Valencia, Spain
by A.T. Chou
Valencia was just a thoughtless tack-on to a week of travels in Spain, but it turned out to become the highlight of my entire trip. Valencia is the third largest city in Spain, but holds a much less ostentatious reputation than Barcelona and Madrid. This has allowed the city to preserve its regional ambiance and avoid the manic messiness that inevitably accompanies busy tourism.
But this is no backwater town; Valencia is a thriving centre teeming with a surprising blend of art and culture, awe inspiring architecture, regional restaurants and pristine beaches. Valencia is known as the City of Contrasts and its reputation is founded in the sheer diversity present where new complements old; nature and metropolis flourish together; and a strong cultural identity blooms from Spanish, Roman, Christian, and Moorish roots.
The city centre is the Plaza de Ayuntamento, which is surrounded by amazing traditional architecture with Gothic, Baroque, and Spanish elements. The Ayuntamento (City Hall) building is absolutely stunning, while the lavishness and sophistication of La Lonja (Silk Exchange) is emblematic of the Golden Age of Valencia when the city was one of Europe’s main culture and economic centres. La Lonja was the place where merchants would deal and trade their goods and thus no expense was spared to create it. Sunlight casts the humongous white-stone interior in an otherworldly glow and evenly spaced columns twist around themselves to brace the highly curved ceiling criss-crossed by dark accents.
The city boasts two museums, the Museu Provincial de Belles Artes and the Institut Valencia d’art Modern (IVAM). The Museu Provincial de Belles Artes satisfies those who enjoy a tour through European art history and the IVAM is one of the greatest collections of modern art. The IVAM carries works by Picasso and Klee, but its proudest possessions are the abstract and modern works by Julio Gonzales and Ignasio Pinazo. I’ll be the first to say that I do not often comprehend modern art, but I still enjoyed strolling through IVAM, revelling in the boldness, fun and creativity of the art, while stopping to occasionally ponder whether I was staring at a man or a cactus.
To get to the museums from the city centre, you cross one of the bridges, which spans what used to be the Rio Turia (Turia River). The river was diverted outside of the city after a disastrous flood in 1957 and the riverbed has been landscaped into a huge park with a lagoon, trees, gardens, cycle paths, and football fields; most of the locals can be found here on any afternoon. The riverbed also boasts the largest Aquarium in Europe, the L’Oceanografic (Oceanographic Park) in the fantastic Ciutat de laes Arts i de les Ciencies (The City of Arts and Sciences). The extreme modernism of the Ciutat de laes Arts i de les Ciencies sharply contrasts against the picturesque feel of the riverbed and as you wander through its grounds, with its alternating curvatures and random geometric shapes, you’ll feel like you’ve stepped into the imagination of Orson Scott Card. While walking back to the city centre, I ran into what looked like a miniature castle, which my guidebook revealed as the Torres de Serranos. This stout military structure is one of the two remaining city gates and a quick climb to the top level provides a panorama of the colourful riverbed of Rio Turia.
Another reason to fall in love Valencia is the food. Valencia is the birthplace of paella and paella valenciana is created with the specialities of this coastal region, often including shrimp, mussels, crab and white fish. The paella dish is characteristic of the Spanish culture, created and served in a huge circular pan which encourages a communal and close-knit meal. But paella is not the only Spanish dish to be enjoyed! In Plaza de la Reina, we stumbled upon the most marvellous and satisfying culinary experience of our trip: pinchos!
Pinchos are slices of bread imaginatively topped with cheeses, meats, vegetables, dried fruits, and sauces to produce mouth-watering creations. Pinchos come in savoury or sweet flavours and the bread serves as a neutral base to balance the richness of flavours in the pinchos. Glass displays on the bar hold plates upon plates of pinchos, while the kitchen busily works to keep the displays full with delectable pinchos. My seat at the bar offered me a prime location to pounce on the fresh temptations emerging from the kitchen, and the interruptions by other customers reaching around me to fill their plates not only allowed me to see which pinchos tempted others, but enhanced the cosy and casual feel of the taberna. After making a failed attempt to try every tempting pincho, I presented my plate to the waiter who counted the number of toothpicks on it to determine the bill.
The beaches are just a few minutes by bus outside the city and are among the most beautiful city beaches in the world. At the Playa de Pinedo, which is the closest one to the city, I strolled along the white fine sand of the beach, glorying in the fresh salty air and admiring the blueness of the sky as it blended into the waters. As my visit was in winter, the beach was fairly quiet, but during the warmer months, the beaches are crowded with surfers and sun worshipers. Luckily there are many beaches in the area to select from and the Playa de la Devesa, which is farther south of the city, even provides a restful setting for those who hate getting tan lines!
The quirky charm of Valencia stems from its laid-back and welcoming attitude to diversity and change. It’s perfect for a relaxed weekend trip and ideal for those who love to wander and lose themselves in a city’s native flavours. It’s not a city where you’ll feel pressured to hit up a laundry list of sights and museums, but it’s a place where you can discover your favourite restaurant, building, discoteria, or garden right around the corner.
