Travel journal for my extreme day trip to Valencia, Spain. From the Silk Exchange to Valencia Cathedral – find out how much you can see in only one day.
This Tuesday has been going back to the basics for me – an extreme day trip to Valencia, Spain.
This is the earliest flight I have been on so far and I almost missed my train to Gatwick. I literally made it at the very last minute! I arrived at Gatwick hour and a half before departure and I think this is just the right amount of time of you are flying out of the South Terminal. I passed through security quickly, even though my bag was searched. By the time I recorded the start of my vlog, my gate was announced.
The flight wasn’t too busy and I had a whole row of seats to myself. Furthermore, all passengers boarded quickly and were given earlier slot to fly out, resulting in landing 35 minutes ahead of schedule.
I was happy for the extra time… Until I spent it in a queue at the Spanish border. For some reason their barriers didn’t like my passport (along with those of quite a few other passengers), so I had to join the long queue for manual passport checks. I have lost the 35 minutes, but I was still on schedule. … Until I went to the Metro Station. Valencia Airport has excellent connection to the city with two metro lines (3 and 5) running every few minutes. However, I think I spent longer queuing for the Metro tickets than on the actual Metro train.
How to buy a Metro ticket:
– Use the machine or the manned kiosk.
– On the machine, there is an option to have the Menu in English.
– You can’t buy a return ticket – you need to buy 2 single tickets at the total price of €10.70.
– You will get a thick paper picket you need to touch to the white plastic panels of the Metro gate barriers.
Interesting fact: The Metro doors in Valencia have handles you need to use to open the carriages when getting on or off the train.
Valencia is very walkable and easy to navigate. What stayed with me is the adorable side streets that look like paintings – all the colours, the flowers on the balconies, the occasional scooter parked outside create a cozy and homely atmosphere.
Places I have seen:
Torres De Quart
Placa de Vincent Iborra
El Carmen
Placa de Sant Nicolau
Placa de la Companyia
Llotja de la Seda
Mercat Central
Placa Redona
Esglesia De Santa Catalina
Parraquia de la Santissima Creu
Centre del Carme culture center (free entry)
Font del Turia
Placa de la Verge
Valencia Cathedral
Basilica de la Mare de Déu dels Desemparats
Placa de la Reina
Jardin de la Glorieta
Porta de la Mar
Jardi del Turia
Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia
Hemisferic
Museu de la Ciences
Playa de las Arenas
Food:
During this trip, I really indulged in Spanish and local delicacies. I had an Iberian ham sandwich, accompanied by a freshly-squeezed orange juice, to start with. However, the main event of the day for me was my visit to Mercado Central. The central market of Valencia is one of my favourite city markets I have been to. Did you know that Valencia is the homeland of Paella? I had Paella Valenciana – with chicken and I really enjoyed it! I tasted homemade and comforting.
In a place where oranges literally grown on the trees surrounding the busy streets, I couldn’t miss the opportunity and got some oranges and mandarins, to have on the beach.
While Horchata (made from the local tiger nut), may not be my favourite drink, I really enjoyed the Farton I dipped in it.
There is a vibrant duality in Valencia – you can go to El Carmen and walk around the small trees for hours, you can spent ages looking at all the fine elements of the Cathedral; however, in Valencia you can also see one of the most futuristic building designs in Europe. Yes, I am talking about the Arts and Science Park!
Festival time:
I attended Valencia at the time of a festival called Las Fallas. It is celebrated daily stating 1st March with the culmination on 19th March. As part of the celebrations, there is a firecracker show at the city centre daily at 14:00. While I couldn’t see it, it was impossible not to hear the loud bangs.
Las Fallas is a UNESCO-recognised local festival in honour to Saint Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters.
However, I noticed a lot of your young children playing with fireworks around the city after the celebrations, which I found unsafe. Some of the boys were getting very close to the firecrackers and others were firing clusters of fireworks.
Furthermore, I have seen how upset some dogs can get due to the loud fireworks used by the children, which is not something I want to be seeing anywhere in the world. Dogs deserve to feel safe!
I finally made it to the beach. A very windy, empty, wavy beach. I had to fight the wind as I was walking though and every time I tried to talk to my camera, my mouth was filing with sand. At one point, I was the only person on the whole beach! The waves were so wild, it looked scary but nothing was going to stop me from eating my oranges (even the additional sand I ate with them!) I set up camp in the middle of the beach and started pealing my oranges. I probably had half an orange, when two seagulls appeared and started eyeing my food. They did look quite threatening, so I moved further up the beach. They followed me. I managed to have some oranges on the beach, but in the end I left the seagulls’ territory.
I had a slow walk back to the nearest Metro station, stopping for treats and water on the way.
I tried speaking some Spanish (although I don’t know much) and it went pretty well, with locals being helpful and understanding of my struggles to explain what I actually wanted.
The verdict: Valencia is beautiful and has a charming character, combining well-kept historical buildings and modern architecture. Also, it’s a city where you can walk around an exotic garden created in an old riverbed – something you don’t see often. Make sure to try the local food – it’s worth it!
