Sick Days

Nothing much to report. I’ve been down with a dratted cold. We have been getting out for walks each day, though, and slowly reacquainting ourselves with the city. Just no big outings.

Yesterday, we walked over into Ruzafa, the trendy neighbourhood we lived in the last time we were here. Four years on, it looks even more lively, with new bars, nightclubs and galleries. Ines, our landlady, told us it is now one of the most expensive places to buy or rent an apartment in the city. 

Square near Almudin museum in centre

Today, we might get back on the bikes and ride down the river to the Biopark, depending on my energy levels. In the meantime, in lieu of actual news, I thought I’d introduce this great city to my legions of followers. 

Valencia is a city still not well known to North American travellers, but it is apparently very popular as a destination in Europe. Certainly the early-Saturday-morning EasyJet flight we took from London was packed. Karen was reading something the other day saying that there are over 300,000 European foreigners registered as permanent residents along the stretch of coastline included in the Valencia region. 

El Barrio Carmen streetscape

The first thing to know about Valencia is the climate. It’s the best we’ve experienced anywhere in our winter travels. The city on average gets 171 sunshine hours in February – that’s 5.7 a day – and the number goes up to 234 by April. It sometimes gets 200 clear days a year! There is very little rain: less than 1.5 inches in each of February, March and April. The average daytime high in Feburary: 62.8° F. By April, it’s up to 69.4° F. 

Snow? Nada, zilch.

So I know London-ville has been getting some bizarre weather of late, but here, we can expect sun and mild temperatures right the way through. This morning, there was some cloud, and we said, 'What's all this then?' But now as I look out the window, the sky is clear, vivid blue.

Street art in Barrio El Carmen

Valencia is also a good size. The population of the city proper is about 800,000, the metropolitan area, between 1.5 and 2 million. But the centre is very compact. It’s the third largest city in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona. It’s also the capital of a semi-autonomous, ethnically distinct region. Valenciano, a Spanish dialect – or a separate language, as locals insist – is similar to the Catalan spoken in the Barcelona area. 

The city’s role as a regional capital means it boasts more amenities than many its size. There are three universities, a La Liga (First Division) football (soccer) team, an opera house, a second major concert venue, a science museum, aquarium, two significant publicly funded art museums – including the superb MUVIM contemporary art gallery – and several smaller city- and region-run museums and galleries. 

Beautiful apartment building on Carrer del Turia in the city centre[

Valencia has a beautiful wide beach, lined with chic cafes and restaurants and a miles-long biking/walking trail. It has a marina, an America’s Cup yacht racing facility, a Formula 1 auto racing track, an excellent subway-and-light-rail transit system, the Valenbisi bike rental service (2,500 bikes, 250 locations) and miles of bike trails, many off-street or separated from motorized traffic by barriers.

Palau de Musica (classical music venue) on River Turia

The river, the Turia, was years ago diverted and channeled out around the edge of the city. (It flooded too often.) The remaining dry river bed, winding right through the centre, is now a network of parks and athletic facilities, with a biking/walking path running its length. At the end near the sea is the jewel in modern Valencia’s crown, the City of Arts and Sciences, a museum and entertainment complex featuring the startling modernist architecture of native son Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela, a Madrileño (Madrid born) architect. 

And then there is the city’s unique, berserk spring festival, Fallas, in March. It’s a huge city-wide street party with weeks of fireworks, parades, more fireworks, storeys-high latex-painted sculptures built of styrofoam and wood. Did I mention fireworks? Valencianos love their fireworks. Fallas brings tens of thousands of people to the city and millions of Euros into the local economy. 

Fallas scuplture in city hall square, 2012

We won’t be there for the mind-boggling climax in mid-March. The city’s vacation rentals are in such high demand for the final week of Fallas – the festival starts to rev up about two weeks before – that owners can charge almost anything they want, and way more than we can afford. I’ll talk more about Fallas as we get closer to the time.  

One other thing to love about Valencia: oranges. It’s what the city or at least the region is famous for: big, sweet, juicy, tender oranges, cheap and very, very fresh. Had one this morning. Yum!