Down To The Sea On Bikes

The weather has been fabulous again: sunny and low- to mid-20s. We took advantage by going on a couple of grand treks – not as grand as we thought when we were doing the trekking, but still a fair distance for us: 15 kilometers of biking and walking on Monday, 18.5 Tuesday.

On Monday, we rode a long way around to get to the little residential enclave of Nazaret, beside the container port. (We read somewhere recently that the container port was built where there used to be a nice beach. Now, Nazaret is cut off from the sea by a huge fence around the docks area. Bummer.) The route took us along an expressway of a bike path following the inner ring road, through unpretty Valencian suburbs, and past the massive University Hospital. This may be the largest hospital complex I’ve ever seen, although I’m never sure how much of Sunnybrook in Toronto we can see from the street. It may be as big or bigger. This one looks brand new.

View back towards the city from railway overpass

The last leg took us down an almost rural bike path not far from the City of Arts & Sciences, along a canal and then over some railway tracks on a weird little pedestrian/bike bridge with ramps. It looked from a distance, and may originally have been, one of those 19^th or early-20^th century steel-frame foot bridges you see over railway tracks in England. Nazaret started just on the other side of it.

A once charming Nazaret home

Nazaret is separate from the rest of the city, although it’s only about ten minutes by bike from the place we stayed near the beach our first year here. (That place was on a major artery, Avenida del Puerto, that goes right into the centre.)  It’s even closer to where we ended up on our visit to the docklands last week. I wondered a bit after we finally reached Nazaret why we’d taken so much trouble to get there.

Typical tile-fronted Nazaret house

Architecturally, Nazaret is quite different from most of the rest of the city. It's similar to Cabanyal, with a lot of low-rise single-family houses. That said, I noticed this time that there are more mid-rise apartment buildings than I remembered. It also has a similar demographic to Cabanyal, at least traditionally: fisher folk and shipyard workers. It looks very poor and dishevelled. The city government has made some effort to pretty it up, but with little lasting effect. It is well served by public transit, probably because most of the residents now work in the city.

Possibly the ugliest little house in Nazaret - who would buy this? (Se vende means for sale)

We sat in the sun on a square and had a drink, then wandered about the town. Everything was shut up tight as it was siesta time. So it was even uglier than it is when everybody is out and about and the shops are open. The last time we were here, the market was open and bustling. This time: dead. It really is not a pretty place. The orange trees were starting to bloom, though, even though they’re still laden with fruit from the previous crop. These are not eating oranges, as I discovered on another occasion when I plucked one, peeled it and sampled the flesh - it was spit-out bitter.

We got back on the bikes and rode home along Avenida de Franca, which runs parallel to Avenida del Puerto and has a bike path all the way to the Turia: very boring, through block after block of massive apartment and office buildings. City planning here, unlike elsewhere, has not worked well. Many of the buildings present blank walls to the street. It’s a pedestrian dead zone.

That said, the bike path here is great. The bike path system in the city in general is phenomenal. It's the way every big city should be doing it. If you want to get an idea of how great it is, go to this page. The green lines along streets are bike lanes and paths mostly off-street. Some are separated from the roadway by low cement barriers or bollards. Some of those have a row of parallel parking between them and the roadway, often with a little space between were the cars are supposed to park and the bike lane, so bikers don’t get car-doored by careless motorists getting out of their vehicles. But in many cases, especially in the centre, the bike path is right up on the sidewalk. The boulevards on the many wide avenues in the centre are very safe for cycling too.

That map also shows the extent of the bike sharing system. The little green flags with a letter S are Valenbisi stations. On the bike ride to Nazaret, we “refreshed” our bikes three or four times. The way Valenbisi works is that the first 30 minutes are free (to subscribers, which we are), and then you’re charged I think it’s €1 for each 30 minutes after that. But it’s perfectly within the rules to stop at another station along your route, turn your bike in, and take it right back out again. This only takes a few minutes, and you’re on your way again.

Yesterday was the best weather yet: mostly sunny, 25°C, with only a light breeze. We shopped at the supermarket in the morning and then packed a picnic lunch (including beer and wine, naturally – no silly rules about not drinking in public here), and biked down to the beach.  We sat on a park bench on the boardwalk (actually a tile walk) and ate our sandwiches and apples. There were lots of people out, including some suited business types from the conference centre at Hotel Balneario, near the city end of the beach.

Our picnic spot

After lunch, we doffed our shoes and walked along the beach. The onshore breeze right at the water’s edge was quite chilly and we found ourselves putting our jackets and sweaters back on. Strange: 200 meters from the water, we hardly noticed the breeze. The chill air didn't stop a few hardy waders. 

We walked a couple of kilometers, into Alboraya, the next municipality north of Valencia. The beach front here has been heavily developed with masses of condo apartments, thankfully low- and mid-rise. The last time we were here, many of them seemed half-built, the projects abandoned. And many of the completed buildings appeared unlived in. This time, everything looks sprucer, and more of the apartments are clearly inhabited. There were new, and quite large and posh, restaurants attached to a couple of the condo communities. And they were fairly well patronized for a Tuesday in winter. The beach itself still isn’t quite as neatly groomed here as in Valencia, but we saw a tractor out raking it while we were there.

Panoramic view of beach at Alboraya

Beach front condos at Alboraya

We ended up walking about half-way down the length of the Alboraya beach, turned and walked to the first bike sharing station back in Valencia, took bikes and headed home. We biked part way, walked, then biked again. We were home by a little after five.

Yesterday, we walked over to Rusaffa market to buy tea for Karen – and sausages and mini spuds. We found a third specialty bulk tea place in the market - where there were none that we remember four years ago. Tea is a new big thing in Spain, I guess.

We also walked through our old neighbourhood to see the progress on the Fallas preparations. Things are moving along nicely: the light standards are mostly up, the lights stacked neatly on the sidewalk waiting to be installed. But no sign of the Fallas statues yet. There were two of the biggest and most elaborate right in this two-block stretch, plus a fantastic son et lumiere.

Fallas lights waiting to be hoisted into position

Rusaffa street art collaboration (SIDA = AIDS - a warning to the lovers perhaps)

Karen, doing research on Fallas 2016 events later in the evening, stumbled on a recent article about a residents’ group in this area requesting that a judge issue an injunction to halt the construction of the light show infrastructure. They claim it’s not being safely built, that it will be a danger to pedestrians and that the huge power draws from the light show could impact residents. 

We can certainly see what they mean about the framing not being built safely. We noticed that the uprights – extending up three or four storeys – are often made up of two 6x6-inch square poles, one above the other, overlapping, and held together by thick plastic-covered wires wound tightly around them. The bottoms of the lower poles sit directly on the sidewalk. The uprights are tied into the buildings as well. Still, it looks a little iffy.

I’m guessing that some of the new, more middle-class residents that have moved in with the ongoing gentrification of the neighbourhood are kicking up the fuss. If they’re successful – and so far, they evidently haven't been, because work was onging when we were there – then there will be a lot of disappointed Valencianos. The son et lumiere and the other light displays around the fallas statues in the neighbourhood are a major draw.

On a more positive note, it looks like we will get at least two night-time Fallas fireworks extravaganzas: the Crida, the official opening ceremonies at the Torre Serrano this Sunday evening, and another one closer to Fallas week, in the city hall square, at midnight. We went to it last time we were here and the square was jammed with people.

Lovely building across the street from the Norte train station

Two iconic Valencia landmarks: the bullring (on the left) and the modernista Estacion del Norte

We went for a brief late afternoon-early evening walk over into the centre and noticed that the cage around where they let off the fireworks for that city hall show are now fully erected. The fenced in area takes in most of the pedestrian square in the middle of the plaza, which is too bad. I found some new street art in the slightly depressed area between the central market and MuVIM. Lots of abandoned buildings and hoardings offer ample opportunities for the artists.

Detail of fountain in Plaza Redondo in the centro

A forking in the ways

Panoramic shot of street art in centro near MuVIM

We walked home through the Estacion del Norte, and marveled again at the beautiful mosaics in the traditional waiting room just inside the door.

Estacion del Norte

I went for a run today in the late morning, down Avenida Ramon y Cajal along the boulevard, into the Turia Gardens briefly then out and back by the same route: 4.5k.

This afternoon, Karen and I went for a long ramble through the centre and into Bario del Carmen, looking for likely restaurants for our lunch out tomorrow. We found some good possibilities in Plaza del Carmen and near Torre Serrano, but even in the centre, there were lots with menus del dia priced under €12. Restaurant prices don't really seem to have gone up much, if any, in four years. This is possibly because, with 2,600-odd restaurants, there is a lot of competition for the Valenciano diner's Euro.

Ornate building front on City Hall Square

We passed by the National Ceramics Museum at one point. It's housed in the gorgeous and beautifully restored 16-18th century Marquis de Dos Aguas Palace. Ines was telling us the day we arrived that she thought a lot of tourists somehow missed this landmark. It's hard to understand how that could be: it's one of the best things in the city.

National Ceramics Museum

We also went by the Valencia City Museum, housed in another beautifully restored palace. It hosts art shows and some historical exhibits. We thought of going in to have a look on our way home, but although it was free the last time we were here, it now costs €2 per person. Given that Karen was very tired, we decided to wait for another day, or for Sunday when it's likely free. 

In Carmen, of course we found new street art.

I think we're in for the day now...