Valencia

 Well, not just Valencia but also Manises, the surprisingly good pottery museum there

This was in a service station; showing the dangers of Google Translate

We spent a morning in the Science Museum.

A quick trip

 It's difficult, in these pandemic times, to know what to do: we've left Jaca very little in the past few months, and we don't mix much, but it's good to see our sons once in a while. We thought things were fairly safe, and went to Valencia to see Andrés, stopping off in Zaragoza for a few days with David. We are careful. Always wearing masks, and never touching people. My hands are cracked and dry from the amount of gel I use on them! 

So, after a few days in chilly Zaragoza, we changed season and drove to Alboraya, our usual stepping-stone to Valencia. As you approach along the coast you get tantalising glimpses of the sea over the crash barrier; Valencia isn't very good at showing off its lovely coastline - you have to make a concerted effort to go to the beach when you're there.

Well, we arrived, found a parking space and checked into the hotel we've used several times before. The only difference was that we couldn't share lifts with other guests!

And off to the city centre in the convenient metro train, being careful not to touch barriers and handrails, into the Valencian warmth and sunshine. We were lucky to find a restaurant with tables out in a square with no traffic and few pedestrians

and we had a delightful meal in the shade of an orange tree loaded with unripe fruit. We ate there again the next day; it was relaxing and the food was good.

Ok, the second day we visited the Silk Museum, which has only been open for a few years. It's in a big restored palace, and it was delightful! Valencia has a long history with silk. I particularly liked being able to get close to the dresses on show, the spectacular recreation of a painting called "the Silk Merchants in the Lonja of Valencia"

recreation and, behind it, the painting

In this photo you can also see the wonderful tiled floor. 

Here's a link for a little video about the restoration of the building:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T_MU5uM7XU  It's in Spanish!

When we bought the tickets for the Silk Museum we were offered, at only one euro more, entry to two churches, San Nicolás, called "Valencia's Sistine Chapel" for its frescoed vaults.

You could probably spend a long time gazing at these paintings; for my taste it's a bit too much, but it's very impressive.

The church of the Saint Johns was the other one.

..

Valencia

Last week there was a great storm called Gloria which came from the south, destroyed beaches and promenades in Valencia and tore over the mountains to Zaragoza. the weather was horrible here at the beginning of the week and in the countryside just out of Zaragoza towards Teruel it snowed. Villages in Teruel were isolated by the snow. On Friday we set out from Zaragoza to Valencia, on a motorway with snow piled up on the sides and white fields as far as the eye could see in some places.
teruel was clear, and of course there was nothing in Valencia. It was a pleasure to be able to sit outside in the winter sun there!

And of course enjoy the orange trees

The paella Valenciana

We went to the Cathedral, our first visit. This is the chapel of the Holy Grail-you can see it in the middle. It was sent there from Aragón in the middle ages.

In the museum there were lots of things, the one which really struck me was this unrepentant thief, which must have been one of three crosses.

Then we paid another €2 and went up the tower, which is known as the Micalet after the biggest of its bells. 207 steep steps up a narrow winding staircase; there were red and green lights top and bottom to restrict the traffic to one direction at a time, although it wasn't completely effective. It was a hard climb, but the view at the top was great, and the clock struck twelve while we were there; the Micalet was struck twelve loud times! 

Valencia weekend

The city of Valencia is the third in Spain in population. It's about 250 kms from Zaragoza by road and takes some three hours by car or four by bus. It's a coastal city, but unless you make the effort to go to the beach you might not see the sea at all. Other times we booked a hotel in Alboraya, to the north-east, but this time our hotel was in Manises-further out to the north-west. (Valencia's airport is a stone's throw from the hotel) Arriving and checking in by midday, we tried to take the Metro which was just outside using the Metro cards from previous visits, but it turned out that Rosas is in Zone B and our cards were for Zone A so we had to get another card which covered both zones. It's a big place, and you can spend a long time travelling on the Metro or on the rather slow and rickety tram lines.
Valencia has a long history, but some of the attractive buildings are Modernist:

(not sure if it's Modernist but I loved the paint)

Saturday was our full day and we took a bus, the number 25 to the Albufera. It's a freshwater lake, just a little way out of town, and just off the coast. We got on the bus, along with lots and lots of others until it was crammed tight with people. The bus was free because of the European Mobility Day. Brilliant! On arriving at a stop called Embarcadero we got off and were immediately invited to take a boat trip (that's what we had come for) Once the little flat boat was full-about 10 passengers-we set off on a peaceful citcuit. We saw big fat carp which attacked the bread the boatman threw to them. Mallards, herons, little egrets. Unfortunately no flamingoes, although apparently they do turn up there. My first trip to Spain, I landed at Valencia airport and must have come past the Albufera, because I remember seeing flamingoes then. Well, it was a lovely trip, after which we took the bus to El Palmar and had a special treat, Valencian paella-that's not with seafood but green beans, chicken and rabbit, and cooked over charcoal.

Unbeatable!

This is a lake. No waves. Fresh water.

Here you can see Alboraya, Manises, and at the bottom, where it says Pobles del Sud, the Albufera. The lake is surrounded by fields of rice, which are flodded with the fresh water. 

We didn't see the sea, at all, although it wasn't far away.

On Sunday, making an effort we went to Valencia's famous Malva-Rosa beach and paddled in the sea. It was a very hot, sunny morning. Once again, transport, this time Metro and trams were free, and very crowded. It's a long, beautiful beach; there were lots of people; although not too many actually swimming-the waves were quite rough. There were surfers paddling their boards. We walked all the way along the Malva-Rosa and fount, to our surprise that we were on Alboraya beach. It's quite a long way from the town of Alboraia, but looked like a good place.

In the afternoon we started off for Zaragoza, leaving the palm trees and orange groves, giant cacti and rice fields behind us.