At the western end of the winding riverbed park Les Jardin del Turia, is this city within a city from the mind of Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, who with several prominent collaborators, created this magnum opus.
La Ciudad De Las Artes y Ciencias
La Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias complex at night
Oculus
If the neo-futuristic flow of the buildings look familiar at all to you, you may have been to the new World Trade Center in New York, and seen his work in the Transportation hub known as The Oculus.
The Oculus NYC
Origins
The City of Arts and Science, opened in 1998, covers almost two kilometres of the former Turia riverbed and an area of 350,000 square meters. The initial budget of 164 million euros, ballooned to more than 1,240 million euros due to several cost overruns and various redesigns. It comprises seven separate structures.
Oceanogràfic
The Oceanogràfic is the largest aquarium in Europe at 110,000 m2 and with 42 million liters of water. It contains seven different marine environments and almost 45,000 specimens of at least 500 different species. Its lily-shaped cover is the work of the Valencian architect Adrián Peláez Coronado. The structural design of the roofs is by engineers Alberto Domingo and Carlos Lázaro.
Oceanogràfic
Hemisfèric
The Hemisfèric is a digital 3D cinema, with a huge 900 metre concave screen, which almost completely surrounds spectators. Several films are screened daily, mainly 45 minute educational documentaries.
Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe
The Science Museum encourages hands on contact on it’s interactive exhibits.
Palau de les ArtesReina Sofia
The Palau de les Artes looks like a Spartan helmet.
Palau De Las Artes
From October to November, its programme includes operas, concerts, zarzuela and ballet.
View of the Palau de las Artes from under the bridge/walkway
Umbracle
The Umbracle is a huge, open-access garden covering more than 17,000 m2. It houses the Paseo de las Esculturas, an open-air art gallery with sculptures by contemporary artists such as Miquel Navarro, Francesc Abad and Yōko Ono, among others. It also contains the Astronomy Garden.
The Umbracle
Agora/CaixaForum
The Agora CaixaForum is a multipurpose space that hosts temporary and permanent exhibits, live music, projections, conferences and shows.
Pont L’Assut d’Or
The Assut d’Or Bridge crosses the former riverbed of the River Turia, between the Science Museum and the Ágora. There are several lanes for traffic in both directions and a pedestrian bridge in the centre connecting the two banks of the Turia Garden. This structure is 125 m high (127 if you count its lightning rod), and is the highest point in the city.
Final Note
Calatrava considers Antonio Gaudí (of La Sagrada Familia de Barcelona fame) a major influence on his design style, which – like that of Gaudí – attempts to bring elements of nature into architecture. Both merge the fields of architecture and engineering to create fantastic buildings that blur the line between art and function.
La Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias
Av. del Professor López Piñero, 7, 46013 València, Valencia
The Turia river ran through Valencia until a disastrous flood in 1957. The city fathers said ¡Nunca Mas! and diverted the river south of the city, leaving a huge tract of land that crosses the city from West to East, bordering the historical centre.
What to do with that reclaimed space? Create a massive public park of course! Urban planners and landscapists each designed sections of the park which stretches for 9 km from the Bioparc (A zoo which recreates the African Savannah) in the east, to the futuristic Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencia in the west.
Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias
The former riverbed now dominates the city with a massive greenbelt. Think New York’s Central Park crossed with the Highline, but bigger and better.
Overhead View of El Jardin del Turia
The meandering park links cultural and historical points in Valencia , like the Serranos Towers, a gate in the old city walls that surrounded Valencia,
Torres de Serrano
the Valencia Institute of Modern Art (IVAM) and the Museum of Fine Arts, all located on the former banks of the Turia,
Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts)
The park is filled with Valencianos running, cycling, even playing cricket.
Of course there are the yoga classes as well as drop in Salsa sessions.
The Turia Gardens are crossed by 18 bridges from different periods and architectural styles. The most outstanding historical bridges are those of San José (17th century), Serranos (16th century), Trinidad (15th century), El Real (16th century) and El Mar (16th century).
We have been walking in the park daily to get from El Carmen to our Spanish Lessons near Benimaclet and what a pleasure it has been to be surrounded by nature, history and beauty.
Jardín del Turia
y San Pío V, y Paseos de la Ciudadela y de la Alameda, C. del Pintor López, 46003 València, Valencia
Considered a late breakfast or an early lunch (actual lunch starts around 14:30), the almuerzo in Castilian Spanish (esmorzaret in Valencian) happens between 09:00 and 12:00 on Mondays through Saturdays and always features a massive sandwich.
At Nuevo Oslo, Raul Bermejo, the self styled King of the Esmorzaret welcomes customers with banter and a handshake. There is a statue of him at the front door and posters everywhere, so he is instantly recognizable. The counter has a dizzying array of sausages, roast meats, classic omelettes , broad beans, fried blood with onion, squid and cuttlefish, bacon, ratatouille, chivitos and pepitos, even the uncommon figatells – a fresh Spanish sausage made of pork meat, pork liver and kidneys.
Since this is our first time we ask him to bring el favorito de Raul and he leaves us with the ubiquitous olives and peanuts. While we wait, we check out a collection of wooden tennis rackets from the 70s and a wall that is a shrine to Julio Iglesias.
Our sandwich arrives and it is a monster in two parts. First is a collection of sausages – chorizo, morcilla and blood sausage on a bed of french fries. Second is ratatouille, fried onions and figatell meatballs also known as quart de poblet. We forgo the fried egg that many patrons include.
It’s important to note that we also declined the usual accompaniments – an anise aperitif to start, a beer to wash everything down and a cremaet (coffee and lemon liqueur) to finish – although most of the customers did indulge. Bear in mind that this is at 9 in the morning. We split the sandwich between the two of us and did not eat again until 4 pm.
Bonus pics of other esmorzaret we have yet to try.
Nuevo Oslo
– Carrer del Doctor Sanchis Sivera, 7, 46008 València, Valencia
Valencia’s central market is the premier market for meats, seafood, produce and other food items. It is as big and as famous as La Boqueria in Barcelona and Mercado San Miguel in Madrid. The latter two have unfortunately become overrun with tourists, and while Mercat Central is heading the same way, since the vendors recognize that it is a international attraction, there is still a window of opportunity early in the morning before, say 10am, when you can still browse the myriad stalls at your leisure. Opened in 1928 by King Alphonse XIII , and at more than 86,000 square feet (8000 square metres), the building occupies land once used as an open-air market in the mid-19th century.
One of the oldest food markets in Europe, Mercado Central is adorned with Valencian-style mosaics and filled with residents purchasing local foods ( and tourists gawking) from more than 1,200 trusted vendors selling everything from meat and vegetables to pastries and take-away items, including the famous Iberico hams (jamon), and olives.
Since this is Valencia, the home of Paella, you can be sure to find that too.
Coming from the USA, the meats and fish are surprisingly affordably priced (although they are even cheaper at the local groceries) and the selection is unparalleled.
Best of all, the food is locally sourced and supremely fresh. It is also a masterpiece of Modernist architecture, with high vaulted domes and stained glass windows. The BBC has called it the most beautiful indoor market in the world.
After a long hiatus, I am reviving this blog to document Mal and Di’s next adventure – an almost 3 month sojourn in Spain and Portugal. We’re not getting any younger and we are doing this while we can- Mother nature has been reasonably kind to us; Father time on the other hand…
So we start off in Valencia. Our friend Antonio Ortuno, a chef and artist whom we met In New York is hosting us on our first leg. A native of Spain and a Valenciano of long standing, he lives in El Carmen, the oldest (and hippest) part of the old city. If you have ever been to El Barrio Gotic in Barcelona, you will recognize El Carmen – a mixture of Moorish and Medieval Christian architecture.
The streets are narrow and paved with stone. There is barely room for cars to traverse, and yet pedestrians cyclists, scooters, and automobiles negotiate the glorified alleyways together.
Like the rest of Spain, the city only comes alive after 10 am, but then it goes on into the wee hours of the morning. You have to get used to having lunch at 2 and dinner after 9. When the restaurants close, then the bars open and when the bars close, then the clubs start.
There is a festival called Fallas that happens every year around the middle of March and it is a 5 day bacchanal that locals flee as tourists descend for the madness of a never ending party – like New Orleans Mardi Gras and Burning Man combined. (Not my picture below – I’m here in November)
There’s art. There’s culture. There’s history. And above all there’s food. More on this later.
After just 5 hours, I was sold. I could seriously live here. But there’s lots more to see and explore, and in few days, we have our first Spanish classes.
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