So Much to See in Valencia

What a beautiful city! Palm trees adorn California-like boulevards, graceful balconies hang from spectacular buildings, quiet streets nook and cranny their way to the city's largest plazas, giant stone cathedrals boast amazing Gothic details guarding religious and royal stories in the masonry. I took hundreds of pictures on our city walk yesterday, running out of battery life on my phone just as we got the the holy chalice in the San Isodora Chapel. Go figure.

Our guide met us in our hotel lobby at 9:30 and dropped us back there at almost 1pm - we walked the entire old city and a good chunk of the part of the city that would have been just outside the old walls - almost seven and a half miles. (Tomorrow we'll head to the coast and the modern City of Arts & Sciences.) Good thing I was wearing my sneaks!

I'm gonna go take a nap, so I'll leave these here for you to enjoy.

The medieval city was walled with 12 gates. Only two survive. This is one of them.

The giant gates were closed every night - if you missed curfew, you slept outside.

Yep, that's original 800 year old gate.

I have a thing for gargoyles and grotesques  on Gothic buildings. They speak to me!

Those masonry wits!

Beautiful bell tower

This used to be the silk trade building (yes, part of the silk road to China) - La Lonja de la Seda. Built between 1482 and 1492,  Beautiful Gothic architecture.

Her eyes followed me around the corner.

Such lovely streets

This is the central market. There are at least a hundred fresh food stands inside. Really nice example of Modernismo (their arte nouveau). 

The symbol of the market is a parrot - you can see him there on this weather vane atop one of the domes.

See that vertical pink stripe down the center - that's Europe's second skinniest house (the skinniest is in Amsterdam). No on lives here; it's used for storage by the next door bar.

A lovely faucet on a fountain in a small square by the Cathedral

Valencia is known for ceramics - lots of tabernas and restaurants have full walls of tiles.

And doorways, too!

This is city hall. They just don't build 'em like they used to.

And this...this lovely is the in-town train station which opened in 1852. Tons of tile and ceramic adornments. Can you see the oranges in the tiles?

Mosaics are everywhere.

Stained glass windows - all original

And the ceiling

Oh, my!

More ceiling...stunning

Outside the bull ring. 

A second market - this one is less fresh market stands and more small stores and cafes. It's absolutely gorgeous, lousy with iron work and tile mosaics.

Looks like a train station to me.

This was the highlight of my day. This huge building is now the national ceramics art museum - it used to belong to the Marquis de Dos Aguas, a wealthy royal. The front carvings are all alabaster. We're gonna try and fit this into our schedule.

Soooo much to look at.

San Miguel Bell Tower

Valencia Cathedral

And the aforementioned chalice.

They also have this relic - St. Vincent the Martyr's mummified arm.

This was all I could think of. I'm sure it's a sin to snicker in church. Frankly I'm surprised the walls didn't come down on me. 

This morning we got up and headed to the central market just to walk around and enjoy the vibrant stalls and most excellent displays.

It's just huge!

Then we had Spanish dipping chocolate and churros. When in Rome, right?

We're heading out for a craft beer hunt this afternoon and some paella for dinner. Tomorrow: the City of Arts and Sciences and the beach! Oh, and more paella.

Tapas & Tabernas, Beer Crawl, Adios Madrid, Hola Valencia!

But first, lunch. We walked over to the Mercado and strolled through the 30-odd stands. Chose little hand pies, a couple of small wrap sandwiches, and beer.

We also hit the fruit stand on the way out. This strawberry was as big as a ping pong ball and absolutely perfect!

As expected, the tapas and tabernas tour was a blast! We had a full group of 10 people, all interesting and ready to drink. I had to dig around a bit to find my sparkling conversation and devastating wit - it's been a while since we've met new people - but after the first vermouth, I found my feet.

This tour is from a company called Devour. They have several cities in their fold; we did the one in Seville last time we were there. They're so much fun. They're small group walking tours...you get some sightseeing, some history, some great food and drink, and some exercise (my Activity Rings must think my watch was stolen by someone who actually works out).

And, as I said, you meet new people. Our group had three Londoners, three Madrileños (two of which moved to Madrid only last week!), Seattle, California and Denver (us) rounded out the group. It got me thinking: it's been so long since we've met new people - I mean besides bartenders. At one point four of us got so deep into conversation we didn't notice that the rest of the group had continued down the street. We were separated for about 10 minutes. it was no big deal, just funny that we all were so happy to talk to someone else.

Many of the historic/iconic tapas bars have wonderful tile signage.

The Opera House

Part of the royal compound

The symbol of Madrid - you see it everywhere.

Remnants of a fun tour.

On Saturday, we had a full free day and decided to hit up the best craft beer bars the city had to offer. We started at CLBM Bar (Como La Birra Misma - means Like the Beer Itself).

They have a resident dog.

Stumper - way too cute

Next up was Fabricá Maravillas, one of the first brewery/taprooms in town. They pioneered making and selling beer on the premises for the Madrid craft beer scene. When we arrived, we had our pick for seats; about 30 minutes later, the place was packed.

Our final stop was Fogg Bar. A tiny walk-in closet of a place with a great beer selection and fantastic cheese bar.

Alas, it was time to move on; more of Spain to see. We'll be back, though, the city is just too much fun.

So, this morning we checked out of the VRBO, and hopped the train to Valencia. The ride takes about an hour and forty minutes. It took us a tad longer because there was some problem on the line, and we were stopped for about 20 minutes. No biggie, our transfer driver would wait.

This is our first time in Valencia and so far, what little we've seen, it's amazing! The architecture I just on our short walk to lunch was jaw-dropping.

And our tour operator, Rosa Lara, has outdone herself on our hotel. We have a lovely room with our own private terrace.

I love this ceiling so much.

Can't wait to relax on it.

We kick off our time here tomorrow with a city walking tour. I'm sure I'll be happily snapping pictures of gorgeous buildings all day.