Valencia, Spain’s third metropolis, is a delightful city on the sea, a place where most of the tourists hail from Spain itself, where paella is the real thing, and where the beaches are a revelation. Few city beaches in Europe can compare with the sweep of golden sands that make up Las Arenas and La Malvarossa, stretching from the Port for some 3 km. Overcrowded? Never. Good restaurants fringing the sands? Yes.
What the Beaches Offer
A string of bars and paella places line the paved esplanade offering both indoor and outdoor terrace seating where families on Sundays, enjoy the traditional Valencia dish of paella scented with herbs, yellowed with saffron and chock full of shellfish and chicken. Some of the restaurants have an open plan kitchen where you can watch the chefs prepare the dishes, an always fascinating procedure. One of the best, and my favourite, is La Pepica Restaurant fronting the promenade which serves a great Paella which is best accompanied with an icy cold San Miguel beer or a glass of chilled dry sherry, a La Ina for preference.
All beaches are equipped with sports and play areas so that young and not so young can enjoy fun and games, and during the summer this is a great place to unwind. Even in the evening the beach is bustling and alive with people.
The sands are pristine, stretching way into the sea on which bob little fishing boats and tour boats that take visitors along the coast. If I have a complaint it is that it can sometimes be difficult to find a deck chair, mainly because the beach is so wide.
The Old Town of Valencia and What Not to Miss
Away from the beach the old town offers riches in the shape of its Cathedral and La Lonja de la Seda (the Silk Exchange) a Unesco World Heritage Site. This is a stunning example of late Gothic exuberance that should be on every visitor’s must-do list with its imposing Grand Sala, candy-twist pillars, hidden recesses and gargoyles on the exterior walls that reduce schoolboys to hysterics and prudes to frowns as they take in the medieval stone masons’ lavatorial humour in the depictions.
Wonderful translations from Spanish to English can be found in cafés and bars in this area, like my favourite for scrambled eggs, “Eggs coming and going” and “Guts” for chitterlings as well as examples of Spanglish like The Dog’s Cojones - an attempt at either humour or discretion.
Nearby is the Barrio del Carmen and its mansion houses, an ancient district of the city that grew between the Islamic and the Christian city walls. The labyrinthine cobbled streets lead the visitor back to another era in history.
The Cathedral quarter and the Plaza de la Virgen is a treasure trove of history. Don’t miss The Micalet, Valencia Cathedral, the Basilica of the Virgin and the Tribunal de las Aguas (open noon every Thursday).
Modern Valencia and the City of Arts and Sciences
Valencia is probably best known however, for its City of Arts and Sciences, a mind-blowing complex of stunning architecture on the outskirts of the city. It is regarded as the best cultural and intellectual leisure centre in Europe and ranges over many acres.
It comprises a Palais de les Arts - a world class venue for the best in theatre, opera and the performing arts; the Hemisferic (symbolising looking and observing the world which visitors can explore through audiovisual projections); a Science Museum best summed up by the slogan It is prohibited not to touch, not to feel and not to think; the Umbracie, a landscaped viewpoint from which to view all the buildings, ponds, and paths of the complex with an open-air art gallery and sculptures by comtempory artists; and the unique Oceanografico, the largest aquarium in Europe housing 45,000 living creatures from 500 different species.
Words can’t do justice to this City of Arts and Sciences. Allow at least one whole day here, more if time allows.
Allow another day to visit La Albufera, the village just outside the city, take a trip on the river and try a local shellfish dish at one of the main street restaurants.
Valencia is truly a magnificent city, probably offering more to the visitor than the capital, Madrid, as it has beaches, water sports, museums, cinemas, and so many attractions that one is hard pushed to cover just half of them in a normal holiday.
Mari Nicholson - Award Winning travel writer and historian, member of British Guild of Travel Writers.Travelwriters.co.uk, and Society of Women Writers and ...
