Topics

List of Topics and Articles

48 Hours in Valencia • nicola-millfieldmedia


Having booked time off for a long weekend from my job as the Business Manager for http://www.millfieldmediaprintshop.com  we decided to book a city break by train from Alicante. The destination we chose was Valencia which is Spain’s 3rd biggest city coming second to Madrid and Barcelona.  The journey took under two hours, and the scenery was lovely. The stations were easy to navigate.

We stayed at Hotel Zenit  http://valencia.zenithoteles.com/en which was literally 200 yards from the station. An excellent choice of Hotel, which was boutique style, immaculate and friendly

We choose to have their breakfast which was 12€ each and well worth the money with an amazing choice. The view from our window was lovely and even more so at night when all the building was lit up

The architecture style and atmosphere of the city is simply breath taking…. So much to choose from to visit that 48 hours just wasn’t enough, museums, oceanographic, excellent shops, amazing restaurants with a buzzing night life and miles of sandy beaches.

We didn’t know where to start first, but decided on a little walk round to get bearings. First stop was the amazing art Nouveau market, fruit vegetables and fish in abundance. As you would expect it was bursting with atmosphere and true Spanish style they were all shouting out trying to encourage you to buy from them. A lovely experience to see the Valencian culture in full flow.

The next visit was the bull ring.  This amazing building was adjacent to the station. Whatever your views it is a cultural thing yes I have mixed feelings about this tradition however when in Rome as they say.

We decided that the best way to see such a big city was to buy a 24-hour ticket on the open top hop on hop off tourist bus. Which had two routes to choose from,maritima and monumental taking an hour and a half for each one.  We paid €17 for 24 hours starting and ending at the Plaza de la Reina and took the monumental tour. There are two bus companies to choose from Red or Green. The green company Turistico is slightly less expensive but apparently not as reliable as we found out when we had to wait over an hour as it didn’t turn up.In their defence when I rang they were really helpful and sent one straight away to pick us up and offered to extend our ticket for a further 23 hours to compensate us

After a busy first day we went back to the room to change and look for somewhere suitable to have our evening meal. We chose Mexican which didn’t disappoint, a lovely small restaurant on the main street.We did the marine tour on our second day.We jumped off Oceanografic at which is the largest aquarium in Europe. According to their website the place faithfully reproduces the most important marine ecosystems.  It was an amazing day and the dolphin show was spectacular and brought tears to my eyes. The staff were amazing and the crowd were buzzing and singing throughout the whole show. The price was included in the admission fee.

20160828_093703_resized_220160828_105224_resized

Our next stop was the beach, which didn’t disappoint, miles of sandy beaches, restaurants and a marina. Absolutely beautiful and relaxing where we took advantage and spent some time on the beach reading our books, then had a couple of drinks watching the world go buy as we waited for our bus.The city came alive at night. In the evening we soaked up the atmosphere and sampled some Spanish quinine of Paella and Fish which was delicious.

This break is ideal for couples and families, there is something for everyone. wherever you found yourself. Everyone was friendly and welcoming wherever you went.People congregated around the fountain chatting and just generally enjoying life.

Valencia has a lovely atmosphere, plenty of restaurants on the main street and in back streets where the prices were a bit cheaper and the locals happy that you had chosen their restaurant.We sampled paella, Mexican, tapas and Italian street food.

Totally magical we had an amazing city break and we will certainly return.

 

 


Back

Back to A Spanish Life