Viva Valencia

Valencia is a city on the move. It doesn't seem to have quite cemented an "über cool" reputation, like Barcelona or Berlin, but is that so bad?



There are loads of cool things to do in and around Valencia, not least throw tomatoes at total strangers at the Tomatina fiesta in August. One piece of advice for female tomato-throwers: wear a bikini because your t-shirt will be ripped off! And be prepared for picking tomato seeds out of your hair for weeks afterwards. But it's all worth it, the Tomatina is one of a kind.



Valencia's path to international coolness is coming along nicely. The local newspaper ADN has said Delta Airlines is setting up direct flights between Valencia and New York. It's something the president of the hotel union in Valencia province called “exceptionally good news” last month, which “marks a path to follow”.

On that very same path, Santiago Calatrava’s City of Arts and Sciences seems to be doing for Valencia what the Guggenheim did for Bilbao. It's architecturally stunning.



The City of Arts and Sciences is made up of a science museum, a Imax Cinema/Planetarium/Laserium called Hemisfèric and an oceanographic park called the Oceanográfico. I didn't have time for the first two, but I managed to check out the Oceanográfico.

The shark pool was awesome, you can walk through a tunnel and watch the fish swimming around and above you.



I didn’t find the guided tour all that informative though, and the enclosures for the whales, sea lions, seals and penguins just depressed me. I’m not a fan of seeing animals in captivity. They put on a dolphin show a couple of times a day, but seeing dolphins moonwalking on their tails as the James Bond theme was blasted out through the sound system just made me feel downcast.

I’m sure that marine centres like the Oceanográfico do excellent work researching and conserving aquatic life, and providing an opportunity for people to see their favourite animals up close. Still, I often find visiting zoos a pretty dismal experience.

Public transport to the City of Arts and Sciences isn’t great, but you can walk there from the centre through Jardín del Turia, or Turia Garden. It's a dry riverbed that's been made into a park. A very nice walk on a sunny day.