Spain Day 18 Valencia 12 October 2025

#Retiredlyf
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A slow morning, we had a late breakfast, then I went out and did my Ingress Second Sunday things while Deb had a quiet morning in our room.
My walk took me to the Alemeda Birdge, an interesting looking curved structure over the Rio Turia Gardens and then through back streets past the Cathedral and up to the Central Markets.
I thought there were quiet a few churches in Valencia, but I was mistaken, there are LOTS. On my walk it seemed that every half block a door would be open and a church was inside. The older generations were out in their Sunday best going to church, and lots of younger people were also out either going to or having coffee after church. There were lots of bicycle tour groups riding around the streets. There were markets stalls selling the usual crafty and “junk” type things near the Central Market. I got to go through more little plaza/squares, they are always different and charming in their own way. I saw what used to be the thinnest biilding in Valencia, at 1.2m wide (but it has since been incorporated into one of the adjacent buildings.
In the afternoon we went out and down to the Caixaforum Valencia and the surrounding buildings.
The walk down in the Antigo Cauce del Rio Tunia was so relaxing. The park has so much going on in it. The community facilities are amazing. We entered the park at Puente del Mar and walked south through thevery green gardens. We came to The Palau de la Musica, but unfortunately it was closed. It is the cities premier concert hall opened in 1987. It looks like a huge glass house due to its huge glass dome and lush interiors. We couldn’t see much through the glass facade.
On we went and we came to a large commercial playground, also closed, Gulliver’s, yes, you may guess from that, it was themed on Gulliver from Gulliver’s Travels. It was a huge plastic figure of Gulliver, lying on its back with all sorts of slides and climbing thing and so much more built into it, we could imagine that children would have loved it.
Further down we came passed a mini golf/putt-putt course, and fenced of small dog park with a pool and numerous skate / scooter. / bike parks.
We eventually came to the start of the major attractions, Ciutat de les Arts I les Ciencies ( City of Arts and Sciences). A massive futuristic complex of buildings that span almost 2km. The first building we saw was looking building (it reminded me of many scifi spaceships) the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, an opera house. We/I were in awe of this buildings design, Words cant do it justice.
Next was the Museu of Cien̈cies Principe Felipe, a large open plan multi level interactice science museum shaped like the skeleton of a whale.
Moving along we saw L’Hemisferic, a huge eye shaped IMAX cinema sitting in the middle of a reflection pool.Moving on and we came to L’Agora, a large striking blue structure shaped like a clam shell or sails. It houses CaixaForum Valencia.
Next to it was a stunning bridge with a pylon the reaches skyward with a fan of structural cables descending to the bridge below it. A structure not out of place in this futuristic complex. And to finish off the complex was Oceanografic Valencia, the largest aquarium in Europe. Amongst the highlights it holds are the lo gest underwater tunnel in Europe and Beluga Whales feature among the 500 species and over 45,000 animals that are held in the complex.
We had a great afternoon exploring this fascinating part of Valencia.
As we walked back, we came across a vibrant market in the gardens between the Puente de las Flores and Puente de la Exposicion. We spent some time walking around all the stalls and taking it all in. It was full of people, mainly locals.
We eventually got back to our hotel, freshened up a bit and had dinner in the restaurant. Valencia is famous for it Paella, so we ordered Paella Valenciana, the original and most traditional version. When it was brought to our table, the waiter asked if we wanted him to serve it, or if we would like it put on the table as locals would. We opted to go local. It was a massive meal in a 40cm Paella pan, we did it justice and both thoroughly enjoyed it.
And that did us in for the day!
Travel day tomorrow, a fast train to Barcelona.

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