València, Spain 2
We spent our Day 2 to explore the city of Valencia. It was Sunday. The options of early breakfast places were limited but available. We chose a bakery in a district called L'Eixample, located south of the historic center.
It was still early morning. The central market was closed on Sunday. All crowds around La Plaza del Mercado that we saw a day before were gone and the square was nicely open and quiet.
Shortly we arrived at a larger square, La Plaza del Ayuntamiento. The triangular main square with a statue and a large fountain was surrounded by impressive 19th and 20th-century buildings.
The City Hall (Ayuntamiento) was there as the name of the square suggests.
Across the square from the City Hall was the former Post Office and Telegraph building of Valencia.
We walked further and, as we crossed a major street, we could see La Plaza de Toros de Valencia, the city's iconic 19th-century neoclassical bull ring, next to the North Station, in the distance.
We eventually reached our breakfast spot, Fornelino Ruzafa - a bakery that conveniently opens at 8:00 AM on Sundays.
Dozens of miniature croissants were on the cooling rack. One of them came with our hot drinks.
J got tostada (toasted bread) with jamón (Spanish dry-cured ham) and grated tomato; orange juice; and cappuccino. Chocolate dusting on a cappuccino seemed common in Valencia (or Spain?), which was one of my findings from the trip.
I had simple "tostada con tomate;" orange juice; and chamomile tea. Chamomile tea is popular in Spain, primarily as a traditional herbal remedy. When I asked for a cup of "Manzanilla" at any cafes, restaurants or bakeries we visited, the answer was always Sí!
After we enjoyed the typical Spanish breakfast, we wandered in L'Eixample. The district was built in the late 19th century following the demolition of the city walls. It's a commercial and residential area, characterized by a strict grid pattern of long, straight streets and wide avenues as well as elegant Art Nouveau architecture.
We walked up to the bullring to see it closely. It was located at the northwestern end of L'Eixample.
The statue of Manolo Montoliu stood outside of the bullring. Born in Valencia, the local hero was a renowned Spanish bullfighter, celebrated as one of the best of the 20th century.
Our next stop was Mercado de Colón, located also in L'Eixample. Built between 1914 and 1916, the building of the market is known as a premier example of early 20th-century Valencian Art Nouveau (Modernismo). The market was rather a food court and open on Sundays!
We had a break at Casa Orxata, a cafe in the market, serving organic horchata homemade with 100% organic Tiger Nuts grown on their own farm in Valencia. It was our first horchata! It's one of Spain's most famous drinks, originally from Valencia. The main ingredient is chufa or tiger nuts in English, which aren't actually nuts but tubers of the sedge plant Cyperus esculentus. Horchata is almost exclusively served chilled and has been a traditional summer drink for centuries as a nutritious refreshment - full of iron, potassium, and antioxidants. It was in February but the glass of chilled horchata was refreshing. It was smooth and creamy. Horchata is often sweetened but the cafe serves it unsweetened, which was very nice. Actually it had a natural sweetness. I thought that the taste was close to somewhere between soy milk and Amazake, a traditional Japanese drink made from fermented rice. I instantly became a big fan of horchata.
Traditionally horchata is served with Fartons, long, sugar-glazed, sweet pastries, which were also new to us. We ordered two Fartons accordingly. They were just simple sweet bread sticks. In fact Fartons were designed to be dipped into horchata, but we didn't practice the part of the tradition.
We passed by a roundabout with La Porta de la Mar, a replica of a historic city gate, honoring victims of the Spanish Civil War.
Then we arrived at Jardines del Real, a landscaped city park attached to the north side of the Turia Garden. It was a nice park for strolling while the sun was coming out.
On the way to get back to the historical center, we reached Torres de Serranos again. Built in the 1390's, it is one of the two surviving Gothic gates of Valencia's medieval wall. Since the weather was pretty, we climbed up to the tower. Luckily, entry was free on Sundays!
The tower nicely overlooked the historical center and more.
The north side offered a great view of the Turia Garden
We went to the top of the other tower, too. The view from there was almost the same, but we could see the flag much closer.
We could have watched the dance longer but we also wanted to continue exploring the city. We walked through La Plaza de la Virgen. The square looked more crowded than the day before.
The streets around the Valencia Cathedral and its entrance as well as La Plaza de la Reina, the large central square in front of the cathedral were packed with people, including a marching band. Something was clearly happening, but we didn't know what.
The center of the square was apparently fenced off and there was something going on there, but a huge crowd blocked our line of sight. While we were curious about the event, we jumped into a restaurant near the square for lunch, escaping the wave of people. Sagardi Valencia Centro offers authentic Basque-style dining, featuring a lively Pintxos bar.
Pintxos are bite-sized snacks, often served on bread with a toothpick. The system works like this: Once you secure a table, you get a plate. You select pintxos from the counter and enjoy them. At the end you make a payment based on the number of toothpicks from the pinxtos you ate.
The pintxtos experience was enjoyable. A waiter sometimes came to our table with hot Pintxos directly from the kitchen, which was often tempting. For example, one with shredded spicy pork.
When we were almost leaving the restaurant, we heard the sounds of fireworks. We hurried out of the restaurant, but the fireworks had already finished and all we could see was smoke in the sky and people streaming out of the square... We didn't have a chance to find out what the event was, after all.
Our next destination was the Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia. We walked through La Plaza de la Virgen, again.
Jardín de la Generalidad, which was closed on the day before, was open. We took a short detour by taking a path under the lovely orange and lemon trees across the garden.
With some more walk after passing through the gate, we arrived at the Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia. Originated as a 16th century cultivated plot used to grow medicinal plants for studying medicine, the Garden now researches into plant diversity as well as the conservation of rare, endemic or endangered species of Mediterranean flora and their natural habitats.
There were some greenhouses you can walk-in.
You might see more flowers and blossoms there during spring and summer, but the Garden was still beautiful and worth visiting in February.
We were getting back in the historical center. By the way, we found out that street art is abundant in Valencia. Many of the building's surfaces, especially shop roller shutters, are covered with some kinds of murals/graffiti. We found some cute and friendly works.
It was pretty warm, making gelato as a suitable dessert. We stopped by Gelateria La Romana dal 1947, a renowned artisanal gelato chain that originated in Rimini, a city on the Adriatic coast, in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, in 1947. I tried pistachio and some kind of creamy gelato with cherry and chocolate chips with a wafer cookie and whipped cream as toppings. Very good! I think J chose dark chocolate and lemon.
We quickly checked Plaza Redonda, a mid-19th century circular square with a central fountain, which was busy in the Sunday afternoon.
The Cathedral still looked crowded, too, so we were going to enter it another day.
To be continued...
