our map to navigate our way to the markets (Central Mercado), the DK book  describes them as “a huge iron, glass and tile Art Nouveau building,… opened in 1928… one of the largest and most attractive markets in Europe”. We certainly enjoyed it, yes a lot was repeated from many of the other markets but it was very orderly, beautiful produce from cheeses, fresh fruit and vegetables, dried fruit and nuts, pates, sausages (chorizo in many different guises,), fish, sweets, pastries….. all encased in a beautiful high roofed and light and airy building with lovely tile and stained glass work. We didn’t but a lot, some chorizo for Hilary, pate for Di and me, some dates, prunes and almonds. We tasted many things on offer, mangoes from Malaga, custard filled Spanish croissant, chorizo, pate, and more, as we wandered and absorbed the sights and sounds of a busy market.

We went next door to one of many beautiful Valencian churches, this one we don’t know its name, but it was cool, very white, and though very ornate, done in such a way that it created a peaceful atmosphere, a lovely place to sit and think away from the worries of outside in the busy city, (not that we did, but it would be nice).

Partly by accident when we exited the church we found ourselves at La Longa which was another recommended spot in the DK book, we hadn’t set out to find it then, but it was quite handy as it wasn’t too busy and didn’t involve orienteering our way around the streets. La Longa is “an exquisite Late Gothic hall, built between 1482 and 1498 as a commodities exchange… and now used for hosting cultural events. The outside is decorated with gargoyles and a variety of other grotesque figures. The high ceiling of the transactions hall is formed by star-patterned vaulting which is supported on graceful spiral columns”.

Gargoyles on La Lunga

Spiral columns

Tiled floor (cool eh?)

We went in and admired the spiral columns, I’m not sure of the height of the ceiling in the hall but the columns are tall, and indeed spiral, very similar to something Gaudi may have created 450 years later. From this hall we exited into a courtyard and climbed some outside steps (under the highly decorated exterior complete with gargoyles), and entered another room. The photos didn’t turn out well, but it had a wooden ceiling, and cool wooden parquet floor, I took a couple of photos of it, my favourite is the one of Hilary standing on a tile as if it is a block.

We continued into the centre of the old town and stopped at a few little shops for a look around, bought a patch and some “pins” and then went to visit the Cathedral which is huge, and takes up one end of a large square

The local constabulary

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Huh????

 We could have paid to go in and have an audio-guide, but there are only so many guided tours of churches a girl can take, so instead we went in the paupers’ side and looked from the back and side from behind a strap barrier. There were the usual gorgeous arches of stone around the roof, and stunning gold embellished alter area, the lovely thing about these places is that they really are a cool and peaceful haven from the heat and chaos of outside, a real sanctuary.  Next we went to McDonalds where Hilary had an ice cream so we could all use the toilet!!


You have to have a code, to open the door, which is printed on your receipt.  From here while trying to find the ceramics museum or the basilica (both on our list and both as equally difficult to find despite being on our map) we managed to get separated. I went off and the others didn’t follow, I only went a hundred metres or less before I realised they weren’t behind me, but they had missed me going around the first corner, despite it only being about 3 metres from where we started off from. So the next 20 minutes or so I biked around and round in ever increasing squares trying to find the others. Thankfully they had stopped and stayed in one place (though it wasn’t anywhere where I had been or intended going), so we grumpily reunited.

Outside of the cathedral

Inside one of the chapels in the Cathedral

 

Hilary outside the cathedral with model, working out what is where.


 So even though the Basilica was right beside the cathedral we didn’t manage to find it, (our map was really off putting, nothing to do with our navigating skills). So after a time of looking for various DK recommended spots, and biking around getting frustrated and hot, to no avail (no not me, never….) we headed instead off to the Jardines del Rio Turia. This is a 5km (the DK book says, but the markers along the cycle track suggest it is closer to 10 kms long and developing further all the time) long strip of gardens which runs around a good part of the city, it used to be where the River Turia flowed (I’m not sure how long ago), but it is now a dry river bed with gardens, sports fields, cycle track, and “features”  like ponds and fountains and sculptures.
 

The locals refer to it as the city’s lung because of the oxygen it produces to help the city recover from all the CO₂ production.  We cycled along the track for about 4kms in one direction thinking we were headed towards “the centrepiece of the children’s playground… a giant Gulliver pinned to the ground and covered with steps and slides”. After this distance I looked at our map again and realised we had gone in the wrong direction and so we turned around and headed back past where we had entered the gardens until we found Gulliver.                     He was indeed large, and pinned to the ground, though I had been expecting a beautiful and stylish stone/concrete construction and so was a bit surprised by the rather gaudy (rather than Gaudi) Disney type construction.

Gulliver's hand and one leg



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One of the bridges over the Jardens del Turia





Hilary had fun climbing it though, and negotiating the steep steps and rises. She was put off sliding down the dark coloured slides after watching a teenage Spanish boy, burning his bottom as he descended in the heat (why would you paint a slide a dark green almost black when the summer temperature (and autumn for that matter ) barely drops below 30 degrees).

One of the interesting things about the park is that because it used to have a river flowing where it now is there are multiple bridges spanning the gardens which carry traffic across the depression, some of them seem relatively modern, others very old, some ornate, others plain. Unfortunately though the gardens/park are interesting, because you are down below the “banks” by quite a few metres, and the banks are topped by walls often, it does mean you miss out on the architecture of the surrounding buildings, and judging by the tops of some, with Moorish, tiled domes, some of them were quite interesting. 

Once we had watched Hilary play for a while, and had copious amounts of fluid while sitting in the shade, but still dripping from the ambient temperature and our physical exertion, we decided to head down to what was marked as interesting modern buildings, on our map. I don’t remember having read about them in the DK book (though there is in fact an entry there about the area)  or else I would have had them on our agenda. Thankfully however, something guided us there because they truly are stunning, and according to “Tripadvisor” ratings of things to do in Valencia, are up there in the top three. The area is still being developed, and more building sites are on the go at the end of the current development, but there are five or six wonderful modern buildings which house a science museum, an arts centre, a hemispheric ?? which has cinemas and other such things, a huge “oceanographic” (aquarium/sea centre with dolphin shows, sharks, belugas as well as thousands of other fishy things and sea birds). I won’t try describing these buildings but hopefully once I can upload them onto the blog you will get an idea of their beauty. 

 We spent a lot of time there ogling and oohing and ahhing, riding around before catching the cycle lanes back to our “campsite”. Though I was tempted to do more in the evening it really wasn’t a sensible idea, or in fact realistic when push came to shove as we were all very tired after a big day. We made the decision to stay another day and explore some more as we had all had a really nice feeling about the city.