The day when I walked through the historic centre of Valencia was cloudy. Gray. Maybe not the best time for a walk... hey, wait. Every moment is good for a walk! Especially if your tour guide is your own son. 😃
He was so happy, taking us places and proudly showing us that he knew where to go and what to see. I didn't want to go by bus, as he suggested, although he said that it would be faster to get to the centre from the bus station where we parked the car... I chose to walk. Well, after 15 minutes I asked him if there was still much further... You know, something like Donkey's question from Shrek - are we there yet?
Yes, he confirmed it was close but repeated it a few times more if we had taken public transportation... we laughed a lot about that. Well, fifteen more minutes passed and we were at the train station. I have already shown you that beautiful building. Now it's time for the rest of the tour through the city centre.
The grand town hall of Valencia is just a few minutes from the station. The square in front of the building was full of people... I am wondering if all of them wanted to take a stroll exactly at that hour and stand there!? Well, they wanted to get into my photos, what can I do about it?
It was a little better in front of the Palace of Communications in Valencia. Fewer people there. Also, a building that has been showing its architectural beauty for one hundred years. However, I saw there was a ribbon at the entrance, maybe they were doing maintenance work.
In the town hall square, everyone can find fun to their liking. For me, the ice rink is something I should always avoid. When I was little, I fell on the ice and broke my left arm. You can imagine that I don't want that to happen again - ice rinks are a great enemy of mine! Although a few years ago my niece made me try skating again... What a bad decision it was! I fell again, I hurt myself so much that for a few days, I couldn't even get out of bed.
Maybe a carousel is suitable for me.
Or... the Christmas tree! 😍 It stood behind the carousel, in a few seconds I was there, in front of it. My son says it is much nicer in the evening, when there are lights but we couldn't stay until late. It was pretty anyway, with or without the lights.
The young guide made us move - he had to get back to the bus station as he was travelling to Barcelona. Our time was limited so just a quick look toward the fountain...
...and another angle of the same fountain, with the Christmas tree and the tower of the city hall in the background.
No, no time for visiting the Rialto theatre and watching a movie. Maybe next time.
As I said to my son that I wanted to see Torres de Quart, he took us through different streets back toward the bus station. He made a good choice as we saw a few interesting things. The first of them was a cheerful house called La Casa de Papa Noel - Santa's House. It would not be an outstanding thing to see around Christmas dates, but seeing it written in Hungarian on the top balcony was a thing! A Mikulás Háza - that is Hungarian! 😀
Still under the impression of what I had just seen, in a few minutes we arrived at the Central Market. It is so beautiful, both on the sides and in the centre of the building.
A few steps from it, we saw a gorgeous church, the Royal Parish of Saints Juanes Valencia.
To see another marvellous building you just have to turn to the other side of the street. This was the building of the Silk Exchange of Valencia.
I said we had a great guide! 😁 quick but efficient, maybe too quick as he was in a hurry hahaha. In the end, we passed by the place I wanted to see. Torres de Quart. It was not easy to squeeze it into a photo. 😆
As you can see, we had to walk quickly so as not to be late, but when we saw the bus station, we relaxed because there was still plenty of time left.
It was an intense walk, but it's okay! Quick and under the grey sky, who said we couldn't enjoy it to the fullest!? 😎
