Valencia

From Barcelona we went to Valencia by train. It was about 3 hour journey and we reached Valencia around lunch time. So the first thing we did after checking in to our accomodation was to look for the food market and have lunch there. The market, Mercado Central, was not as big as the one we visited in Barcelona but it was quite busy. We tried quite a few things as well as the famous paella. We then continued by walking around the old city following the Lonely Planet's walking tour. We visited the square, took some pictures of the Cathedral and enjoyed our walk.

That day was happened to be World Tourism Day and therefore public transportations such as trains, trams and buses were free. We also got a taste of Valencian Horchata (or Orxata in Catalan) which, I just found out, is made of tigernut. I initially thought it was made of almond. It's an interesting drink, I have to say, very nutty and sweet. I quite liked the taste after a few sips.

Nearby Torres de Serranos walking towards the fine art museum, El Museo de las Bellas Artes de Valencia San Pío V, we passed by 5 huge football fields and we saw people gathered around watching or playing football there. I just thought 'Wow'. I had never seen 5 football fields side by side like that before. We then finished our day at the museum before going for paella dinner.

A part from visiting the old quarter and the museum, there was nothing much to see in Valencia. I asked my friend why we put this city in our itinerary and she said it's because one of my friend wanted to go to the aquarium and due to work related issue she cancelled her trip with us. I supposed after we put it as a city to visit, we never thought much about cancelling any cities. Looking at what we visited I thought we could skip Valencia but maybe we didn't have enough time to appreciate it...

I must say though the paella I had in Valencia was the best I've tasted. Too bad we forgot to take photo of it until it's finished.

Valencia's Mercado Central. This photo was taken by HM.

Some of the food we had from Mercado Central

The Cathedral and Bell Tower from a distance

Details of the Cathedral

Torres de Serranos

I just have to show you this. This is from google map. We were crossing the footpath bridge (the blue dot) and you can see there the 5 football fields. They're huge!