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 suchas 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.

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 and a bridge (similar to his work in Seville) were under construction and at the time of my visit, but were fascinating to see the bare bones under his work. The remaining work consisted of the Opera House, 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 was Barcelona without the crowds, or Madrid without the traffic. A truly fascinating city.