So glad we made the short stop-over in Valencia, and our apartment was situated within walking distance of most of the highlights which made it especially nice.
We took the three-hour free walking tour with Elena as our guide. Once again we were given so much anecdotal information as well as history. These tours are the best!
We started at Plaza de Virgen – behind the cathedral – and witnessed the end of the Fire Festival, heralding the start of Spring, where the Virgen statue was totally covered in flowers. Had we known about the Fire Festival (Fallas Festival), we should have arrived a couple of days earlier and experienced the bonfires and celebrations in plazas throughout the city!
As we all know, Valencia is famous for its oranges, and Elena told us about the popular beverage Agua de Valencia which, of course, we had to sample.
The main market building was one of the striking buildings we saw with a beautiful central dome, lots of lovely ceramic tiles, and leaded windows. One of them displaying the Valencia coat of arms with the two-Ls (given by King James when Valencia twice showed loyalty to his reign, and the bat which is part of Valencia’s lore.