Valencia, Spain - Oct 1 to 5, 2009

Well this is a bit awkward now. We got so lazy with the blog that a lot is going to be missing now. It's officially 5 and a half months later and we're finally writing these blog entries...

Our first evening we didn't do too much. We explored the area near the hostel and found a grocery store. We cooked up some of the usual pasta for supper. We had a quiet night talking to some fellow travellers in the hostel.


The next morning we got off to an early start and took a walking tour. Our guide was excellent. He was very knowledgable and was full of jokes. Here's a cathedral nearby. It actually contains the Holy Grail! The goblet that Christ supposedly drank from during the last supper is on display here. There are dozens of churches that claim to have the original goblet, but this is the only one recognized by the Vatican.

Here's the narrowest building in Spain:



In the afternoon we walked through the amazing Jardines del Real and Jardín del Turia. In the 1950s a flood destroyed much of the city when the river overflowed. To prevent this from happening again the entire river was diverted in another direction around the city. The dried up riverbed left behind has been converted into a massive park stretching over 10kms through the middle of the city!












At the end of Jardín del Turia, near the harbour, is the breathtaking Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències. It is a series of buildings including a theatre, museum, aquarium and opera house:




We also took in a tapas tour, which ended with a Flamenco concert. We went through same company that we did the walking tour with. What a mistake! This was a huge waste of money. We visited 4 bars and got some pretty lame tapas. We would have been better off just visiting a few bars on our own. At the end the Flamenco was an embarassment. The 2 dancers were horrible and really out of shape. The guy wasn't at all what we were excepting... He was overweight and constantly stopping because he was out of breath... Oh well, you get what you pay for. We didn't want to spend the big bucks to go to a professional Flamenco performance.


On our last afternoon we toured Lonja de la Seda, which was an old silk exchange. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the amazing gothic architecture. One of the notable features are the unique gargoyles surrounding the building. They depict quite a few lewd gestures:




A little further down the road, what is that? Could it be? Is that? Is that? Is that Valencian Bats?

Here's the train station, right next to it is the Bull Fighting Stadium: