Through the orange groves to Valencia

Bright sunshine greeted us when we woke this morning, so we breakfasted quickly and then hit the road. The drive to Valencia is only a couple of hours or so, and we decided to avoid the motorway and take the national highway instead. It proved a good idea, and took us through some rugged landscape, but also past vast areas of citrus plantations - one of the main products of the Valencia region. The trees were laden with oranges, some already falling.

We reached Valencia at noon and located our hotel, right in the middle of town on the central market square. Our room was not ready, but they have an underground car park, and we Just parked the car, left everything and set off, after a pause for refreshment, to see the sights.

First stop was the magnificent silk market, or merchants market. You enter through a courtyard filled with orange trees around a central fountain. The entry fee is a princely 2 euro, reduced to one euro for seniors! The architecture is gothic, and the quality reflects the power and wealth of Valencia in the 15th century.

I hope this small selection of photos will convey something of the place.

From there it was a short stroll to the enormous central food market. Spacious and immaculately clean and tidy. Lots of fish and seafood, of course, plus butchers, bakers, fruit and vegetables and so on. There was an inviting central bar, serving drinks and tapas, but it was mobbed, so we selected a bar just outside and ordered a few tapas and some wine, while a rather accomplished violinist serenaded us.

After lunch we headed for the cathedral, a mixture of gothic, romanesque, and some later baroque additions. A couple of striking Goya paintings, and, we were assured, the original Holy Grail!

After all that culture, we headed for the Turia gardens, layed out along the route of the river that used to skirt Valencia’s eastern edge. After severe flooding in the 1950s, the river was diverted and its bed made into a public park, which is evidently much used by citizens. We were heading down towards the modernistic City of Arts and Sciences - quite a hike in prospect. However, after a while it started to rain, which somewhat dampened our enthusiasm, and we caught a taxi back to the hotel, where our room was fortunately ready.