A Walk Along The Park

The cold – my illness, I mean, not the weather, which has been mostly gorgeous – continues unabated. Now Karen is getting it, probably. Oh well.

Thursday was a write-off; we didn’t even get out of the apartment. I slept a lot. Friday we walked, first over to the area around the Mercado Centrale where, last time we were here, they were building a new subway stop. I wanted to see what had become of that project, fearing the worst. Sure enough, it has apparently been cancelled, like so many building and infrastructure projects in this country. The steps down into the planned station are fenced off, as they were when we were here four years ago; but now there is no sign of ongoing construction.

We continued with our project of reacquainting ourselves with the city, wandering into Bario el Carmen. A sidenote here about the street art in Valencia. It has in the past been one of the things that made the city really interesting (to me, anyway). My impression this year, so far, is that the street art scene is in decline. There isn’t as much of the really clever stuff that was the norm the last time we were here. This long mural in an alleyway in Carmen is the one encouraging exception I’ve noticed, and even it’s not entirely to my taste. The pictures are panoramas stitched together from multiple exposures, using a program from Microsoft called Image Composite Editor (ICE). The perspective is slightly distorted as a result, but it gives some sense of how it looks. (Tip: click on the pictures to enlarge them.)

Our first destination this day was the Torre Quart, one of two surviving tower gates from the medieval walls. They’re very impressive, yet the locals just seem to take them for granted. You do see more tourists around the towers. One of our favourite restaurants (or mine anyway) is still there, looking exactly the same. We know, however, that the bastards changed the one dish I adored – french fries topped with baked cheese, aioli and bacon – making it unrecognizable, and totally uninteresting. Doesn’t matter; I couldn’t eat it anymore anyway – too much cow cheese. (What a drag it is getting old, to quote Sir Mick.)

Plane tree

Street art near IVAM

We walked around the edge of the old city, along the banks of the river, to IVAM, the wonderful contemporary art gallery, and picked up brochures. Alas, none of the planned exhibits during our time in the city looks all that compelling. But we will certainly go and give them a chance. At this point, we went down into the Jardines del Turia – the miles-long system of parks and athletic facilities in the dry riverbed of the Rio Turia – and walked around to the other of the two medieval towers, Serranos. From there, we walked back through the centro (downtown) to our apartment.

Torre Serranos

Today, Saturday, it took us a long time to get moving (too many newspapers to slow Karen down). It was after one o’clock by the time we got out. The weather was mild and sunny, of course. I saw one pixel board that claimed it was 26°C, although I doubt that. Our plan, decided by Karen once we were outside, was to walk to the Bioparc, the zoo, and the Parque de Carbecera, a green space with water features, on the edge of the city. It took about an hour, partly along a wide boulevard lined with huge apartment buildings – it is astonishing how densely populated this city is! – and then along the Jardines del Turia. 

Near Bioparc - another abandoned project: apparently some kind of technology centre

The Parque de Carbecera is pretty much as we remembered. It was quite new when we first visited in 2012 and somewhat sparsely foliated. I thought it might have grown in a bit, but no. There were still lots of families and couples out strolling and sitting in the sun. When you consider how many apartments there are right around the park, though, (hundreds) it didn’t seem that crowded. We walked part way back along Avenida del Cid (El Cid was a hero of the Christian wars against the Moors in Spain in the early middle ages), then grabbed bikes at a Valenbisi station and rode the rest of the way home. 

Our big treat today was to stop in the Placa de Vannes, a pretty little square a block or so from our apartment, and sit at an outdoor cafe for a glass of wine and a beer. The breeze was starting to pick up a bit and the sun was not as warm as it had been – we were quite hot at points on our walk – but it was a pleasant interlude. 

Karen in Placa de Vannes

Then it was home to meet Ines, who came to change the bedding and towels – and, bless her, ironed the sheets. She came with the boyfriend, who was sent out to buy salt for the dishwasher (to soften the water, which is very hard). At one point she came out of the bedroom where she was making the bed and had been talking to him on the phone. She said, with a look of disbelief on her face, “I just spent five minutes trying to explain to my boyfriend why we need salt for the dishwasher!” “Men,” I said, “they’re so stupid!” She is a delight.

And now the evening stretches before us. The plan is to go wild tonight and go out for an evening walk, mainly to take the garbage out. As I’ve said, we are living the high life here.