Valencia is Spain’s third-largest city, after Madrid and Barcelona. It’s a magnificent place, a wonderfully liveable city with thriving cultural, eating and nightlife. Innovation is top of the list for Valencia. For example, the city diverted its flood-prone river to the outskirts. Then it converted the old riverbed into a glorious green ribbon of park winding right through the city! Here you’ll find the striking, futuristic buildings of the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, designed by local resident Santiago Calatrava. Many other great contemporary buildings grace the city. There’s a fistful of fabulous Modernista buildings and brilliant museums. There’s also a long stretch of beach and a large, characterful old quarter. Surrounded by its huerta, a fertile zone of market gardens, Valencia is famous as the home of rice dishes such as paella, but its buzzy dining scene offers plenty more besides; it's a superb spot for eating.
Things to do
Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias
This stunning complex occupies a 350,000-sq-metre swath of the old Turia riverbed. It comprises of a series of spectacular buildings that are mostly the work of world-famous, locally born architect Santiago Calatrava. The principal buildings are a majestic opera house, a science museum, a 3D cinema and an aquarium. Calatrava is a controversial figure for many Valencians, who complain about the expense and various design flaws. Nevertheless, for visitors, it's awe-inspiring and pleasingly family orientated. The promenades and pools around the buildings make for pleasant strolling and you can hire bikes, paddleboards and various other contraptions to enjoy them.
Museo Nacional de Cerámica
The ceramics museum is located inside a striking palace and celebrates an important local industry. Downstairs (which also features a decadent hand-painted 1753 carriage) you can learn about the history of ceramics from baroque to modern, with comprehensive information that's however sometimes a little difficult to relate to the pottery on display. Upstairs, historical ceramics are cleverly dotted with modern works, but the sumptuous, over-the-top interiors, ornate stucco, chinoiserie, damask panels and elaborate upholstery, get plenty of attention. Look out for a fabulous painted ceiling from the original building. The modern top floor has details on ceramics production and a porcelain collection from the Alcora factory, which, along with Manises and Paterna, was an important local production centre.
Museo del Patriarca
This seminary was founded in the late 16th century by San Juan de Ribera, a towering Counter-Reformation figure who wielded enormous spiritual and temporal power in Spain and beyond. With an impressive if austere Renaissance courtyard-cloister, its main attraction is a small but excellent religious-art museum. Caravaggio, El Greco and local boys José de Ribera and Juan de Juanes are represented. Most surprising is the manuscript that Thomas More was writing while awaiting his execution in the Tower of London.
Bioparc
This zoo is devoted solely to African animals. It has an educational and conservationist remit and an unusual approach. Though, as always, the confinement of creatures such as gorillas in limited spaces raises mixed feelings, the innovative landscaping is certainly a thrill. The absence of obvious fences makes it seem that animals roam free as you wander from savannah to equatorial landscapes. Aardvarks, leopards and hippos draw crowds, but most magical is Madagascar, where large-eyed lemurs gambol around your feet among waterfalls and grass. There are various child-friendly eating places around the zoo.
Catedral de Valencia
Valencia’s cathedral was built over a mosque after the 1238 reconquest. Its low, wide, brick-vaulted triple nave is mostly Gothic, with neoclassical side chapels. Highlights are the museum, rich Italianate frescoes above the altarpiece, a pair of Goyas in the Capilla de San Francisco de Borja, and what is claimed to be the Holy Grail from which Christ sipped during the Last Supper. It's a Roman-era agate cup, later modified, so at least the date is right.
Various relics and a beautiful transitional altarpiece in the Capilla de San Dionisio are other noteworthy features.
Left of the main portal is the entrance to the bell tower, El Miguelete. Climb the 207 steps of its spiral staircase for fantastic 360-degree city-and-skyline views.
For more than 1000 years, the Tribunal de las Aguas (Water Court) has met every Thursday exactly at noon outside the cathedral’s Puerta de los Apóstoles. It’s Europe’s oldest legal institution and it settles local farmers’ irrigation disputes in Valenciano, the regional language.
Title Image Credit: Julio Latorre (Image Cropped)