Valencia, Spain – Museum of Arts and Sciences

Valencia

GARDEN OF SPAIN

Valencia is Spain’s regional capital in Comunidad Valenciana on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula. This city has evolved over the centuries with layers of rich history given its prime location along the Mediterranean’s Balearic Sea.

As a result, Valencia blends the Moorish, Gothic, and Baroque architecture of its historic center with ultra-sleek modern by architect Santiago Calatrava within a surrounding river greenbelt called La Turia Gardens.

  • 🇪🇸 Regional Capital of the Valencian Community
  • 💶 Currency: Euro
  • 💬 Languages: Spanish and Valencian Catalan
  • 🚊 Tram and Metro passes: any metro station (single-ride or 10-journey pass)
  • 🚲 Bikes are popular forms of transportation, especially around Turia Gardens (greenbelt)
  • 🚶🏽Valencia is walkable and ranked a safe city, but as anywhere, be aware of pickpockets, particularly in tourist areas and public transit areas; don’t leave phones or purses sitting out

Rail

  • Renfe trains takes around 3-1/2 hours between Barcelona and Valencia (Estació Nord);
    while high-speed AVE trains (also run by Renfe) take just over 1-1/2 hours to travel between Madrid and Valencia (Estació Joaquin Sorolla)—helpful tourist transport info site HERE
  • Rail Europe is a great source for making necessary train reservations—more travel information can be found in my post on an earlier trip: Northwestern Europe
  • Our Eurail passes covered our train travel between cities and villages within our selected countries on the continent
  • For local transport throughout Valencia, we purchased 10-journey tram/metro passes from the metro station office—information guide HERE
  • Metro maps were stored on our phones for quick reference, such as this one for Valencia:
Valencia Tram/Metro Map

A Gothic Treasure: The Valencia Silk Exchange, La Lonja de la Seda

Light streams between a forest of spiral stone columns. Each support twists upward, branching into a delicate web of ribbed groin vaults overhead. This airy—seemingly weightless—volume exalts Valencia’s commercial hub, unique to its time. The History of This Temple of Trade When Pere Compte (renowned master builder from Girona) began construction of this trade center…