Hola, València!
Weather, check. The forecast for the immediate future is sunny with highs in the mid-70s to low-80s.
Airbnb, check. We have a spacious apartment with a well furnished kitchen, large couch in the family room, a nice sized bathroom, and two bedrooms with huge organized closets. We are staying in the Marxalenes neighborhood, across the Pont de les Arts and the Jardí de Túria from the city center.
Grocery stores, check. The three largest grocery stores that we have seen in Spain are within a block of our place. Not Kroger or Publix large, but sizeable by city standards. A quality grocery store is one of the little things that make you happy.
Terrain, check. Being on the Mediterranean coast Valencia is flat. I don’t mind hills, but this is a welcome change from Granada. We are off to a great start for our final month in Spain.
On our first night in a new city, Stephanie and I generally make a reconnaissance walk in the evening. We check out the neighborhood, find the grocery stores, look for restaurants and bars, trash/recycle bins, and generally get oriented to our surroundings. In Valencia we damn near got lost.
Valencia’s expansive city center is dominated by narrow, twisting roads laid out in weird angles in a sea of buildings that are four stories or taller. Google Maps had difficulty pinpointing our location as we wondered around. That blue dot on the map is fine in normal neighborhoods, but can be frustratingly vague at times in a tight city.
Several times I thought we were on one road, only to discover later that we were on a different road heading in an unexpected direction. Construction is ongoing in parts of the city right now, which adds to the confusion. Our 30 to 40 minute stroll ended up being a 90 minute adventure as we passed by several churches and museums that I had no intention of being anywhere near. If nothing else we quickly grasped a decent understanding of the layout of the city.
Even before arriving in Valencia, Stephanie was eager to go to the beach. A tram line with a direct shot to the Playa de las Arenas stops about three blocks from our place. We gathered some things and headed over to the Reus station to figure out the tram.
Thankfully the ticket machine has instructions in both Spanish and English. The instructions are very clear until the end. Select ticket type. Yep. Insert coins or cash (no credit cards). It was a small miracle that I had enough coins for two tickets. Done. Validate your ticket before getting on the tram; otherwise, huge fine for noncompliance. Okay. Um, how? No instruction, explanation, or diagram.
We were holding two tickets but could not figure out how to validate them. When the tram arrived a minute or two later, we hopped on. Luckily our tickets were not checked so we did not have to explain either our failure to validate or the ticket machine’s lousy instructions. During the 25 minute ride, Stephanie carefully watched other riders getting on the tram and figured out how to validate tickets. We learn a lot just by being observant.
Wow, the beach is really wide. We stopped, took off our shoes, and realized the water is a good 50 yards or more from the promenade. It was a Friday afternoon and a lot of people were enjoying the perfect weather. The water was cool, but not too cold. Vendors renting chairs and umbrellas, and selling cold drinks and ice cream, were spaced pretty far apart. There is plenty of room for everyone to spread out comfortably.
The area surrounding the beach is not overly commercialized. There are restaurants and a few stores, but not wall to wall tourist places as is often typical in the United States. It has more of a park type atmosphere. We walked the beach and strolled down the pier past the marina.
On the way back to the tram station, we checked out the prices of the beach side restaurants. They are expensive for sure, but not by as much as we expected. It was the middle of the afternoon, so we did not grab a bite. Another couple later told us that you must order food to sit at the prime tables in the front of the restaurants and outside. If you want drinks only you’ll get punted to a crappy table inside and in the back.
The Catedral de València is nice. It really is. Its full name is the Iglesia Catedral-Basílica Metropolitana de la Asunción de Nuestra Señora de Valencia (in English, the Metropolitan Basilica Cathedral Church of the Assumption of Our Lady Saint Mary of Valencia) (https://catedraldevalencia.es/). Primarily a Gothic cathedral, construction began in the 13th century and continued through the 16th century. El Micalet, the octagonal bell tower, was completed in 1425 as a separate free-standing structure. It later joined the cathedral during an extension of the nave.
The cathedral’s claim to fame is being La Catedral del Santo Grial, the Cathedral of the Holy Grail. The Capilla del Santo Cáliz, the Chapel of the Holy Chalice, is definitely worth a look, and the cathedral’s museum is quite interesting. Otherwise, the cathedral is rather simple and plain. Okay, honestly it is underwhelming compared to the majestic cathedrals in Seville, Córdoba, and Granada.
Both the cathedral and bell tower are worth visiting. Oddly tickets are sold separately. If you don’t want to pay 8€ to visit the cathedral and see the supposed Holy Grail, you can pay 2€ to walk up to the top of El Micalet, or vice-versa. We went to the cathedral during the day and returned later in the week for a later afternoon visit to El Micalet.
As an aside, if you can only walk up one tower in Valencia, then it must be the bell tower at Iglesia de Santa Caterina. From here you have by far the best views over the city, in particular of the cathedral and El Micalet.
After touring the cathedral, Stephanie and I took a short walk down the street to Hortcheteria de Santa Catalina for a drink. These folks do it right. The menu is pretty simple, basically hortchata (a sweet cinnamon and vanilla flavored drink), fartons (sweet bread), churros, homemade ice cream, hot chocolates, and coffees.
Service is fast and efficient. Not Spanish fast, but American fast. No two hour snack in this place. We were there for no more than 30 minutes, if that. Cash only. For those of you familiar with New Orleans, Stephanie described it as the Café Du Monde of Valencia – which seems pretty accurate. Simple, quick, and good.
We have only just scratched the surface here. Valencia is the third largest city in Spain, and we have much more to do and see over the next several weeks. You can catch up with previous posts covering our trip to Spain using links found on the Travel Blog page.
Garrett and Stephanie
P.S. No Monty Python jokes were made during our tour of the cathedral, nor did we make any references to Indiana Jones. I guess 8€ and an audio guide with directions to the Capilla del Santo Cáliz is not a plot for a good movie. I’m off to rewatch both Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
