Sometimes I can be stubborn. I get a notion in my head, often under a less than solid premise, and go with it like it is truth. That happened with my trip to the northeastern coastal region of Spain. Everyone says, “go to Barcelona…it’s the greatest city in Spain and one of the greatest in the world”. No one says that about the second city of this coast…..Valencia. For some reason though, I was determined to make that a reality…that Valencia was where one should go and ignore the conventional wisdom on Barcelona.
The problem is…I went to Barcelona first, for four days and well, it was pretty damned great. Huge, yet walkable and visually beautiful and teaming with visitors cause, well, they had heard what I had heard. So, after almost a week of pushing through hoards of tourists and some petty crime, I found myself chugging down the coast by train to Valencia thinking that maybe, I should have stayed in Barcelona. It is a nice three hour ride to Valencia and traveling in first class, while not pricy really, was exceedingly comfortable and the food was very good and the wine flowed and flowed. That made me feel better of course but I still wondered whether I should have remained in Barcelona.
I pulled into the Valencia Joaquin Sorolla Station with no clear idea of what to do here except that I had a nice AirBnb in the historic district to call my own for over three weeks. While I had done a lot of research about the city, it was heavy on about where to place myself during my stay and low on details about what to do once I got there….in other words, my typical trip. I was rushed to get to my place as I had made a last minute purchase of a ticket for the Valencia vs. Barcelona football match starring Lionel Messi, for Barcelona. So rolling up to my place at dark, I dumped my stuff and charged out into the unfamiliar city and walked to the Valencia’s Mestalla football stadium, just in time to down a quick local pre-game Turia beer and sausage in the street outside the stadium and then rush to and settle into my seat. It was a great way to start my visit to this incredible city…and bonus, Messi scored a goal! It also gave me a sense of scale for Valencia. Valencia is a large city of over 2 million people (third largest in Spain) that feels small and is easily walked and as I discovered, a great bus and subway system that makes all of the city, including the airport, a transit ride away. It is a great port city…the busiest port on the Mediterranean….like it’s population though, it doesn’t feel busy or especially large…things work here and thus, things seem smaller and more personal in scale than perhaps they should.
After experiencing the raw energy of a football match against a hated rival, my next morning was all about getting acquainted with this amazing city. I had chosen my location wisely (the research had paid off) and found myself next to the majestic 13th Century Valencia Cathedral. The Cathedral is one of the centers of mass for Valencia…one of many actually….there are many other places to see and things to do…..magnificent markets, shopping centers, a zoo (always a favorite of mine when I travel), the new City of Arts and Sciences and even, the surprising Jardín de Turia (Garden of Turia) which sweeps around the old city along its eastern and northern edges and follows the original Turia River, now redirected after a catastrophic flood……in other words, an extensive park and garden system created from a previous disaster.
Beginning to understand Valencia means connecting with it’s very long history…..this is an ancient place. The Romans colonized it in the first century BC and there were Roman ruins just steps from my door. During the 700s, the Moors invaded and occupied the Church of St Vincent and utilized it as a mosque. It was not until the 1200s that the Moors were finally vanquished by a combined army from various Iberian states and a smattering of Crusaders. Like much of Moorish-occupied Spain, 500 years of Moorish culture had a lasting effect on the culture of Valencia…it is what makes cities in Spain unique I think. The city was once encircled by large masonry walls…most of these were deconstructed in the mid 1800s but two notable Gates to the city remain; Porta de Serrans to the north and Torre de Quart on the western margin of the old city. These are important landmarks from the 1300 and 1500s, respectively, and are not to be missed.
What evolved is a city with an amazing web of neighborhoods……I concentrated myself on this visit in the Barrio La Seu which is the old district, L’Eixample…an extension of Barrio La Seu which has wider streets and a more modern vibe and Ruzafa which is very trendy and edgy. I won’t write about the area of El Cabanyal on this Walk….it is very appealing fisherman barrio adjoining the beach….I returned to Valencia a year after this visit to scope out this area as it has great potential for property with a setting that would remind you of Havana.
I have written about location many times in this Blog and it never fails to be important. My AirBnb was located just behind the Valencia Cathedral and next to two very fine outdoor restaurants…..I would say paella restaurants and they certainly featured that as do most places in Valencia but they did everything well. My balcony overlooked my favorite, Bisbe Gastro Taberna, and on most evenings, I would sip on a glass of wine and wait for one of their outside tables to open up….once one opened, I would swoop down off my perch and grab it. As I enjoy making these relationships, the staff soon knew me and although I was non-existent in terms of Spanish and they are marginal in English, they took a liking to me and we were able to communicate well enough to keep me well fed and wined. What I re-discovered was that Valencians are wild about paella which is a good thing cause I am too. It was everywhere….restaurants of all types, street corner food freshly made in front of you….the huge Mercat Central (Central Market)….one of the largest markets in Europe had several paella vendors….and all types….Paella Valenciana, squid ink paella , blood sausage paella, duck/snails paella and seafood paella. Bisbe Gastro Taberna had these paella variations as well and there were other culinary delights which made this small, modest looking place below my balcony a perfect place for me to enjoy over and over…and I did.
The market I mentioned above…the Mercat Central, is not the only major market in Valencia but it is the most grand. It was built in the early 1900s in an art nouveau/gothic fusion style…I know that combination sounds strange… but it is a delight to see and is a joy to visit and even more so, to shop. There are beef and pork butchers, seafood mongers, wine merchants, flower vendors. Local olive oils and honey are available as were cured meats….several variations of iberico hams are available if you want to go big. This market is just what you would want….exceedingly beautiful food and a festive, boisterous crowd in a magical setting of soaring ironwork and colored glass. My favorite vendor was a very lovely Spanish woman named Maria…she was perhaps in her middle 40s….very elegant with a disarming smile. She also was exceedingly passionate about the wine of her region…Valenciana….the autonomous area that encompasses Valencia and its surrounding municipalities. As I love to do, I would come to the Mercat each day, except Sunday when it is closed, to shop for something….flowers, beef, and always wine. So, Maria, got used to seeing me come by…sometimes I’d stop but other times I would just come by and say hello. She was never without a smile always and helpful when I needed it…which I often did. This is what makes travel special for me.
As is the tradition of European cities and especially Mediterranean ones, the centers of mass are normally squares…..Valencia has three that I found myself in most often…..Placa de la Mare de Deu, the Placa de la Reina and the Placa del Ajuntament. They run on a north to south trend….the first is just north of the Cathedral and so a minute walk from my flat…it has a large, beautiful fountain depicting Neptune and is a magnet for crowds ….Placa de la Reina is just south of the Cathedral and is full of restaurants that cater to the tourist crowd…nonetheless, it is a beautiful and festive area and I found myself there often as I had to walk through there to get to most of the rest of the city. The latter placa, Placa del Ajuntament is more of the commercial and government center of the city…..more in tune with the modern Valencia… and is a very pleasant open space to enjoy.
Being there for three weeks gave me time to just explore…sometimes, aimlessly. I found so many architectural gems…things I wouldn’t have stumbled across had I been on a tight schedule. While Valencia is an ancient city, it is also a vibrant cultural city and that is on display in the City of Arts and Sciences…a collection of ultra-modern cultural structures designed by world famous Valencian architect, Santiago Calatrava. While I generally enjoy modern architecture, I absolutely loved the collection of buildings just south of the Ruzafa barrio. Long, white soaring arches set amidst vast pools of water, some of the structures are almost oddly insect-like in their design. Calatrava’s work consists of an Opera Hall, Performing Arts Center, Science and Oceanographic Center. It is a gleaming addition to his home city and it is unlike anything I have ever seen. I spent most of a day just enjoying the look of it…a day, very well spent.
On my very last day, I grabbed a taxi and had him take me to places that I had missed…some areas were nice but not notable…until the last stop of the day….the old fishing village of El Cabanyal, set next to the very nice beach that serves Valencia. As I mentioned above, I will save this area for another Walk dedicated to it…but this firmly set the hook for me to return. In truth, it was already “set”….I truly loved my stay in Valencia and sometimes stubbornness really pays off. In my mind, I was absolutely right about Valencia vs. Barcelona….while Barcelona is shiny and sparkling, Valencia is, for me, more on a human scale and more relaxed and chill. Incredible architecture and history give it depth and on a more practical note, it is a city that is very well run and just works…clean, efficient and safe. And then, there is the cuisine…well…you understand….sometimes second is truly first if you keep your mind and heart open to it.