Sitios
Wandering along the Turia
En el barrio del Carmen
Street art in barrio del Carmen
Are those gummy bears? (David de Limon)
Why all the bats in Valencia?
According to one website, "It is told that as the King entered the city, liberating it from 500 years of Muslim rule, a bat flew from the sky and landed on the King’s head! This was seen as a blessing and the bat became the protector symbol of the City- a rememberance of the King’s victory on October 9th, 1238. It also represents a protector of the farmers surrounding the city from insect pests." See more bat pics here.
It was like a Rick Steves video (if he covered Valencia)...
a beautiful passageway with accordion music bouncing off the walls...
at the exit, a cellist and violinist picking up the music...
and then around the corner, the tacky treat on a stick store (semi-indecent/hilarious images warning)
"Red flag" day at the beach. I think the socorristas put up the red flags so they could go for a coffee. And yes, we go to the beach in the evening to avoid frying.
Post paella hike to the rio
Luckily from this vantage point I am far enough away to not see all the trash left in the beautiful ruin
Sad the figs weren't ripe, yet
Casa del Punto de Gancho, inspired by the work of a Belgian architect. The blue sign out front notes that high pressure filtered water is delivered to the whole building. Selling point or warning?
San Valero - surely blessing those crossing the threshold (see him above the door in the previous photo)
Home of the longest underground river in Europe (see here for photos of here and Sagunt)
University of Valencia
Words of remembrance in Atocha train station to the 191 victims of the 11 March, 2004, Madrid train bombings
Mies van der Rohe Pavilion - Barcelona
Malta visit
Open doorway in Valencia
We learned sooo much on this Midevial tour of Valencia by David! The Font del Túria is surrounded by figures that represent the canals off the Turia that irrigated the surrounding huertas.
The city unearthed one of the many ruins. A garage next door opened to a room full of items from the cemetery
The Romans started the city, but the Arabs expanded the city before the Christians pushed out even further. The arches in the wall provided control of who entered the city. See fig. 2 of this site to see how the city grew over time
Every Thursday at noon, the tribunal meets to hear if anyone has grievances against those improperly using the canals of the Turia, one for each canal/region. This may be the oldest tribunal in the EU
Strolling through Ruzafa
By the playa
The Guardianes del Puente seem like they have been on the bridge for 100 years, but Joan Marti's sculptures only date back to 1999
There is a lot of hiking within an hour of Valencia - Reserva Natural de las Hoces del Cabriel is just one stunning spot
You can visit Castillo-Palacio Condes de Cervellón in Anna if you can't make it to the Mezquita in Córdoba
Out front of the Fallas Museum
"Winter" in Canarias
I wonder what they have at this place (LPA)
Largest Advent Calendar I've ever seen! (London)
Angels near Picadilly
See Slovenia
Adorable mushroom on Spanish hike
View from Montgó - Ibiza off to the left
Waiting for the boys to reach the summit (I bailed part way)
Calpe
Hike on day 2 of the weekend
We are going to hike that?
The tunnel to get to the hike - no flip flops allowed!
View of Calpe from Altea, Parc Natural del Penyal d'Ifac in the distance
Driving through the Albufera - fun when oncoming traffic appears
Church next to Mercado Central
Correos - Extranjero y España
Surely this is to keep the hoity toity away from the common people
Just after Fallas the entire city smelled of orange tree blossoms - (azahar). It's heavenly. A baby orange that fell onto my plate tasted of bergamot
Across from one of our coffee spots (Syra)
6 or more parrots alit in the tree and went after the flowers
Estación del Nord
It's funny to think that Ruzafa was annexed to Valencia
Just around the corner and down the street - on some tours of town
The entire roofline along c de Serrano Flores was studded with these
One of my earliest memories of Spain is from Madrid airport, seeing military clad men walking around carrying large guns (1989). Wish I had caught a shot of the weapons the police were holding at the closed streets during Fallas
Pont de la Mar
Fierro had a pink pig - they are designed by a Valencian artist
El Salon de Crystal in City Hall
Random castle on the hill - common occurrence on a road trip
The alter of the Valencia Cathedral (the alter piece opens to show yet another panel, which hides the actual alter piece). What a mix of styles in here!
Freaky Goya painting of an exorcism
On par with the preserved arm of St Vincent
The ceiling above the holy grail
The tiny little chalice behind glass is one of the many that claim to be the Holy Grail
Pics of the Barcelona and Montserrat weekend here
"Why are there flowered crosses around town?" "It's May in Valencia"
Quesa hiking trail
Mirador de El Majo
Near Portal de Valldigna
Basílica de la Mare de Déu dels Desemparats
The Virgin out for her annual walk
Followed by the band
Plaza de la Virgen - decorated
Out by Cuidad de Artes y Ciencias
Learning about the fallas dresses at Indumentaria Valenciana Amparo Fabra
You can choose the fondo and the colors of the designs. A dress requires 12m of fabric (close to 5K Euros) of silk. If you want handmade silk, it will be closer to 12K
City Hall @ night
Ruta de los Pantaneros
There is a lot going on here - Jewish, Arabic, Egyptian
I can find no good apple knock knock jokes for this one. Applie yourself and make one up
The amount of engineering that went into making a tile symphony hall acoustically great was pretty crazy - balconies floating from the back wall, glass burbujas, wooden ceiling ribs. The tile is Manises blue, named for the town the tiles are from, which explains the airport tiles. It's beautiful. Like the ocean at night (Les Arts)
Les Arts door handles
The heads upstairs were too big for the bodies
I will assume they are singing
Calatrava produces interesting interiors as well
View from Blanq Terrace Bar (where only 2 people could use the elevator at a time - even though it was rated for 8). The gin and tonics were excellent
The Sistine of Valencia (St. Nicolas)
"Cotorra" means parrot and chatterbox. The weather vane represents the chatter of the business taking place 50m below – although some suggest it’s more representative of the gossiping stall-holders.
https://derekworkman.wordpress.com/valencia/city-living/mercado-central/
Pre-history musuem, Valencia
Reproduction of la dama de Elx (dissppointed that the original is in Madrid and not Elx)
This part of the museum was explaining how life is away from the coast and in the dry mountains of Valencia - a place the urbanites romanticize with few inhabitants and hard lives
For couples who hide nothing (Cadaqués)
Cadaqués
I hope they use this scene on their ads
I loved hearing the rocks on the beach tumble in and out as the waves pushed and pulled them
Seeing the shore here makes Dalí's painting seem more photographic
Museum in Figueres - which is now a sullied memory
In another painting the kids kept commenting on how real the moss looked
Whoever designed the woman's locker room at Atalanta must have taken inspiration from a bus
Bike store in Valencia - I thought it was named after the race!
Tile lined the wall along the walkway to the Lladró museum in Tavernes Blanques
Love this view!
Does your place have a terrace?
The metro is awesome - clean, 10 rides for 4€, except for the confusing tickets - this one you can use on metro & bus, but not to airport, that one not on the bus...
"What's with the blue buckets?" "For the procession for Corpus Christi where they throw water and rose petals". Ah
Once the tallest building in LPA - looks like the corn cob buildings in Chicago. Supposedly nice for a drink on the azotea
Tax building in LPA - looks like FLW was here
Plaza de España LPA
Sunflowers line the biking path near the Turia
Colon Market
Iglesia Jesuita
Oceanographic residents
View from Vertical
Dénia
My office
