• Cityscapes - Places

    The Turia River Bed Walk, Valencia, Spain

    The ancient river of Turia, right through the Valencia city, would have gone down the history for all the wrong reasons, if the city administration had gone ahead with its initial idea of converting it into a giant highway system through the heart of the city. A river getting converted into a highway, a mistake history would never have pardoned. Thankfully, that did not happen. Turia, the river that ran through Valencia city and drained to the Mediterranean Sea, had a devastating flood in the year 1957 (The Great Flood of Valencia), which changed its course, and well, the course…

  • Places

    One-and-a-half days in Valencia, Spain

    So what should you do in Valencia if you have one and a half days at your disposal? This is what we did. Since we love exploring cities, we planned our stay closer to the historical city, so that we can walk around. We reached Valencia, just before lunch time on a high-speed train from Barcelona. Day 1 – Half day – We explored the historical city covering some of these places: Placa-de la Reina is a town square, with a small, beautiful garden at the centre and many coffee shops and eateries around.   Valencia Cathedral and La Miguelete…

  • Cityscapes - Places

    Valencia Oceanografic, Spain – In Pictures

    (Read the post ‘Turia River Bed Walk‘ and ‘One and half days in Valencia‘ before this post) The Oceanografic in Valencia, Spain is part of the larger City of Arts & Sciences. An marine/aquatic museum, the Oceanografic is the largest marine aquarium in Europe. To say that this is one of the most fascinating science & entertainment destination might be an understatement. The Oceanografic has multiple sections, housed in different buildings, with each section representing a different eco-system or habitat. Mediterranean, polar oceans, islands, tropical seas, wetlands, red sea, mangrove swamps, marshland areas etc.  The aquarium houses over 500 species…

  • Cityscapes - Places

    The City of Arts & Sciences, Valencia – In Pictures

    (Read the post ‘Turia River Bed Walk‘ & ‘One and half days in Valencia‘, before checking this out.) The City of Arts & Sciences is an architectural complex with multiple buildings at the  eastern end of the Turia river bed. The complex includes L’hemisferic – a planetarium and laserium, an interactive science museum spread across three floors, a landscaped walk, an opera house for performing arts, a cable stayed bridge and Oceanografic – a marine aquarium, the largest in Europe. If you want to cover all the buildings, provide for a little more than a half day. Tickets for different…