Overall

The best part of a visit to Valencia is being able to wander the city at night - late at night and to see the sheer enjoyment that the locals take as an essential to living. We've been 8 times now, tried about 15 different restarants and never had a bad meal or seen a surly waiter/ress. It is said that Valencianans realise they have the best of everything in Spain - weather, heritage, food and are determined to enjoy it to the full. Their idea of a good night out, is laughing, joking, eating and talking, with the odd drink (purely so they can talk some more). Officially the local language is Valenciana (a mixture of medieval french and Catalan) but everyone understands Castillian and will make time to listen to even the most rudimentary attempts to communicate. It is so pleasant to walk around the gardens or streets and to see almost everyone with a smile on their face. Although it can't compare to madrid or Barcelona in terms of size or historical architecture, it has the new modernistic science museum which is nearing completion and I swear that it only magic could be supporting the arch over it. It is easily the most beautiful building I have ever seen. 4 star hotels can be booked for as little as €32 a room - if you know which web sites to visit. Lastly, if you want to experience World War 1 in the trenchs, visit in the week before march 19th and experience the "Mascleta" - fireworks at 2.00pm in the city square - these are not fireworks, they're bombs!!

Great for: History/Culture, Theatre/Music

Last Visit: June 2005

20 August 2005 | A Yahoo! User

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