Valencia, the wrong city to be without sunglasses

  Valencia, Valencian Country, Spain and Canary Islands
Saturday, August 16, 2008

Got to love Ray Ban's

It seems the theft of Inge-Marie's handbag in Barcelona had a few more repercussions than we initially though. The poor girl spent the last three days in Valencia squinting to make out some of the cities very bright sights. If we don't get her a replacement pair of sunglasses soon we'll have to spend a fortune fixing her growing 'crow's feet' and I'm sure the insurance company won't be paying for that!
 

Old Valencia

Valencia is a city with a fascinating blend between old and new and we were pleasantly surprised with all it had to offer. The surprises started when we arrived at the hotel we'd be spending the next three nights in which turned out to be a real little gem (Hotel Reina Victoria). For a change it was nice leave behind the usual tiny private rooms in a hostel to have a luxurious hotel room with loads of space, a mini bar and to Inge-Marie's delight, a bath. It didn't take long for her to tap a full bubble bath and have an hour long soak, aaahhh the simple pleasures.  
 

Views of Valencia

To orientate ourselves in what we though was quite a big city we once again made use of the hop-on hop-off bus service. We quickly found out after one loop of the city that this was not really worth it as you can easily walk to all the major sights as we did the next day. We did take the opportunity on the city loop to identify some interesting looking tapas restaurants that looked worth a visit.
 
After being introduces to the tapas scene in Barcelona we were keen to taste a little of what Valencia had to offer. Our first stop was a tapas bar across the road from our hotel that was jam packed with people, most of them standing around the serving counter where dozens of plates of exquisitely presented tapas where on offer. There was just about every imaginable topping on the slices of crisp baguette, and basically the idea is that you push your way to the front fill your plate and just stand around and nibble away.
 
The tapas restaurants we visited all worked on the same 'trust' principle where you eat what you like and then tell them what you had when you want to pay, not very common where we come from. You just have to be careful not to drink too much and get the count wrong.
 

The eye and the ship

Another major highlight in Valencia is its futuristic looking 'Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias' which basically is a very mode and spaceship looking performing arts centre, a science and technology museum, an eye shaped Imax cinema complex and a state of the art marine centre. All of which are in brilliant, bright WHITE, not the place to be without sunglasses.
 

Syncronised flight

Due to the limited time we had we only got to visit the Marine Centre and the Imax theatre. We'd been to many aquariums before so did not expect too much but very soon impressed by the gigantic fish tanks and long walk through tunnels. Inge-Marie's highlight of the visit was the very impressive dolphin show which had, as far as I could count 12 dolphins in the show. The show lasted just over an hour and had the dolphins airborne almost throughout the show. It was really amazing to see how the trainers were able to synchronise 12 dolphins to almost perfect timing. They (the dolphins) truly are intelligent creatures and even though it was amazing to see them perform does make it a little sad when you know they will spending the rest of their lives in captivity.
 

Beluga Smile

For me the highlight was to see the two enormous snow white beluga whales. These are creatures you don't see every day and you would have to dive in some icy cold waters if you ever wanted to see them in the wild. I sat watching them gracefully swim around their tank and could not help to wonder what they were thinking when they swam by me and every now and then made eye contact. It was really an eerie feeling and I kept thinking of the movie Free Willy and how they helped him escape. I didn't think they would last very long in the Mediterranean Sea so gave up any thoughts of a rescue attempt and moved on to the sharks.
 

The Imax show was something quite different to the usual Imax theatres. This particular cinema was set in a planetarium dome which meant that you got a 180 degree view horizontally and vertically on their 900 square m screen! The seats were even inclined so you were almost lying in the seat. We watched a fascinating show of a guy we climbed on of Europe's most dangerous mountains in memory of his father who died trying to conquer the same mountain. The Imax was a great experience and showed us was what was possible with technology these days.
 
Great tapas, loads of entertainment, yummy oranges, hundreds of hears of history and apparently beautiful beaches make Valencia a city well worth a visit, just don't forget your sunglasses!