Day 13-Day 15 – Valencia

by Shona · November 12, 2025

Day 13 – Travel day today – Albacete to Valencia, another train trip of about 2 hours. So far I have been impressed with the long distance trains and buses. Stations seem well laid out and easy to navigate, same in Morocco. Some of the trains have WiFi and charging ports, though they use the old USB connection.

No high speed train but still a comfortable journey. Passed through some vineyards and pastoral land.

Did my usual recon of my local area upon my arrival. Some more elaborate architecture close to where I’m staying. I’m in a B & B that takes up one of these buildings. Mine’s the poor relative on the outside but the inside is very surprising.

Also found a great little fruit shop and bakery specialising in gluten free products. Had a great cup of tea and cheesecake. There was also a Christmas shop getting decorated round the corner.

The Pont de la Mar in Valencia is a historic stone bridge built between 1592 and 1596 to replace a previous wooden bridge that was destroyed by flooding in 1589. Originally named the “Puente del Mar” because it was the natural route to the port, the bridge is now a pedestrian-only landmark that spans the dried-up Turia River, which is now a park. It was converted into a pedestrian bridge in 1933 with the addition of grand staircases, and it features pavilions with statues of the Virgin Mary and San Pascual Bailón.

The Christmas shop getting set up for the festive season.

Day 14- Something different in Valencia. Modern stuff for a change just to show that Spain isn’t all old, crumbley and Roman. A trip to the science plaza and aquarium. I do like the old areas as they have much more character. Modern is a bit ho-hum wherever you are I think, except for where I went today. Spectacular modern architecture (25 years old architecture).

Some areas are very cosmopolitan and you see some very beautiful and classy women walking round. Some areas also appear to be a very wealthy. However, I do like the ancient, something we don’t have at home, although Aboriginal history is probably some of the oldest around.

Enjoy my venture into the “new world”.

First stop, the aquarium. The Valencia aquarium, L’Oceanogràfic, is the largest aquarium in Europe and was built between 1997 and 2003, officially opening to the public in February 2003. It is located within the City of Arts and Sciences.

It was designed to represent the world’s main marine ecosystems, with buildings dedicated to the Mediterranean, Wetlands, Temperate and Tropical Seas, Oceans, Antarctic, Arctic, Islands, and the Red Sea.

These guys would have been close to 1m across with their legs out flat.

Jellyfish are really interesting to watch, though, I’m happy they’re on the other side of the glass.

The tunnel on the left is part of the one shown in the diagram on the right. All of the aquariums are under ground with only the entry above ground as shown in the diagram.

The shark and ray tank.

King penguins. There was shaved ice falling from the ceiling for them.

My favourites for the day – the Belugas.

Playtime for dolphins.

The Science Museum was opened in 2000, the second building to be opened on the City of Arts and Science. It looks a bit like the skeleton of some sea creature sticking out of the water. It’s an amazing building.

Many of the displays are interactive and touching is expected and encouraged. Not all exhibits are hands on. On the ground floor when you enter there are a number of displays largely geared towards kids that you don’t need to pay for to interact with.

The first floor of the Science Museum in Valencia is dominated by a massive Foucault pendulum with a length of 34 metres. The circular motion of the pendulum observed is caused by the Earth’s rotational movemen.

Nearly the entire second floor of the Science Museum is dedicated to three great Spanish scientists who were Nobel laureates in the fields of physics and medicine. This section of the museum is called El Legado de la Ciencia, which translates to The Legacy of Science.

Here, you’ll find the life stories of Santiago Ramon, Severo Ochoa, and Jean Dausset, who contributed to the development of many scientific disciplines, transforming the lives of many of us. I skipped through here pretty quickly as there was lots of information and all of it in Spanish.

The third floor is where the fun happens. There are probably more than 100 interactive stations mainly on human biology/DNA and how it makes us who we are. There is also a lot of space stuff.

One floor also had a huge display depicting Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions.

Looks like I need to be a bit taller to be perfectly proportioned. 99.41% is pretty close! 😁

This one you can pull all the parts out of the body cavity to see where everything fits.

Scale model of the Hubble Telescope.

This was really cool. A box of sand with contours etc projected onto it. When you piled the sand differently the contours changed.

This was fun too.

Hemisfèric (left picture): This building, shaped like a human eye, houses an IMAX cinema, a planetarium, and a laser.

Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía: This majestic opera house is both an architectural landmark and a vibrant cultural centre, hosting various events including ballet, concerts and plays.

Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía – I think it looks like the Mothership come to take us away.

The Umbracle, a landscaped promenade at the top of the complex.

Day 15 – Today was an interesting day. I had booked to go on a tour to some thermal pools and a hike to some waterfalls, however, late yesterday afternoon I received an email saying that the trip was canceled due to lack of numbers. After looking at the “What to Do” list for Valencia I decided to take the local bus out to the Parc Natural de l’Albufera – located about 10km out of the city.

There is a large freshwater lake of over 2,800 hectares, the largest in Spain, which gives the park its name: l’Albufera. You can take a 40 minute boat ride at a cost of 5 Euros with a minimum of five people.

Up to 300 different species of birds find refuge here throughout the year, especially waterfowl that spend the winter here, such as flamingos. In fact, L’Albufera is recognized as one of the Ramsar wetlands of international importance, and since 1994, as a Special Protection Area for Birds (SPA).

On the other side of the road and a bit of a walk away is an artificial wetland developed from approximately 40 hectares of converted rice paddies. This was done in 2007. There are numerous trails and bike track round the wetlands and down to the beachfront.

When I got off the bus my plan was to just go for a walk but three French women asked if I would like to join then on a boat ride. We found an Italian lady on her own and asked her to make up the fith person. After the boat ride we went our separate ways. I went for a walk to the wetlands and on to the beach where I had lunch.