Locally known as Cuitat de les Arts i les Ciencies (because Valencia sorta has its own language - like Catalan), this massive complex built between 1998 and 2009 hosts an opera house, an i-max/planetarium, a museum, a performance venue, a beautiful reflecting pool, gardens, an extraordinary bridge, and the largest aquarium in Europe. It was designed by Spaniards Santiago Calatrava and Felix Candala. Jaw-dropping doesn't begin to describe.
That helmet looking thing and the Texas Stadium looking thing are the Opera House and the I-max/theatre/planetarium, respectively. The theatre is designed to open - from the top like an eye - at night for a view of the stars.
Calatrava Bridge
Interactive technology/science museum. It has a zero gravity attraction.
Conejo in a ballgown.
She's sooooo dang cute.
The structure of the thing is just amazeballs.
Lovely gardens - I can only imagine what they look like in spring and summer.
Apologies for the lighting.
As you can see, today happened to be a gorgeous day, so the pool was remarkably blue, and sitting in the sun having a beer seemed to be the perfect thing to do. Well, of course it did.
We wandered for about an hour trying to wrap our heads around the scope of this pavilion and the unbelievable will of the community to pull it off. I mean, this used to be an old dried up riverbed!
We left the "city" and headed to the beach. Well, not to the beach, but to a restaurant on the beach that specialized in Paella Valenciana - some of the original/best. There are tons of restaurants in town that tout original paella, but mostly for the tourists. You have to keep an eye out for the original, which contains broad beans, white beans, artichokes, rabbit and chicken...everything else is just rice and things. And I would have taken a picture of it, but Joe ate it before I could. We'll have more.
And the beach? Very California - huge, wide, powdered sugar-soft sand.
If only I didn't have on boots. Shrug.
Valencia is the first city we've visited that doesn't have Uber. There are tons of taxis, and they're clean, new, and the drivers are very nice. But since my Spanish sometimes leaves something to be desired, I came prepared, and will now share a tip with you. Tracy's Travel Tip: Before you leave home, print out business card sized slips of paper with the name(s) and addresses of the places you're staying. Add to the slip the words (in whatever language): Please take us to this hotel. So when you get into the cab, you can simply hand the driver:
Por favor llevanos a este hotel:
Ad Hoc Monumental
Carrer de Boix 4
Valencia
963 910 140
Easy peazy. And the driver knows exactly where to go.
Now it's time for a siesta. We'll go out later for a small dinner and get ready for tomorrow's adventure. We have an all-day tour of Albufera Natural Park, complete with local shopping, a boat ride on a lovely lake, and a paella tasting. Mmmmmmm.
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