My Life in Valencia

Now that we are in the beginning of October (hard to believe!), the weather here in Valencia has cooled off from the oppressive summer heat and brought cooler and very pleasant weather. Yesterday was ideal- cooler in the morning (60’s) with bright blue sky warming up to the mid 80’s in the afternoon. A perfect day for aimlessly wandering around the city center. I did have one goal…to find a store that Vivian had brought me to when I first moved here……I didn’t remember it’s name but I remembered it being filled with delicious rices, nuts and spices. So armed with my walking shoes, backpack and a couple of shopping bags, I headed out. Little did I know I would walk 16,451 steps about 7 miles!

To me, Valencia is the perfect sized city–all the wonderful activities and services that big cities have but in a more consolidated and walkable layout. You can really get almost anywhere by biking or walking and if not, there is plenty of public transportation. It also reminds me a little bit of a mini Paris in the way that it is laid out–as it has a river (now a park) running through it and the neigboorhoods fan out like in a snail shape starting in the center. The center of the city is to the west of the riverbed and is what is called the “Cituat Vella”, Valencia for Old City. I live on the east side of the river and it takes about 20 mins for me to walk from my apartment to the Plaza del Ayuntamiento (town hall /government) which is considered the heart of the commercial city center.

My path was to walk over el Puente de Exposición, up one of the most beautiful streets of Valencia, Calle de la Paz to the newly renovated Plaza de la Reina. From there I walked up the Mercado Central and then up to the Torres de Quart, one of the two remaining old tower gates to the city. I found the store I was looking for was just on the other side of the towers-Quart de Kilo I couldn’t pass up climbing the towers where an amazing view of the city rooftops awaited. After sampling and purchasing some delicious tea, honey, lentils, almonds and spices, I headed back into the center with no real agenda.

Walking around the old city is a true pleasure. It is always bustling with people whether it is tourists on bike or walking tours, locals doing their daily shopping or everyone just out for a walk and a bite to eat (any time is eating time). There are plazas after plazas each one with its own distinct character and all of them with at least one restaurant with tables outside. The architecture makes it just a feast for novice and professional photographers as well–medieval towers, beautiful gothic churches , charming store fronts and narrow winding pedestrian streets. It’s easy to get lost just looking up and taking photos if you aren’t careful! There is also almost also always something going on whether it is a festival or market and there is always some kind of music. During my meandering I ran into First Year students on a scavenger hunt for class, other students shopping in the Mercado Central, picked up some yummy (and free) Horchata with cake and witnessed a spontaneous dance party in the Plaza de la Reina. I ended up going back through the Plaza de Ayuntamiento down to Calle Colon, stopping for a healthy salad and some brief shopping in El Cortes Ingles to get some ingredients for my weekend baking project (more on that on a next post). All in all a great day out!