Valencia from the top of Miguellette.

Signboard lights, street lights, car lights, traffic lights, all these flaring and glaring in Valencia remind me of the capital. To me, Valencia was just another metropolis like Madrid.

When top brand shops and franchise restaurants started to appear, I expected nothing special from Valencia as I believed I had entered a smaller version of Madrid.

The impression remained with me when I saw the busy train station.

At Norte train station, which is located next to a bullring, I waited for my Valencian host.

Soon after, he arrived by bicycle. “Valencia is a city best explored by bicycle,” he told me.

Finally, I had found something different because there are hardly any bicycles to be seen in Madrid. It was then that the simplicity of Valencia dawned on me.

Simple and humble indeed as I set out to explore the city. After visiting Madrid for two weeks and then Valencia for two days, I could say that I had figured out Valencia better than I had the capital.

The city appears to be more or less circular on the map, and almost everything happens within the circle, the city center. A big river at one time crossed the northern part of Valencia but it has since been transformed into the Turia Gardens.

Within the garden’s confines are several football fields, a playground and at the east end is the famous City of Art and Science.

Meanwhile in the southern part of the city center is Norte train station and the bullring. Marking its place in the west is the Tower of Quart (Torre de Quart), where my journey to the city center begun, the same starting point when Napoleon entered the city.

Carmen neighborhood.
Behind the medieval tower is the El Barrio de Carmen or Carmen neighborhood. The face of an old town greeted me. It also welcomes lots of tourists with a row of bars and restaurants. This area has tourist prices, but cheaper bars can be found in the side streets.

The big street leads to a popular square, Plaza de la reina, where the Cathedral Santa Maria of Valencia is located. The church also serves as a museum and gallery, where the works of famous European artists are displayed such as wooden carvings, artwork made out of precious metals and paintings, including two by Goya in one of the chapels. However, the main attraction here is the holy chalice from the last supper.

Sharing the same foyer as the cathedral is the medieval Miguellette Tower. Climbing the steps to the top is hard work, but there is a banister for safety precautions. That children and grandparents are able to reach the top of the tower shows that it is not a mission impossible.

An overall view of the city of Valencia awaits you there. Some notable sights to see from this vantage point are the City of Art and Science, Mestalla Stadium of Valencia FC and the port of Valencia. The distinct boundary between old Valencia in the center and the modern part of the city on the border is evident from up there.

My tropical body fancies Valencia for its climate. It is the warmest city on the Iberian Peninsula, according to the locals, and competes with the Canary Island in its claims to be the region with most sun in Spain.

I became homesick when I ate paella and arroz del horno (oven rice). Both are typical Valencia dishes made with rice. Valencia is also a rice producer, and even has a rice field a little out of downtown.

Art and Science City.
It is also famous for oranges, which are big and sweet. So, when you drop by Valencia, be sure to have a glass of freshly squeezed Valencian orange juice.

Along with orange juice, horchata is another refreshment to try. This milky beverage of tigernuts, water and sugar dates back to the eighth to 13th centuries when there was a Muslim presence in Valencia and it is a traditional drink or dessert produced by fallera especially during the season of fallas.

Las Fallas is the biggest festival in the city, which attracts international visitors. The people of Valencia have welcomed the arrival of spring and all the trappings of the celebration for thousands of years.

The ringing of a bell marks the beginning festival and the first mascleta, a display of fireworks in the middle of the day. Crowds of people come not only to enjoy the colorful pyrotechnics display but also the sound of it.

The first mascleta takes place on the last Sunday of February, and following mascleta from the first day of March until the 19th, which is the closing day of the festival.

Meanwhile, fallera are local women dressed in traditional attire with traditional coiffure. If flamenco dancers are the stars of Andalucia (Southern Spain), then the fallera are those who take the spotlight in Valencia.

You cannot learn to be a fallera like you can learn the flamenco dance because it is a born-given gift. However, fallera frequently gather not only on the occasion of fallas but also to perfect their art and make things the Valencia way.

Although Valencia is Spain’s third-largest metropolis, the city has plenty of charm that will stay in my memory.

— Photos by Florence Nathania