Bitter Surprise

Valencia – yes, the home of the home of the very sweet oranges.  And orange trees were everywhere…planted for their beauty and fragrant blossoms.  But the ones in the city are not for eating straight from the tree.  These are bitter oranges possible only for use in marmalades or colognes.  The orange groves lie outside the city and during our tour we did not see them.

Because in Valencia we were docked in a working port we had a long walk to where we could get the shuttle bus to the terminal to meet our guide.  Elva and I were glad to see Dave, who we knew was on our same tour, was going the same way.  When we got to the terminal and I stepped out of the bus.  Yes, you can see this coming, can’t you?  The curb was unusually high and my foot didn’t know that. Slammed down on my left knee jamming right hand and therefore shoulder – again!  This is three tours in a row now – one for Elva and two for me!  It was a long time before the rest of our party showed up.  The other two shuttle drivers had gone ‘for a coffee.’

Our first stop was at the new ‘Science and Art City’.  This collection of white modern buildings is built in a central section of the dry river bed.  One architect designed the whole set of about ten venues. Each has a distinctive exterior related to what happens inside.  One appears to be an eye.  Greenery overhanging a balcony looks to be the lashes.  And the interior staircase as seen from outside gives the appearance of a pupil.  Inside is a museum of visual arts, and opera.

Various types of museums each have their own place: science, art, history, as well as an aquarium, outdoor stages that float in the central water feature, and of course restaurants and celebration venues.  One building had a bit of a problem.  It was finished in 2009 and already the sharply curved, ceramic mosaic roof started to have tiles slide off to the ground.  The entire thing had to be stripped and a decision is not yet made as to what to do next.  The architect is being sued now for another project that he already collected the millions of Euros for but has not completed.

The area around this highly sought after part of the river bed is now filled with very expensive high rise, modern condos and apartments.  The sell for as much as 200,000 Euros for a 60 square meter space!

We continued on with a drive through the city to the high point of the castle for an overview looking at both the ancient quarter and the modern areas and out to the sea.  A castle is always a fortress and may or may not have a palace within its walls. This one was no different and our tour did not include admission to it which was okay by us. 

On our way we passed by along another the dry river bed.  Like Palma, Valencia diverted its river after the 1953 floods.  Unlike Palma they have not yet made any use of this space but have ‘Spanish plans’ to do so.  Spanish plans mean manana! This area of the city is where middle class people lived and there were some private homes.  But in the years of the Real Estate Bubble many sold their homes at reasonable prices, good money for them, to developers who combined the lots and built high rises.  Now for the same money for which they sold they sold their land they can by a small apartment!  The same sub-prime mortgage scandal that devastated the U.S. economy played out big time in Spain.

We did see palaces when we returned to the old city.  Impressive homes of marble and polished granite decorated ornately with coats of arms and smiling cherubs.  These were sometimes built by people who did well in business and wanted to assume a royal lifestyle although they had no claim to royal blood.

We left our mini-bus and spent two delightful hours walking the old cobbled streets.  Our guide was excellent and knew the history of what went on in every cathedral, or bank house, or government building.  We stood on the site of the old Roman Forum which is now the central ‘round square’.  The people celebrate all the Catholic festivals with processions through the streets carrying their appropriate or favorite statue just as they did hundreds of years ago.  The green market was clean and beautiful with bright stained glass windows casting ornate reflections on the white tiled floors.  Everything looked fresh and delicious. The half day tour was more than enough time to see the city and enjoy the highlights.

Across from the Green Market was the Silk Exchange.  This is where the wealth of early Spain was.  The ins and outs of trading and shady deals was explained for us.  This Silk Exchange is one of the reasons that the Spanish Isabel and Ferdinand were anxious to get to the Indies where they thought more silk would be readily available.

Valencia is a well-kept secret.  It has only really started to reach out for tourism in the last ten years.  The main streets are broad with well treed medians and the architecture is classic.  I would be happy to return here and laze in the warm Spanish sun on the pristine beaches.  Note:  Beaches in Spain are not made by tides carrying rocks and pebbles to the shore and grinding them into find sugary, sand.  They are created by silt brought from the mountains in the heavy rains or artificially in big trucks.