The Holy Grail (Valencia Old Town)

And Hurricane Gabrielle has left the building, dear reader. The day dawned bright and beautiful with cracking blue skies. The perfect day to visit Old Town of Valencia. We had discussed this previously with the conçierge and he recommended the Metro as the walk could take around 50 minutes. On such a stunning day and still needing to work off the excesses of the Catalonia tour, we opted to walk. After breakfast of course.

The walk to the second gate of the Old Town took a little over 35 minutes but no doubt, more time would be required if we walked to the far end to work our way back home. The gates, like many of the buildings in Old Town, are difficult to frame in a photograph because of their size and the need to shoot long and wide. Clearly that is not always possible and it introduces the problem of too many people in my photos. Still, I did the best I could.

Shell marks are clearly visible.

The gates are all that remains of the old fortification. The city walls have come tumbling down but two of the original gates remain. The other is in better condition. This one bears the scars of warfare.

We went old school and used a paper map to navigate the precinct. First stop was the Silk Exchange. What a grand building to be conducting trade in. The garden was tranquil, well, it would have been if not for the multiple school groups and coach tours. 

The contract room.

The chapel and its stained glass window pale into insignificance next to the contract room. A space with vaulted ceilings and massive columns. Silk was obviously big business. The Consulate of the Sea, whatever that means, was upstairs and had an ornate carved ceiling.

The ceiling in the Consulate of the Sea.

Again, the building was on such a grand scale that it was impossible to capture in one photo.

The Silk Exchange.

From the exchange we explored the Central Mercado or Central Market, another huge building. It is, as the name suggests, a market for fresh produce. There were stalls selling fresh meats, seafood, nuts, sweets, fruit, vegetables, cheese, cured meats, bakery items, gelato, and premade rolls. I'm pretty sure if you can eat it, you will find it here.

The market.

The centre ceiling is a dome, of course, and is magnificent. It was reasonably crowded with tourists although there were plenty of locals shopping for their dinner.

The cupola in the centre of the market.

At this stage, it was necessary to pause momentarily for a lunchtime beer in the shade. As welcome as the sun was, it was getting quite warm. We found a less crowded café not far from the markets and settled in to regather our energy. Happily no one smoked. Unhappily a man arrived with a guitar and shattered the peace by serenading the tables. Rock Around the Clock and Love Me Tender, not quite our demographic. He departed after two songs. I'm not sure how successful he was, I didn't see anyone contribute to his waiting hat.

The Old Town is really quite grand and everywhere you looked was a photo opportunity. Many of the old buildings have been well preserved and are beautifully presented. There are parks and gardens and a rather statuesque Town Hall building, complete with the batman symbol. Not really, but the emblem for Valencia is a bat and it does look like the one used by Commissioner Gordon or on a bottle of Bacardi.

The Town Hall.

Beyond the Town Hall were the former bull fighting ring and Central Station North. They were on the very edge of the Old Town. Traffic, cars and people, had notably increased in this area.

The bullfighting arena.

Turning our backs on bullfighting as the Spanish did in the 1970s, we mapped our course for the Cathedral and came across more spectacular buildings. Mostly they were banks. That figures, plenty of cash to splash.

The Bank of Valencia.

There were a number of churches passed before we made it to the Cathedral. Well, we are in Spain. One, the church of San Juan De la Cruz had the usual domed ceilings, but had around 9 side altars. Five down one side and four on the other; one gave way to become a doorway. The church itself contained numerous ceramic tiles, one of the most important collections in Spain.

Ceramic tiles depicting a story.

We edged ever nearer to the Cathedral past the bell tower of another church. Finally we arrived to discover there was a €10 entry fee. That was general entry, if you wanted a guided tour the price doubled. That's about $36 for both of us to walk around inside a Cathedral. Yeah, nah.

The Cathedral.

We sat in the shade to reconsider our plans. I wandered away to snap a few more photos while Jayne eavesdropped on the English tour guide, speaking to the couple seated nearby. From memory, everyone is searching for the Holy Grail. Certainly Monty Python were, as was Indiana Jones and I believe Dan Brown in the Da Vinci Code - never read it or saw the movie. I have standards to maintain. Anyway, they should have looked here, it's in the Cathedral, the Holy Grail. Hence today's title by the Hunter's and Collectors.

I know you are sceptical, dear reader, but no, it is true. Google has verified it. And so has the Vatican, allegedly. I struggle with the concept of a golden chalice decorated with pearls in the time of Jesus. I mean, using something like that instead of stone or wood rather flies in the face of everything for which he stood. Just saying.

Roman ruins below?

From the Cathedral precinct we walked towards the other gate in the former wall in order to orient ourselves to find Plaça del Carmen, an area of street art and quaint shops. On the way we passed a viewing platform that was covered in water that protected the site of some Roman ruins. Well, that was the story, we couldn't see through the water so I'm not sure what was underneath.

The gate appeared beside one of the main thoroughfares and as I indicated, it had been restored to its former glory. It was getting late in the afternoon and we had decided not to eat dinner tonight so we went looking for El Tap, a restaurant that had been recommended by friends. It was found, but alas, it was not opening until 8pm, by which time we would be long home.

Gate number 1.

We did discover Plaça del Carmen but the street art? Well, there is a fine line between street art and graffiti. After a while, we did see murals that we would consider street art but the quaint shops eluded us. Either that or they weren't open.

We were now in the university sector and stopped at a Tapas bar for another beer, hydration purposes only, and a couple of plates, before we made the ill considered decision to walk back to the hotel. It was about 3km, but it was quite hot and while the Spanish sun doesn't burn, its heat bites deeply.

Street Art.

Anyway, we survived and recovered in our air conditioned room before venturing up to the rooftop bar to watch the sunset on Valencia and our time here.

Tomorrow is a transit day. Yay. On a positive note, I have rejigged the system in the car so it now speaks English and have synced my phone so we can use Waze for navigation on the big screen. 

Until next time.