Valencia: Lookout Towers, the Holy Grail and Sunny Beaches

In my last post I wrote about the half marathon so now we will turn our attention to our victory lap on the beaches of Valencia.

Valencia is a rather strange city. Like all cities and towns in Spain, it is very old. Very, very old. But it shows its age in a way that none of the other cities that I’ve been to have done. There are actually quite a number of run-down buildings. It should be noted that run-down buildings in Spain are still rather impressive. They don’t necessarily detract from the beauty of the old town or the beach but are quite surprising, nonetheless.

Anyway, on to the old town. I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again, the old towns are my favorite places to go. We stopped by the Mercado Central to sample some of the local fare (jamón…and juice…) and admire the saffron. Then we stopped at one of the many churches in town. That might be my only picture with an orange tree in it which is quite a shame since they were absolutely everywhere. Then I picked out a couple of places where I might want to live. But I don’t really want to live in Valencia though so I’ll just have to take them with me. We also went into the Mercado de Colón later in the day to rest up with cerveza and wine.

We focused on two major sights while we were in the old town: the Torres de Quart and the Cathedral of Valencia.

The Torres de Quart is one of the only remaining parts of the protective wall that was built around the city in the 1400s. They also happen to provide a great view, which I suppose was the point when they were built 600 years ago. Now they simply serve as a great way to look out over the city, so we climbed. And climbed. And climbed some more.

I’d say the view was worth it.

We also heard that the Holy Grail might be located in the Cathedral of Valencia so we ventured over there to take a look. I suppose it’s awfully hard to prove that something is in fact the Holy Grail so it shall always remain a mystery. Anyway the item in discussion is the Holy Chalice of the Lord Supper which is held in the Catedral de Valencia. Whether it is or it isn’t the Holy Grail, it is beautiful. Or so I’ve seen in pictures on the Internet. We happened to go in the middle of a service so we couldn’t get right up close to it…or maybe you can never get up close it, who knows.

With the old town completed, we ventured to Valencia’s real claim to fame, the beach. The beach stretches for about 3 kilometers and is lined with bars and terraces making it very easy for a pale girl like me to spend an entire day at the beach without turning as red as a lobster. I just have to pop inside every hour or so. We did have a whole day to devote to the beach so we spent some time on the beach and then sat in the shade at one of the aforementioned restaurant/terraces.

After soaking up the sun at the beach we hopped aboard the train where were treated to some really nice sights. Unfortunately, we were on a train so there is always the faint trace of the inside of the train in pictures.

Next stop: Cuenca! The next stop is Cuenca and the hanging houses. I’m just going to leave it with that so that you’re all intrigued enough to come back.