Valencia

Last weekend we took a trip to Valencia with the IES program.  The trip was 3 days and 2 nights, though I could've stayed much longer--Valencia is beautiful!

The bus ride from Madrid to Valencia is ~5 hours, though we stopped for breakfast so it look us around 7 hours.  For breakfast, we ate at a restaurant inside of Alarcon Castle, which used to be an Arabic fortress dating back to the 8th century.  It is located in the Province of Cuenca, which was conveniently on our way to Valencia.  The castle is now a parador, which is essentially a luxury hotel usually located in a historical building.

Alarcón Parador

Bria eyeballing the freshly squeezed OJ...

Chorizo, Assorted cheeses, Tortilla de Patata

Assorted fruit plate

Pan (bread) - Croissants, churros, and other Viennoiseries

Once we arrived to Valencia, we went to a galleria for lunch.  And of course, we had Paella.  

Paella is a rice dish originating from Valencia, and to many, it is known as Spain's national dish.  There are three different types of Paella:  Valencian Paella (Paella Valenciana), Seafood Paella (Paella de Marisco), and Mixed Paella (Paella Mixta).  

Key ingredients to Paella include vegetables (peas, asparagus, any other green vegetables), saffron (the key to giving the golden colour), a protein (seafood, chicken, duck...) and olive oil.  At the luncheon, we had a Valencian Paella.  

The Paella being presented...and Ángel in the back

Paella Valenciana

After lunch, we checked into our hotel, Hotel Dimar, and got ready to go on the historical walk of Valencia with Spanish guides (guias).  

Valencia is the third largest city in Spain with the population being around 809,000--following after Madrid (6.5 Mil) and Barcelona (4.5 Mil).  It is located on the east coast of Spain and is one of the busiest container ports in Europe.

On our tour, we saw the Valencia Cathedral, The Llotja de la Seda (Silk exchange), and Museo de Ceramica (Ceramic Museum), different plazas, and the ongoings of the Corpus Christi festival.

Large Ficus trees in Valencia

Our guia, who walked around like this, not exactly sure why!

Our tour group with one of the trees

On our tour, we got to see the University of Valencia, one of the oldest universities in Spain, and considered by many Spaniards, one of the best in the country.  It was founded in 1499 and has 55,000 students.  Something I found interesting was that it was the first university in Spain to found a course on the study of herbs.

Monument in front of one of the historical buildings of the university

Some of our group posing in front of the statues

 As the historic walk went on, we got to see "Europe's Narrowest House".  This "house" is just over a meter wide and is 5 stories high (or was, until the neighbor bought it and knocked it through).  

"Europe's Narrowest House"

My favorite part of the tour was climbing the Valencia Cathedral--the view is amazing!  Definitely a must do if you go to Valencia and you have the energy to climb up ~207 steps!  The cathedral is located in the center of the Plaza de la Reina and is one of the cities' landmarks, not to mention that they have the Holy Grail there, too!  The Holy Grail for those who are not familiar with it is a dish, plate, stone or cup associated with Christian literature and most times a Holy Grail is said to have been used at the Last Supper.  The Holy Grail at the Valencia Cathedral is one of the supposed "Holy Chalices" that was used at the Last Supper.

View from the top of the bell tower of the Valencia Cathedral

Some of the steps in the bell tower

Corpus Christi celebration decor--made completely of flowers.
Depicts the Holy Chalice

The "Holy Chalice" Holy Grail in the Cathedral

The front of the Cathedral

After viewing the Cathedral, we went to the Llotja de la Seda (Silk Exchange).  It is considered a World Historical Site by UNESCO as it "illustrates the power and wealth of a major Mediterranean mercantile city in the 15th and 16th centuries".  It is also considered to be an exceptional example of a secular building in late-Gothic Style.  The original function of the Llotja was for oil exchange, which then turned to silk exchange and is now used primarily for agricultural products.  

Inside the Llotja de Seda

Valencia Orange Trees infront of the Llotja

Outside of the Llotja

Saturday we all went to the beach!  What I had been looking forward to the most.  The beach in Valencia is beautiful--white/tan sand, deep blue water, not too hot, not too cold.  It was perfect.  As far as touristy things to do at the playa (the beach), I would just recommend relaxing and playing some beach volleyball like we did!  And an FYI--people are not afraid to go topless on the beaches of Spain!

Our final day in Valencia we went to the largest aquarium/marine park in Europe--La Oceanografía.  It has 45,000 animals and 500 different species including fish, mammals, birds, reptiles and invertebrates.  There were numerous buildings--10 total--full of animals.  Also, we got to see a dolphin show! Enough of that, here are some videos and pictures from the visit!

Here are some videos of the dolphin show.  They were taken on my iPhone so they're a bit shaky, I apologize!  Trying to figure out a way to upload them in a better quality, but here's what I have for now!  I must say, seeing a dolphin show when you are a kid at SeaWorld is a lot different than when you're older.  I never paid much attention to how the trainers used hand signals and whistles to lead the dolphins, so it was like a brand new experience!