We spent today seeing the sights of Valencia. It was a swift 6 mile bike ride into the city on well defined, well maintained bike tracks. This took us straight to the 'Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias' (City of Arts and Sciences). This is a wonderful collection of buildings of quirky design which host a massive IMAX cinema, a science museum and a huge Oceanographic centre.
As we pulled up to the area it was packed with people, roads were closed and a loud speaker announcer was in full flow. Turned out that we'd arrived on the day the Valencia marathon was being run and the finish line was right in the centre of this attraction and the winning athletes were just coming in! Good timing!
We watched a few people cross the line then moved off to the Oceanographic centre where we watched a very impressive dolphin show and then wandered around the huge aquariums there, seeing walrus, seals, penguins, baluga whales, sharks, stingray, moray eels, turtles, jelly fish, sea dragons and all manner of fish. Its quite an amazing set up actually and easy to spend many hours there.
We went from there on further into old Valencia for a look at some of their old buildings. Central Valencia is all high buildings and small alleyways making it easy to get lost but we found our way to most sights we wanted to see. We also had time for a bite to eat in one of the many cafes.
Next we cycled back through the park to the Science Museum. The park is a neat feature of the city. It wends its way through the city like a river, with many bridges crossing it. I wonder if it even used to be a river which has since been drained - something to look up when we get home (unless anyone wants to reply here and let us know?). Its full of green spaces, bike tracks, fountains, orange trees and joggers and is a really pleasant place to stroll, run or ride.
In the Science museum we didn't have much time so it was straight to the top floor and the zero G simulator which wasn't much of a simulator really but did manage to make you disoriented in a similar way. There was also a flight simulator which simulated a visit to and from the International Space Station. That was quite cool although Mrs Blakey had to skip that bit due to being pregnant.
We ran out of daylight and so didn't get time to visit the marina or the F1 track but might do a drive by tomorrow morning on our way to Barcelona.
All in all Valencia was a cool place. We didn't see too much of the city itself as the Arts and Science 'city' takes loads of time - but it's now one of the city's main attractions. Another place I think we'd come back to.
Cali comment: discovered today that the bed will happily sit in the 'up' position with a duvet and 2 pillows still laid out in sleeping position. There is no need to shift them all to the back. This will be very helpful when staying in one place - but is less so for us at the moment as we are moving on nearly every day so need to bring duvets and pillows down to actually put the roof down.
Sent from my ZX Spectrum.
This looks like the river..
ReplyDeleteAfter a catastrophic flood in 1957 which devastated the city of Valencia, the river was divided in two at the western city limits (Plan Sur de Valencia). The water has been diverted southwards along a new course that skirts the city, before meeting the Mediterranean. The old course of the river continues, dry, through the city centre, almost to the sea.
The old riverbed is now a verdant sunken park that allows cyclists and pedestrians to traverse much of the city without the use of roads. The park, called the 'Garden of the Turia' (Jardí del Túria/Jardín del Turia) boasts numerous ponds, paths, fountains, flowers, football pitches, cafés, artworks, climbing walls, an athletics track, a zen garden and more. The many bridges overhead carry traffic across the park.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turia_%28river%29
Thanks Californiaman!!
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