Thursday, July 14, 2022

Trip to Portugal and Spain (Days 8-9): Valencia

Getting to Valencia

Why Valencia if it's on the other end of the Iberia Peninsula? Typical Spain tours would go from Seville into Granada, Cordoba, Madrid, etc. One of the main reasons for this trip was to visit my sister and her family who lives in a small town 1.5 hrs away from Valencia. We were initially going to take a 5hr drive through Spain to visit her, but they decided to meet us in Valencia. I found a direct flight from Seville with Vueling. Vueling had a nice family fare which includes checked and carry on in luggage in addition to seat selection with the ability to make changes (for $70 USD per person).

Sightseeing

Our hotel was near the Aquarium, so we ended up walking via a walkway that goes through the Museum of Arts and Science and takes you all the way downtown (3km away). 

Hemisferic

We then decided to get lunch. It was a little early for lunch so some places were closed. We ended up going to Restaurante Alma, which had a decent paella.

In the afternoon we spent some time in the hotel pool and later met with some friends and did some more walking. For dinner we went to another place near hotel: La Taberna. They had very good tapas and food was pretty good. I was surprised that they had under 4 stars rating in Google, but looks like the main complaint was that it was overpriced.

Catedral de Valencia

The next day we went to visit the Cathedral of Valencia which is one of top destinations we wanted to visit because of the Holy Chalice. It is a beautiful church with a museum inside it. And of course we had to climb the Micalet (tower) which has a really nice view of Valencia.

Holy Chalice


View from the top of the Micalet


We then stopped to buy some turrones and then had lunch at es.paella, where we tried something I had not had before: fideua, which is essentially a paella but made with noodles instead of rice. It is now one of our favorite family dishes now.



Despite this a very short visit, we really liked and enjoyed Valencia. It is a very modern and beautiful city and we will certainly be back to visit with more time.









No comments: