Valencia

Founded as a Roman colony in 138 B.C., Valencia, a city on the shores of the Gulf of Valencia on the Mediterranean Sea, has been settled by the Visigoths, the Moors, the Catalan and Aragonese.  The third largest city in Spain, Valencia is a mix of the old and the new with an ancient old city in the centre of town and the modern City of Arts and Sciences.  I got a Valencia card that was specially priced for cruise ship passengers and permitted the use of public transport and free and reduced entrance to various museums. Unfortunately, many museums here are closed on Mondays.  However, I enjoyed my visit to the old city. I first saw the Basilica de la Virgin de los Desamparados.  It was open and I took a quick look inside before the start of a mass (photos).  It is next door to the Cathedral and Bell Tower. The Cathedral has three doors all different.  The Cathedral charges a small fee for entry but it includes the use of an audio guide which gives an excellent description of the Cathedral and the chapels (photos).  I walked around the old town and visited inside the Lonja de la Seda, a building originally used for trading silk and now a World Heritage site (photos.) This was next door to the Central Market, which is less touristy than the Boqueria in Barcelona, but nevertheless has fresh juice and Spanish snacks (photos). There are some beautiful buildings in the old part of the city from various eras and I include photos.  I then went back toward the port to the Ciutat de les Artes I les Cientes  (City of Arts and Sciences). This is a collection of Museums designed by the Spanish Architect, Santiago Calatrava. The Arts Museum was closed and there was some kind of sporting activity in another building but the entire complex was quite beautiful to look at. the old city and the City of Arts and Sciences sit alongside the bed of the old River Turia which is now a park, the Turia Gardens, containing both gardens and sports fields. It would be beautiful to walk along the length of it if you had lots of time, but nevertheless what I saw was quite lovely (photos.) That ended my tour and I returned to the ship. The next port is Cartagena.

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