My impressions from Valencia – street art, food and more

As mentioned so many times here on the blog, I'm in the middle of moving from Spain to Germany right now. For 10 years I was at home in Spain, so it is not surprising that I often think of my old home Spain. After all, I have written a lot here on the blog about Madrid and also traveling in Spain. However, thinking back now, I could have written much more about this beautiful country. That's why today I want to post again about Spain, to be exact about Valencia.

Two short visits to Valencia

I've been to Valencia twice, the first time last year in May and then again in September right away. Both times I was only very briefly as a stopover in the city. Once on the way to Puerto de Sagunto and the other time on the way to Castellon de la Plana.

As for how to get there, I took the train from Madrid to Valencia at the time, a very comfortable and fast option. Cheaper is the long distance bus, but it takes longer. Otherwise Valencia also has an airport, which is well connected to the city by metro.

Since it was only a stopover for me, I did not spend the night there. If you are looking for a hotel in Valencia, there is of course a huge selection in all price ranges.

Although I only got to know Valencia briefly during my visits, I gathered some impressions that I would like to tell you about today..

Valencia is mainly known for the Fallas, La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, Paella, Formula 1 races and maybe the America's Cup, which took place there a few years ago. However, Valencia has much more to offer, like z.B. the Albufera Park. Everyone who has been there or read a travel guide about the city knows this. But today I don't want to write about these typical tourist attractions, because that's what travel guides are for, but I want to tell you about my impressions, which I collected during my short walks through the city.

Bats in Valencia

If you know the soccer team of Valencia, the FC Valencia, you might have noticed that there is a bat in the club's coat of arms. I honestly only noticed this when I walked past the soccer stadium in Valencia. After that I suddenly saw bats everywhere. On every street gully in Valencia is the city's coat of arms, which, how could it be otherwise, is also adorned by a bat. It was not surprising that also from the city hall a bat looked down on me. Since I think bats are cute, I thought this was pretty cool.

Eating good and cheap in Valencia

During our walk through the city, we also passed the market hall, which is a pretty impressive building. If you have a guidebook, you know that there are quite a few historical buildings in the immediate vicinity of the market hall.B. the silk exchange La Lonja de la Seda, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. But I don't want to write about that. What I wanted to say is that there is behind or. next to the market hall there are countless small restaurants where you can eat well and cheaply. Since the market is right next door, you can assume that the ingredients for the food are really fresh. When the weather is nice, which is often the case in Spain, you can sit outside and order a Menu del DIa (daily menu), tapas, or anything else on the menu.

Valencia and the Paella

Rice is a really big thing in Valencia and surroundings, everywhere you can find paellas in all possible variations and in the daily menus rice (paella) is almost always offered. I have eaten some paella during my stays in the region of Valencia, but I never became a big fan of it. Personally, I do not like it very much. But maybe it is also because the best paellas are not eaten in the restaurants of Valencia..

With a Spanish colleague I have talked in Madrid about the Paella topic.

She said: "In Madrid you can not eat good paellas."

I then asked her: "Where then?? In Valencia?"

She just laughed and answered: "No, not there either. The best paellas are at home."

But probably, as so often, this is simply a matter of taste.

Horchata and streetart in the neighborhood El Carmen in Valencia

In Valencia there is also another culinary specialty that you can either order in cafes or buy directly from small stalls on the street: the Horchata. Horchata is a milky sweet drink made from tiger nuts (chufa) and is purely vegetable. This sweet refreshing drink is mainly available in summer and has a slightly earthy taste. Personally, I like horchata very much and that's why I immediately bought a cup when we passed a horchata stand in the El Carmen district. By the way, this is the district where I liked it the most. Not only because of the small winding streets and the countless cozy bars, but because I found a lot of street art there. As you know, I'm a real street art fan and was thrilled to find so many fine examples in the area. By the way, my all-time-favorite was also there. I don't know why, but this street art painting just did it to me.

I had a little problem only in the quarter El Carmen. I had difficulties to find my way around. The streets were so winding that I needed a map to not get completely lost. The only stupid thing was that the city map was in Spanish and the street names on the signs were in Valenciano. That was a little bit like solving a riddle..

Desire for Valencia

My short visits to Valencia have definitely made me want to do more. This weekend I am however first again on a jump in Madrid. Surely there will be a post about that soon too. But most of all, I hope to have some more time and then the opportunity to visit Valencia again soon – this time for a bit longer than just a stopover…

Do you know Valencia? What do you like best there and what can you recommend??