More photos are here ⬇️
The day started off with breakfast in the apartment. Mon Suites Benlliure was well equipped so we were able to make our own breakfast sandwiches and hot drinks without having to go to a café.
Once we were ready and out, we headed to another ancient artefact, the Quart Tower. This was part of the city’s ancient wall that helped to defend the city from advancing Napoleonic troops in the war of independence in 1808. Marks from cannon balls can still be seen today.
Our next stop was the Silk Exchange, La Lonja de la Seda. This is a beautiful Gothic style building that was constructed in the 15th century. It looks very much like a castle or fortress, and is made up of four parts: the tower, the sea consulate room, room of columns and orange tree patio. It was used as a trading place for silk and later on oil, grain and cereals. This UNESCO heritage site only costs €2 to enter, however you can pay more for a listening device that talks about the history whilst you walk around the building. I particularly loved the orange trees in the outside patio area, as well as the imposing and ornate stone columns in the room of columns.
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/782/
We decided to flag a taxi down for our next place of interest, the City of Arts and Sciences, some 2-3 kilometres away from Valencia city centre. Designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, there are different parts that you can attend, depending on what you want to do. For example there is an aquarium called the Oceanogràfic, a 3D Hemisfèric cinema, or an interactive science museum. You can either book individual tickets or a combined one which is cheaper. There is also the Palau de Les Arts, for music and other artistic performances, and the CaixaForum, used for conferences and other exhibitions. The imposing structures are striking in appearance and give you plenty to do inside. However, being outside of these buildings is just as impressive; with waterways and gardens that surround them. We went to the Umbracle, a covered garden lined with trees and plants. This was peaceful and gave us some respite from the afternoon sun.
https://www.cac.es/en/home/la-ciutat/descubre-cac.html
We didn’t go inside any of the above mentioned, but decided to walk back through the Turia gardens towards the city centre. This took a good 40 minutes or so to get there.
By this time, we were well overdue something to eat, and settled on a restaurant very close to the apartment called Haus. This place offers decent paellas, fish, burgers, chicken, salad, tapas and pizzas, so there’s something for everyone. Whilst there I checked out my guide book for other places we could visit.
https://elhaus.es/bienvenido-sanvicente
So next, we headed towards the impressive railway station, the Valencia Estacio del Nord Railway Station. Beside this is the Plaza Toros of Valencia, commonly known as the bullring. Some 10-15 minutes later we arrived at Casa Judia on Carrer de Castelló. This colourful and interesting building, situated in the south of Valencia’s historic district, was built in 1930. It is art deco in style, and its name translates as “Jewish House”. It had a Star of David above the entrance to the building, which was used to host traditional Jewish celebrations discreetly, in the small Jewish community of that time.
Our final visit was to the Mercado del Colón, on Carrer de Jorge Juan. I’d been drawn to it when I’d seen a picture of the building, which was beautiful. This market is on two floors, with a butchers and a few bars on the lower floor. On the main floor there are places to eat and drink, with people also displaying art for sale. We decided to stop at a bar situated on the outside of the market building for a cheeky gin and tonic before heading back through the streets to our apartment.
After a bit of relaxing time at the apartment, we got ready to head out to a restaurant called Bardebares . We’d passed this the previous night and liked the look of the menu. We couldn’t book so just arrived on the off chance. Luckily there was a table for two available. The staff were really lovely, helpful and attentive. We went for traditional tapas and a lovely bottle of Rioja.
This is somewhere that I would definitely visit again and it ended another brilliant day in this vibrant city.
jctraveller 
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