Better late, than never, right? Here are some pics from Valencia where we went in November. I loved the city. It was small enough to feel manageable, yet big enough to feel urban. And it has the beach. I'm always a sucker for city + beach combo.
I thought this was a lovely bread shop. It looks so modern yet is selling something so ancient and staple.
Awesome market where we got some delicious Mediterranean eats.
Crazy awesome trees all over this park. I've actually since seen them in Barcelona and Sevilla as well. And I sadly can't remember the name of them. They look similar in the leaves to magnolias (which I always picture as quintessential "Southern", along with azaleas and wisteria, intrusive it may be, but we have all of those plants in Ourense too). When we did a city tour in Sevilla (different city) we were in a park where the guide said was the designated botanical garden in the city for the plants brought back from the Americas and that this kind of tree was one brought back. Making it almost 500 years old.
The Mediterranean! We unwisely decided to walk there. It looked so close on the map and we thought, "hmm...if we just walk, we'll pass by all of these cool things in the city and then get to the water." That was the case, but miles and miles, excuse me, kilometers and kilometers later, we arrived. Totally worth it though. Even though it as November, it was warm enough to lay there a little while and enjoy some rays.
There is a huge science center, museum center and aquarium there. The buildings are really modern and bold. We were cheap and didn't want to pay to get in, but they were a sight from the outside! It sits at the end of a long park. There was a river that used to flow through the city that flooded too much so they rerouted it a several decades ago and made a park out of it. I guess it's sad to no longer have a river in your city, but it seemed like a great concept to have a park that stretches the length of the city. It was very much in use. There were people biking, playing soccer, running, doing yoga, etc. all in the park.