When you visit a city you often want to know all those little things you will not be able to do elsewhere, so today we recommend you eight things you can only do in Valencia.
Take the opportunity to experience the city and follow our suggestions:
1) Walking along an old riverbed turned into a garden: Indeed, in Valencia we have approximately 11 kilometres of green area crossing the city west to east. The area was a river more than half a century ago, but it is now the greenbelt of Valencia. Leisure areas, playgrounds, the city zoo and even the City of Arts and Sciences can be found inside the riverbed. You can enjoy a nice walk or bicycle ride in there.
2) Visiting the largest aquarium in Europe: the Oceanographic is one of the sections of the City of Arts and Sciences. It contains more than 35,000 million litres of water and is divided into several areas called “seas”. You will walk through a 35-metres-long underground tunnel surrounded by sharks, you’ll see a dolphin show and you will have the opportunity to eat in his famous underwater restaurant while hundreds of tuna swim around you.
You do not miss: largest nature park in Spain
3) Go to La Albufera Natural Park, the largest nature park in Spain next to a metropolitan area, you can enjoy this wonder of nature just 14 kilometres from the city centre. Take the opportunity to get onto a boat trip, visit the village of El Palmar, a fishermen and farmers area, watch the sunset and/or go to a wine tasting in the midst of this natural setting. La Albufera is a great area for bird watching, one of the points where they stop before crossing to Africa escaping from the Peninsular winter. You can also visit the real shacks where the movie “Cañas y Barro” was recorded.
4) Experience a “Mascletà”: probably you have heard about the festival of Las Fallas de Valencia. One of the activities you can enjoy during the festival week is these fireworks shows called “Mascletàs”. From March 1 to March 19 at two in the afternoon, the Plaza del Ayuntamiento (Town Hall Square) becomes the absolute centre of the city. For about 8 minutes, Valencia smells of gunpowder.
You never seen something like that before. We promise.
5) Tribunal de las Aguas de Valencia (Water Court): this court was declared UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006. It takes place every Thursday at midday in front of the Gothic door of the Cathedral of Valencia. Eight trustees, representatives of each of the canals that irrigate the Huerta Valenciana (Valencia market gardens), solve the problems of the farmers in their fields. And even today, in the twenty-first century, this is how it works, and the court has absolute jurisdiction over these issues.
6) Drink the real horchata de chufa (Tiger Nut Horchata): that’s it, L’Horta Nord, a region in the province of Valencia, has the designation of origin for the product, so the authentic Valencian tiger nuts are only cultivated in this area. That’s the reason why Valencia has the best horchata bars where you can taste this very traditional drink.
7) Learn how to cook paella: it is true that you can find paella in many restaurants in Spain, but you will only find the authentic one in Valencia. Wherever you may come from, surely you want to learn how to cook real paella, which the natives cook at home and enjoy with the family on Sundays. If so, you cannot miss our “paella cooking”.
To finish the day let´s try our traditional drink, “Agua de Valencia”
8) Try the Agua de Valencia (Valencian water), another of our typical drinks, made with freshly squeezed orange juice. People drink it usually at night, because apart from the orange juice it is also made with champagne and other alcoholic drinks. We recommend you not to leave without tasting this typical drink. There are many places you can have it, the most typical within the Old Town: El Café de las Horas and El Café En Jaume.
