VALENCIA

I’d heard many good things about Valencia from Spaniards and foreigners alike, so I was very excited to be able to sneak one more trip in before my contract at the language school ended. Alicante left a very good impression on me during my two visits there, so I was expecting Valencia to be a bigger and maybe even better version from the same region. I was also interested to see how much I enjoyed it compared to Seville, as I had personally adored Seville, but some people had said to me that they preferred Valencia. In order to get to the Valencian capital, I firstly travelled to Madrid via Renfe and then took a connecting train with Ouigo. They are a French company that have bullet trains on international routes, and it was the first time I’d booked with them. I’d noticed their fleet on the tracks in and around Madrid as they interestingly have double decker carriages. Unfortunately, it turned out that my seat was on the lower deck and in general the train was not as nice as my journey with Iryo or even Renfe, but it was cheap and fast (obviously!), and I arrived on time into Valencia late on a Friday afternoon.

I made my way to the Airbnb which was about 20 minutes on foot from the Joaquin Sorolla station heading away from the city. First impressions were that the ambience wasn’t as pleasant as when I arrived in Seville, but I was still looking forward to dropping my bag off and then exploring. As usual I opted to take a long stroll into the centre instead of utilising the metro. Again, my first impressions weren’t overly positive. The place seemed a bit gritty, especially compared to Seville, but I know that I have slowly warmed to these types of places in the past, so I wasn’t jumping to any conclusions. The weather was also pretty glum – windy and cloudy – which was not showing the city in its best light. The city was more spread out than I had imagined, so it was going to take a little while to get my bearings, especially as I planned to travel to most places on foot.

For my first evening I decided to head over to a place I’d heard a lot about, The Túria, which is a dried riverbed that has been converted into a park. It’s almost 10 kilometres long and it is a buzz with people exercising and relaxing at the end of the day. It is something unique that I’ve not seen in a city before. For someone like me who loves running and walking, it is something I’d love to have in a city that I lived in. At one end of the Turia is the Science Museum complex, which is where I headed next. It’s famous for the modern architecture of the buildings and it was impressive, but I wasn’t blown away at first sight. The grey clouds and dying sunlight didn’t do the setting any favours, but in general I am much more a fan of historical buildings. That was about it for my first day, so I made the long stroll back to my Airbnb. I was looking forward to exploring the city properly the following day, especially as the weather was forecast to improve and the sun would be shining by the morning!

The weather forecast was accurate and I woke to a glorious Spring morning in the city. As I was now aware that the city was spread out more than I’d expected, I decided to get to grips with the metro system and bought a travel card that would last me for 2 days. It’s a good system and has good coverage of the city. I think a major tourism city really needs a good metro system and my only complaint of Seville is that their system currently just has one line on the network. The journey from my accommodation in the west of the city was only around 6 stops to the centre, so it wasn’t long before I was walking around the same areas as the night before. The whole place was now looking a lot more like I’d expected with the sun beaming down. I was noticing beautiful buildings everywhere as I wandered between the plaza that houses the cathedral and the plaza that is home to the town hall. My favourite place in that area was without doubt the central market. It is a fresh food market, and the place is absolutely bustling. It doesn’t look to be anything special from the exterior but the décor and ambience inside are incredible. The stained-glass domes that form part of the roof are particularly striking.

I was now starving and as I was in Valencia I obviously had to eat paella for lunch! Sitting outside the market eating a delicious paella Valenciana with a cold beverage on the side was thoroughly enjoyable. The weather was quite warm and reaching the late 20’s, but it was not too hot to walk around in, so I decided to make the most of the weather and take the long stroll from the city centre to the beach. I made my way along part of the Túria again and then diverted towards the Mestalla stadium, home of Valencia CF. I had tickets for a game of the smaller local team, Levante, the following day, but the Mestalla is such an iconic stadium I wanted to get a glimpse of it on the way to the beach. Even for non-football fans it is a really striking structure, and the little details around the stadium are beautifully historic.

From the Mestalla I continued my journey towards the beach. I still had a long way to go but I really appreciate walking around a city at my own pace, taking my time to observe all the streets and buildings. The neighbourhood close to the beach was a mixture of nice streets but also some abandoned looking areas. The beach itself is gloriously big and long. It also has a nice wide path to walk down, and it was a very busy there on a sunny Saturday afternoon. One thing I definitely prefer about Alicante compared to Valencia is that the centre of Alicante is right next to the coast. You can drift back and forth from the centre to the beach very easily, whereas this is understandably not as easy to do in a bigger city like Valencia. I spent a few hours relaxing in the sunshine on the beach with another nice cold beverage and as sunset approached, I was feeling pretty shattered from a day of walking. I took the metro back into the city to soak up a little more of the nightlife before wandering back towards my accommodation where I grabbed dinner and then called it a night. After an unsure first evening in the city, my first full day had allowed me to see why it was such a popular place and I was really starting to enjoy it.

For my final full day in the city, I of course had tickets for a football match! Which was a 2pm game at Levante’s stadium in the east of the city. During my time at the beach on the previous day I didn’t get a chance to walk around the harbour, so because it was another beautiful sunny day, I decided to head down there in the morning before the game. It really is a nice area. Very open, where the huge beach sits on one side of a long walkway pier, with the harbour located on the other side. I relaxed on the pier and took photos of the beach and surroundings, and I particularly enjoyed taking photos of the two huge flags that are there, blowing in the sea breeze. One being the flag of Spain and the other being the flag of the Valencian community. It was then time for me to make the journey to the stadium so that I wasn’t late for the game, so I hopped on the tram and took a direct journey to right outside the stadium.

The game was a decent fixture with some late drama, ending 1-1 and basically consigning the visitors, Tenerife, to relegation. I hang around outside after the game to try and get some nice photos of the stadium, but it was a lot nicer inside than out, so I grabbed some food and then made the long walk back to the Túria. As a true Englishman I’d sourced a bar to watch the Chelsea game vs Liverpool and have a few pints. And after enjoying a vital victory for the Blues I walked back along the Túria and to the Science Museum complex to see if it looked better than my first evening when the weather was very grey. This was a good decision and I’m really glad that I headed back. The futuristic buildings looked amazing amongst the clear blue sky, surrounded by the greenery of the Túria and the cityscape. It was a really nice way for me to end my time in the city. It had really grown on me since I’d arrived a few days before. I’d say that Alicante was probably my favourite out of the two in terms of a weekend break, but that’s not to say that Valencia isn’t well worth a visit. And with it being so accessible from London airports, I’ll definitely keep it in mind if I’m planning a city break in the future.