Our second day in Valencia started just around the corner from the Americas cup complex and right outside our hotel window with a swim in the meditteranean... after the tractors had been along and raked it smooth and picked up all the rubbish. Jose took us into Valencia town centre by tram and by metro and showed us the city sights. 
It is a very beautiful city and of course number one spot to see was the cathedral...
Details from some of the cathedrals treasury.
home to the Holy Grail... authenticated by the Pope... under tight security... in a glass case .... behind barriers ... so hard to see and even harder to photograph.
Valencia has a few problems with water... as we arrived we had seen the dry riverbed beautifully landscaped and made into a park.
Here under the glare of tourist camera flashes they hold an open air water court where you can have your water rights and gripes aired and adjudicated over. Much of Spains rice is grown around here and rice is a very water intensive crop.
Naturally we had paella for lunch.
Continuing the watery theme, Riccardo had spotted an poster advertising a history of Valencia Museum. Jose helped send us in the right direction and we set off by metro to find it. On arrival we were faced with 2 enormous metal doors and a sign indicating it would reopen in 5 minutes. We waited 5 minutes then Riccardo knocked on the doors which must have echoed loudly inside. What a find this museum turned out to be... those doors must have been watertight as the museum was actually inside the reservoir that held the water when the river was rerouted. A disastrous flood had caused the people of Valencia to move there river away from the more important parts of town. The museum also had great interactive videos and screens so that you could chose a part of its history and fly straight there in the time machine. It was a superb wrap up to our Moorish Spain trip as it really showed the influence the Moors had on all aspects of Spanish life... language, building, education, food etc. Wow!!
Here under the glare of tourist camera flashes they hold an open air water court where you can have your water rights and gripes aired and adjudicated over. Much of Spains rice is grown around here and rice is a very water intensive crop.
Naturally we had paella for lunch.Continuing the watery theme, Riccardo had spotted an poster advertising a history of Valencia Museum. Jose helped send us in the right direction and we set off by metro to find it. On arrival we were faced with 2 enormous metal doors and a sign indicating it would reopen in 5 minutes. We waited 5 minutes then Riccardo knocked on the doors which must have echoed loudly inside. What a find this museum turned out to be... those doors must have been watertight as the museum was actually inside the reservoir that held the water when the river was rerouted. A disastrous flood had caused the people of Valencia to move there river away from the more important parts of town. The museum also had great interactive videos and screens so that you could chose a part of its history and fly straight there in the time machine. It was a superb wrap up to our Moorish Spain trip as it really showed the influence the Moors had on all aspects of Spanish life... language, building, education, food etc. Wow!!
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