She was in Valencia (Pt.1)

A city untouched very much by the tourism. They have an awesomely cool sciensy-techy part of the city, but it was definitely still very Spanish. What's with the lack of spoken English, massive use of sign language to communicate between tourist and locals, and honestly, a lack of tourists in general. Yet so safe to walk on the street at night. And the friendliness of the people, super heartwarming!

A lot of my Spanish journey involves just walking and taking in the streets instead of visiting every single attraction, a different experience than my other trips. Oh, and I'll dedicate the food to a whole new post, ;)

And I had a really close friend with me, lady this time which made the whole journey amazing =D

Transportation:
Only needed the bus for slightly far off places such as the beach and City of Arts & Sciences. Or you can challenge yourself with your legs, which we did. Use the metro to the airport, fast and affordable.

Base: Hotel Continental
Location: 4.5/5
Environment: 3.5/5
Room: 4/5

I'm not sure if this can be classified as a hotel per se, in relative comparison to the Budapest place. But it's definitely better standard than a typical hostel, so it's kinda a mix. Unfortunately I forgot to take any photos of the outside of the hotel, or its interior haha. But it had a classy reception. Really good location, near to plenty of bus stops, metro stops and was basically the centre of most places thus getting around on foot wasn't difficult. Plus it is a well-lit street and can be busy at certain times, though Valencia in general does feel rather safe anyway. In terms of environment, it can be a bit cramped at the breakfast area. We came during off-peak season so its not too difficult to get seats. What was annoying though was they didn't have wifi in the room, only in reception, so if you are stuck to the Internet like me, it can be annoying. Though it was liberating not having to check the phone all the time. Breakfast was typical, lots of bread to fill you up. I have to commend the receptionists though. There was a dude, I think his name was A-something-ro? Alvaro? I can't really remember but he was very helpful, made the stay very pleasant. In terms of room, Spanish hotels tend to have tiled floors, so it can get pretty cold, needed to wear socks around. I wasn't happy with the bathroom because of the weak water pressure, but I'm guessing it's due to us staying on the highest floor. Otherwise it's pleasant, plenty of space in the room, comfy beds and they had a TV as well. I watched Breaking Dawn Part 1 in Spanish =P

Day 1
Playa Las Arenas
Mercato de Colon
Plaza Ayuntamiento

We took a really really early plane (6am) from Stansted thus arriving by 10am-ish in the city. It was convenient to get into city, direct metro from airport for about 5 euros. Checked in, asked the reception for some suggestions of places, and decided to head to the beach which is probably about 20 minutes by bus fro m the city centre. You can walk there, the roads in Valencia are pedestrian friendly but as we have yet to get our bearings around the city, we took a direct bus that cost 1.5 euro, I think it was bus number 32/35. Takes you directly to the beach with a few stops along the beach itself. We got off at the first stop and walked along the beach. It has been a while since I've seen waves and sand, it was so worth it! Plus it was a sunny day, made it even better. Though given it is winter, taking a dip was not very possible. Spent our time walking till lunch.

 Wide streets in front of the Ayuntamiento

 Palm trees!

 Sandy beaches of Las Arena

Say hi to my pretty buddy, Agnes =)

Then took a metro back to city, particularly Colon which seems to be a shopping street with a good mix of high end brands and tourist stuff. We also visited the Mercado de Colon, a market place which sells Christmasy stuff, and plenty of eateries though they seem more expensive than elsewhere. Took photos and walked back to Plaza Ayuntamiento, which means 'town hall' in Spanish. Valencia does not have the "old town" look compared to most places I've been, it's rather modern actually, yet not touristy, if that makes sense. Headed back to hotel for some rest because we only had 2 hours plus sleep and bouts of nap throughout the plane ride, so it was tiring. Went out for dinner near the Central Market, then enjoyed a walk around the streets at night.

 Exterior of Mercato de Colon

Streets of Valencia at night

Day 2

City of Arts & Sciences (Oceanographic + Science Museum)
Jardine del Turia
Barrio el Carmen

We spent a good half a day in the City of Arts and Sciences which is the techy place I've mentioned earlier. Very modern, and I like how they created the impression of space with lots of white colours and water features. There are a few main buildings in this area, which are the Hemisferic (auditorium), Umbracle (garden), an Arts Museum, Science Museum and Oceanographic (aquarium-zoo). We chose to go to the two latter ones and paid for a joint ticket, it was not cheap but in my opinion well-worth it. Started with the Oceanographic as we wanted to make the Dolphin show (included in ticket price). The place is huge with each area dedicated to water-life from different regions around the world. I think the walk took a good 2 hours, not including the half an hour Dolphin show. I reckon it would take longer if you read everything they had, especially the legends of the sea in every region. We had an audio guide as well, which was complimentary with our ticket. The Dolphin Show was great! Short, but very fascinating it made me feel like I should consider being a dolphin trainer, haha.
After the Oceanographic, we headed to the Science Museum which is 3 floors of cool exhibitions. They had everything from understanding human bodies (DNA till body movements), environmental-inspired stuff such as the use of wood, art collections, nobel prize winners...everything! I think one can spend a whole day here. We spent about 2 hours looking at the general collections and the human-inspired one. There was also a temporary exhibition on Marvel Superheroes where they used superheroes to explain different functions of humans' body, it was super cool!

 City of Arts & Sciences

 Wetlands Exhibition in Oceanographic

 Super cool dolphin show!

 Our favourite exhibition in the science museum. Basically the most relaxed person wins. By putting your forehead against the metal rods, two people battle to see who can use their theta waves to move the metal ball in the middle towards their opponent's goal. Coolios?

Part of the Marvel Superheroes exhibition

Then we decided to walk back into the city by following the Jardine del Turia which is a garden built upon a filled-up river, so basically it snakes back into the city. The river was "closed" because it used to cause massive floods. Which is why it can be quite weird to have proper bridges but no water underneath, just gardens. The walk took a good 40 - 50 minutes with a relaxes pace but you do see a lot of different architectures (especially bridges) along the way. Some of the attractions like the musical fountain is also found there.

Our journey by the Turia Gardens

Reached Barrio el Carmen which is one of the small neighbourhoods to the north of Plaza Ayuntamiento. This area used to be popular for night life, now it is recommended because of its small funky shops and pretty cobbled streets. The area gives a much more old town feel than the rest of the city centre. Pretty nice to just walk around and chill as the buildings are tall so its not too sunny. We wanted to climb up the Torres de Quart, but it was closed just before we reached, super sad! And it was not open on Monday, boooooo. Spent some time there before talking a stroll back to the city centre. Passed by Plaza de La Reina (Queen's Square) and stopped by its Christmas Market and an evening drink.

 Serrano Gates to the old town

 Streets of Barrio el Carmen

Plaza de La Reina

More in Part 2 ;)