V for _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

No, not "Vendetta", though, of course, we all love that movie and is a must-watch on and around 5/11. Hint: first letter 'V' and last letter 'A' are correct. Yup, Valencia. We are just back from 4 great days in the Spanish town which has been on the "To visit" list for quite a while and which was our first trip for 2012. It was a quick affair: in 15 minutes, I had booked flights, hotels and airport transfers and, after borrowing 2 Valencia books from a friend who had actually lived in Valencia for a couple of months, I was totally immersed in the city and all it had to offer. Until we actually visited the place last Thursday and experienced it all, at first hand...

Like most of our trips, the 'commute' started on Wednesday night, with the usual bus ride to town and then the coach to one of those airports which somehow are labelled "London-XX" but which, to date, I fail to understand how an airport even outside the M25 is in London. Anyhow, we got to London Stansted at around 3am-ish and after deciphering all the stores there, we boarded the plane to Valencia. And that was our night's sleep: 2.5 hours on a Ryanair plane. Touchdown and off to the city centre and I immediately started making out a couple of observations...

Spain may be only the channel and the bay of Biscay away from the U.K., but there are imaginary oceans between the 2 countries. People talk and yell on the metro, no persistent messages of "Mind this" and "Do that" every 5 seconds which seem to address an audience with extreme dementia and, of course, not a word in English, anywhere (though with my fair Italian speaking skills and the odd appended 's', I managed to get tickets). Check-in at the hotel done, a 5 minute walk awaited us which took us straight to the main attraction of Valencia: the masterpiece of its own architect-turned-superstar son, Santiago Calatrava.

Wow, the scale and openness of the place. And thinking that this was all riverbed, makes it even more special. The sheer scale of the urban space and the "buildings" forming the C.A.C. was not compromised by the otherwise s****y weather which welcomed us for the first 3 days (though it was no deterrent for taking a total of 1100+ photos, each). Architecturally speaking, the Spanish are well less refined than the Brits when it comes to detailing and workmanship, but so far I have not seen anything as daunting as this mega complex. 150,000,000 euro worth of steel, concrete and water provided endless joy to our architect eyes.

Having bought the admission tickets, we entered the Science Museum, again totally impressive from a structural/design point of view but, although it was fun and interesting, it was surely not as well presented as any of the London museums. A quick bite and we started with the long walk along the ex-riverbed of the River Turia. I must point here that anyone with an allergy to and/or phobia of oranges should not dare set foot on Valencian soil. The sight of orange trees, fully loaded with fruit, became such a common sight all over the city that it soon became something to take for granted and not wander at anymore.

Having surveyed the Gulliver, Palau de la Musica, a number of the bridges and spaces in the Turia, we finished off the afternoon with some shopping at Zara (where else but in Spain?) and then a very tasty dinner of rabbit paella and bountiful salads, after which we headed to the hotel for the first decent sleep in over 30 hours. Only after visiting the C.A.C. at night, which was probably even more impressive than during daytime, courtesy of the reflection magic which Santiago correctly envisioned to be occurring in his shallow pools.

Day 2 kicked off with breakfast and then immediately started the tour of the historic part of the city. First stop: something very Spanish - the bull arena and its museum. Although slightly disappointed that I could not be inside the actual ring, the visit to the Museo Taurino was very interesting and somewhat unique. After a quick look at the impressive North Station, the first of Valencia's 3 main squares, Plaza Ajuntamento, where the Town Hall and the Post Office are, though the latter is probably more dominating and impressive than the former.

The itinerary proceeded with a 2 hour roam around the narrow streets of the old quarters, probably highlighted by the "discovery" of the church of St. John Hospitaller, intrinsically linked with Malta and the Knights. A much-needed pit-stop followed at the Horchateria El Siglo, which furnished us with a horchata and the accompanying fartons in the shadow of the Santa Catalina bell tower just off the second main square. Next, the Mercado Central and its fabulous bright interior and even more impressive collection of all kinds of sea food and meat products of all sorts and strange body parts...

Across the road, we visited the Lonja, whose twisted columns left a marking impression but somewhat blurred by the persisting hunger. Two streets away was lunch: tapas! A quick and unceremonious affair but exceedingly tasty (and salty) meal of grilled sardines, sea snails, salted cod, bread and white wine. At this point, I started to get confused at the endless variety of bathroom signs in Valencia: servicios, lavandos, laseos, the universal W.C. and then caballeros or hombres to indicate male...why can't they simplify the nomenclature and not confuse me further when I really need to go?! Anyway, let's proceed...

More exploration of the old quarters followed, including the final main square, Plaza de la Virgen, the awesome cathedral and its wholly Baroque and fluid facade, the Almoina (which we visited later and is probably one of the best preservation projects I have seen to date) and then the only Norman Foster building in Valencia: the Palacio de Congresos, or "beached fish"; all of his buildings seem to adapt weird nicknames! Back to the centre, we visited the well-hidden Banos del Almirante, a visit which seemed like a private tour since we were just 2 being shown around! Finally, a few shots of the cathedral area by night, then a super-tasty dinner of marinara-style paella and salad and off to bed.

Day 3: first a visit to the Barrio del Carmen, or the Carmen quarter. A somewhat bohemian part of town, with colourful graffiti decorating many shopfronts and alternative outlets, all centred around the old Carmelite church and the Torres de Serrano and Torres de Quart, which we both scaled to the summit later in the day and probably were responsible for the leg cramps which I still have 2 days after...

The rest of the day was mostly dedicated to the C.A.C., first with a 3D show in the Hemisferic and then a good 3 or 4 hours in the Oceanografic, with its huge collection of fish, sharks, sea mammals and the impressive show at the Dolphinarium. I felt slightly uneasy walking down the glass submerged tunnels with sharks and sting rays swimming above my head; it will probably be the closest I will ever get to these sea beasts...

Back to the centre, we visited a number of churches and the cathedral again and most of the buildings we had seen earlier by night; it is a totally different landscape seeing the wonderful variety of medieval and Baroque buildings floodlit, but as I pointed out earlier, probably the highlight was the Almoina archaeological site.

The final day started with the check-out and then immediately exploiting the long-awaited sunshine which I had stereotypically associated with Spain but had not yet manifested itself. Visiting the Jardines del Real, the modern Hesperides and then the Cabecera proved to be the best way to make the most of the sunshine, but we had to pay a visit, albeit a brief one, to the Museo de Bellas Artes. The final stop was by the marina and the beach, characterised by the ultra-modern Vels e Vents and then a final amazing lunch of paella, Iberian pork and tiramisu.

The proxima parada would be sadly be London, though happily laden with 1.4GB of photos (each) and countless cherished memories of yet another Spanish destination off our list and surely not the last!