Day 16: Valencia

I've moved a few hundred miles down the Mediterranean coast to Valencia - the third-largest city in Spain behind Barcelona and Madrid and famous not just for its oranges, but for also being where paella originates from!

Even though I was only here for a couple of days (and that was primarily to watch Valencia play Real Sociedad), there was still enough time to soak up the sweltering sunshine and see a few bits and pieces of what the city has to offer.

It's a city with a great culture, very good cuisine, but perhaps not as many notable or eye-catching tourist attractions as other cities in Europe.

I was based in the Old Town (which can be seen in many of the photos) and it was lovely to have a stroll around, even though the boiling hot sunshine made me want to hide away in shaded areas. Other attractions include 'Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencas' - which is basically a state-of-the-art science and culture park and L'Oceanografic - a large aquarium with sharks and dolphins in a building which has similarities in its design to the Sydney Opera House.

The Turia River, once upon a time, flowed through Valencia but nowadays it's a public park. Basically, when it over-flowed and devastated three-quarters of the city during the 1950s, the local authority decided to make sure something similar would never happen again by completely re-routing the river away from the centre and into the Mediterranean Sea - thus allowing for the chance to turn what was previously the river into green spaces!

Football fans will no doubt be aware that Estadio Mestalla, which is one of the most iconic venues in Europe due to its steep and sloping stands, is situated in the city. It's around an half-hour walk from the Old Town but there are a couple of metro stops much, much closer to the ground, it's not too far from the sea-front and it's an absolute 'Must Visit' for anyone interested in football - especially considering that Valencia have plans to finally move to a new stadium in the next decade or so!

The club actually began construction on a brand-new ground during the late 2000s but had to halt construction amidst a financial crisis, even though plenty of concrete and steel-work had already been erected. Eerily, in the 10 years since, the site of where the new stadium would be has been pretty much abandoned. The club have mooted at plans in the last couple of years to recommence with construction, but then Covid-19 came along - so, what happens next, who knows? There is a third stadium within the city boundaries called Estadi Ciutat de Valencia which is home to Levante who have infrequently yo-yo-ed between La Liga and the Segunda Liga for much of the past 20 years.

Finally, it's worth a mention that Valencia is on the Costa Blanca - though both Benidorm and Alicante, around 100 miles south, probably have better beaches!