After a wonderful stay in Barcelona, we boarded a 3 hour train to the birthplace of paella. Baba asked me why we decided to visit Valencia and to be honest, I can’t remember why. I think I had also considered Valencia as a potential place to move to, and I can’t say no to good paella!
We stayed in Valencia for 6 days. Valencia is the third-largest city in Spain but is very walkable and has a small town feel. For the first couple of days, we visited some of Valencia’s top attractions.
Mercat Central de València. This is a beautifully ornate public market that sells everything from colorful fruits and seafood to pastries and souvenirs. Unlike La Boqueria in Barcelona, this market was less crowded and touristy. You can see locals here shopping for groceries. There is also a popular restaurant in the market called Central Bar, but we arrived too late and the wait was horrendous.
The City of Arts and Sciences. This is a complex of cool, futuristic buildings that include a movie theater, planetarium and science museum. We read that the museums are better suited for older kids, so we didn’t go inside. But it was still fun to see the unique architecture of the buildings.
Old Town. Also the downtown of Valencia, this charming area has a cathedral (believed to have the original Holy Chalice or Holy Grail), a big plaza, historic monuments, and plenty of restaurants and shopping. It was also in Old Town that we came across a long-running café, HorchaterÃa Santa Catalina, and had horchata. Horchata is a refreshing milk drink made from tiger nuts. It tastes similar to soy milk and is very popular in Valencia.
We made sure to eat as much paella as we could in Valencia. We even took a 1 hour bus to the fishing village of El Palmar, known for its paella. The most common type of paella today is seafood paella, but traditional Valencian paella is made with rabbit, chicken or duck, and broad beans. Unfortunately, the rabbit and chicken is usually a bit dry so we still prefer the seafood paella.
Paella restaurants charge per person and require a minimum of two orders. We usually order for three people, and it’s SO MUCH FOOD. All good though! 😋
The rest of our time in Valencia was spent swimming or going to the beach (which was beautiful but crowded) and discovering amazing playgrounds like Parc Gulliver. The whimsical playground is made up of slides in the shape of the character Gulliver.
Valencia was nice, but a tad slow for us city folk. Most of the charm and action was in Old Town, but it didn’t quite reach the rest of the city. What can I say? We have the attention spans of a flea. 😅
On to Madrid next!
Hongs Abroad 