You might wonder what I was doing this time, especially in Valencia, Spain…
I have never been in Valencia until September 2023, but there is a reason why I was in Valencia. To get married in the church you need a certificate of confirmation, unfortunately, I couldn’t do mine because when I was doing the course thieves got in the church and aimed the guns at us, it was very traumatic, typical chaos of my home country.
In Italy, doing the course would take me around 9 months, my wedding date is due in less than 6 months, so I was desperate, I tried to contact everyone with no answer, finally, I found it on the internet, and it was going to start on September, in Valencia, I left it as plan B in case I couldn’t make it in Italy, well, truth is, as usual, they didn’t help me so I ended up coming to Valencia.
BUT IT WAS FUN, The course was for a week and at night, which meant I had the whole day to explore, and we all know I love exploring.
P.S. This time it was a solo trip, so I could make my husband jealous! MUAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA.
First recommendation: Buy the Valencia Tourist Card, you’ll save a lot of money for this, you can use it for the bus, metro, and even discounts in some attractions.
I stayed for a week in the heart of the city and literally had La Lonja de la Seda in front of me, this served me well to orientate. If you would ever stay around this area, it’s easy to get to the Valencia City Hall by 10 min walking and to the train station, and most of the bus stops are available around this area at all times.
Oceanografic and Museum of Science
On day one I booked tickets for these two places. The last time I visited an oceanographic I was like 3 or something, and the one in Valencia was well known for being a huge and well-provided one.
The “Oceanografic” and the Museum of Science are part of the Ciutat de les Arts I les Ciencés. From the bus stop close to the Valencia City Hall, you can take the bus L35 to get to Ciutat de les Arts I les Ciencés.
I recommend buying the tickets in advance if you don’t want to queue in the place.
I started the tour watching some fogs and marine turtles, turtles are so cute!! and they remind me of my daughter, Lady Jane, yeah, I never mentioned I adopted a marine turtle with my husband a year ago, she’s a leatherback turtle.
Anyway, I spent around 1 hour seeing the whole place, I saw pink flamenco, sharks (terrifying), fish, jellyfish, and penguins (SO CUTE, they are quite funny, watching them swing and fight with each other is like a real Latin telenovela), and my favourite of all them: DOLPHINS, THANKS UNIVERSE FOR THIS BLESSING, I CAN DIE IN PEACE NOW.
After this hour of animal Aquarium planet, I headed to the Museum of Science, inside the museum I had the chance to practice my optical skills and material science skills with all the experiments around, I also had the opportunity to get more knowledge from influential Spanish scientist like Grisolia Garcia, who contributed in the field of biochemistry, as well as Severo Ochoa, who won a Nobel prime “For his many research contributions related to the enzymatic mechanisms of the metabolism with particular reference to his important studies on enzymes involved exchange reactions between inorganic phosphate and high energy phosphate and the resultant discovery of the enzymatic synthesis of ribonucleic acid”. America College of Medicine.
I also adored the interactive games they had to understand better how our body works, I won’t spoil you, you definitely need to see it yourself. The outer space section is also very didactic, I loved the prototype of how an atmospheric cloud looks like, and they have the 0 gravitational room! OMG, I LOVE IT!
Unfortunately, I was too hungry to keep playing all the games, otherwise, I would spend the rest of my days inside that marvellous museum, so I bought a Horchata, and headed back to the hostel. Yeah, this time I stayed in a hostel, Valencia is costly.
Valencia Cathedral
In the afternoon, I used my Valencia city card to get inside the Valencia Cathedral with the cheapest offer. One thing I like about Spain is the Gothic architecture, and this cathedral was not the exception.
The central nave has a height of 22 meters. approximately, while the lateral ones do not reach 16 meters, with the sections being square in the central nave and rectangular in the lateral ones. The height of the naves contrasts with the almost forty meters of the dome; With this, a large, fairly open space of 90 meters was achieved. of length. The plan is a Latin cross, with an ambulatory and dome over the transept.
The Renaissance style had one of its first manifestations in Spain in our Cathedral with the decoration of the main chapel by Paolo da San Leocadio and Francesco Pagano (since 1472). The main silver altarpiece with its doors and the “Canons’ Hall “, work of Miguel Porcar, continuing the purpose of masking the Gothic style in the Baroque period (choir, “iron door”, designed at the beginning of the 18th century by the German Konrad Rudolf) that culminated in the 18th century, when the cathedral was covered with a neoclassical decoration, as can still be seen in the ambulatory and in the side chapels, according to the design of Antonio Gilabert.
In the basement of the Cathedral, which can be visited through the Museum, there is an archaeological excavation where you can see remains of a Roman road and houses, as well as Visigothic and Islamic remains.
An archaeological excavation was also carried out at the museum. In it, we find the reliquary of the kings of Aragon and historical pieces of goldsmithing, the authentic images of the Puerta de los Apóstoles, paintings on panels from the 15th and 16th centuries (Marçal de Sax, Jacomart, San Leocadio, Vicente Macip and Juan de Juanes, among others), canvases by José Zapata, José Vergara Gimeno, and Vicente López de Portaña, choir books and the monumental Custody of the Corpus Christi festival.
Font from Catedral de Valencia, La Catedral del Santo Cádiz
Once you finish the audio-guided tour inside the cathedral you can go up to the Miguelet, which is the highest tower in Valencia, the view is magnificent. Quick reminder, for visiting the Cathedral and the Miguelete I recommend buying the tickets directly in the place.
After this exploration of the day, I went to the course at night and then ate some tapas for dinner.
See you tomorrow, for the next post about visiting Valencia 💃🍷.
Dancing Giglio 