Lee’s World
Valencia
Valencia
had been a city I had long wanted to visit, and it eventually worked its way
up my "places to visit" list in September 2008. It should have made it up
there sooner!
The city has been
transformed by its native son, Santiago Calatrava, and by the re-routing of
the Turia river, and international sporting events such
as the Americas Cup and a European Grand Prix being held in the city. The
re-routing gave the city a whole area of land to develop into gardens,
sports areas, and an area for Calatrava to develop into the City of Arts and
Sciences.
I stayed at the Melia
Valencia Palace, ideally located between the old city, with its city walls
and defensive gates still standing, and the ultra-modern, City of Arts and
Sciences with its star wars architecture.
The old city was full of
surprises and places to visit. Not to be missed included the Silk Exchange,
the Church of St John the Hospitaller dating back to the 12th Century, the
Cathedral, and the over-the-top rococo building housing the Museum of
Ceramics. The Mercado de Colon proved to be worth a visit and a great place
to sit with a coffee, as did the Mercado Central where the hams and cheeses
on display were mouth-watering. The North
Station proved to be a modernist's dream with art deco imagery everywhere.
The modern architecture
proved to be astounding and took my breath away with its inventiveness. In
addition to Calatrava's City of Arts and Sciences which is still being
extended, there was Candala's Oceanographic and Chipperfield's "Veles e
Vents", and the IVAM and MuVIM galleries.
It is though Calatrava's
work that stands out. The Agora, set to house a tennis tournament in 2009,
and a bridge (similar to his work in Seville) are currently under
construction and were fascinating to see the bare bones under his work. The
remaining work consisted of the Opera House
(closed owing to flooding), a Museum of Science, and the Hemispheric IMAX
cinema. And along side all of this, a place to walk through palm trees and
tropical plants in the Umbracle.
Valencia is becoming an increasingly popular place to visit and I could see why. It was Barcelona without the crowds, or Madrid without the traffic. It has beautiful buildings, great hotels, and amazing weather. It won't be long before I head back there again.