By...your...command
Trip Start
Nov 03, 2004
1
81
165
Trip End
Nov 23, 2006
Valencia,
Spain
Thursday, January 12, 2006
I found two jackets, two pairs of shoes and a bag I couldn't live
without and we hadn't even left the train station. Unfortunately we
were back in towns of dodgy accommodation and a three day stay
necessitated two hotels.
Valencia had the first real produce market we had come across in
Spain. Right in the middle of town it spreads under a vast
Modernista concoction of wrought iron and stained glass. The wine
shops are conveniently located around the outside of the market but
once you enter the fray the squawking of hawkers makes finding
enough quiet head space to decide whether you want jamon Iberico or
jamon Salamanca almost impossible. The array of fresh produce is
daunting and blindingly colourful. Rabbits and hares hang morosely
from their ears waiting to be appropriately aged. Peasants, quail,
ducks and grouse dangle next door. Stall holders peered at the
punters through forests of hanging hams. There are plenty of
innards and feet (of chickens and pigs) on offer and lots of "farm-
style" chunky pâtés and terrines where the parts of animal are still
identifiable. This is not a place for vegetarians. The majority of
the crustaceans are still sluggishly slithering around in their ice
beds and the mollusks are oozing from their shells. You are
encouraged to poke and prod. Everything is beautifully, proudly
presented by the actual producers - it's a farmers' market on a
scale we can only dream of.
City of Arts & Sciences - aquarium
Samples of almost everything arewillingly offered and when you run out of steam you can perk up at
one of the numerous tapas bars preparing made-to-order tapas and
serving jolting red wine.
Across the road is the 15th century Silk Exchange. Once a similar
site of haggling and commerce it has been restored to an echoing
haven of Gothic stonework and incandescent stained glass. Actually
it proved more restoring than the rustic red and sautéed snails in
the market.
Valencia's shiny new Cuidad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of
Arts and Sciences) was built in response to the success of
Barcelona's program of urban renewal, and draws its inspiration from
the importance of water, the white, open, light structures of
Mudéjar architecture, and the catenary arches of Gaudi. The
structures seem to float on the wide, shallow pools of water. The
carpark is hidden under elliptical arched gantries sheltering dark
palms and modern sculpture. The rest of the complex features an
enormous arts centre that looks like a Cylon helmet with a delicate
feather balanced over it, a theatre whose doors make it resemble a
blinking eye, the snake vertebrae of the science centre and the
parabolic flower of the aquarium entrance. Just wandering above the
carpark and watching the play of light and shade and the startling,
complex reflections in the pools could have occupied a whole day.
We visited the Aquarium, and had an engagement with a Beluga whale,
some scarlet ibises and some acrobatic (mentally stimulated but
still circus trained) dolphins.
