Valencia (January 2013)
Valencia, on the eastern coast of Spain, is the third largest city in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona. From the Rota area, you can drive to Valencia in about 9 hours. Valencia is home to la Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (the City of Arts and Sciences), an entertainment-based cultural and architectural complex which is considered the most important modern tourist destination in Valencia.
The complex consists of an Imax cinema/Planetarium/Lasarium, an interactive science museum, a landscaped walk which showcases indigenous plants of Valencia, an opera house and performing arts center, a covered plaza for sporting events and concerts, a suspension bridge which is over 400 feet tall, and an aquarium, the Oceanografic.
The complex was completed sometime in the mid-to-late 1990's, so really isn't very old, but because of the style of architecture, the place has a real retro/funky feel to it. The aquarium is the largest in Europe.
The complex was completed sometime in the mid-to-late 1990's, so really isn't very old, but because of the style of architecture, the place has a real retro/funky feel to it. The aquarium is the largest in Europe.
Walking around the aquarium, we worked up a good appetite for the meal we'd been looking forward to trying in this city--Paella! Paella is a rice dish which originated in Valencia sometime in the 1800's. Key ingredients of paella are rice, saffron, and olive oil, but not just any rice. Most paella is made with bomba rice, which is grown locally in Valencia. Bomba rice is unique because it can absorb almost twice as much water as regular rice without turning mushy. This is key to the texture of the dish. In addition to the rice/spice base, seafood or chicken is added, or sometimes a mix of both. Paella is cooked in a special, flat pan specifically for this purpose, and is usually made for a minimum of 2 people--it's a large pan, and hard to make just a little paella...
We asked at our hotel where to get the best paella and were sent to a restaurant on the beach called La Marcelina. True to Spanish form, the restaurant didn't open for dinner until 9PM, (too late for tired travelers) so we were lucky to get in for a late lunch just before they closed for siesta. Sorry no pics of the food...we ate it all. :) We were pleasantly surprised that the seafood paella was served sans shells...they did the work for us and peeled everything first! Usually you can expect legs and eyeballs and all the rest, and it was nice to just be able to eat without performing an autopsy first.
We asked at our hotel where to get the best paella and were sent to a restaurant on the beach called La Marcelina. True to Spanish form, the restaurant didn't open for dinner until 9PM, (too late for tired travelers) so we were lucky to get in for a late lunch just before they closed for siesta. Sorry no pics of the food...we ate it all. :) We were pleasantly surprised that the seafood paella was served sans shells...they did the work for us and peeled everything first! Usually you can expect legs and eyeballs and all the rest, and it was nice to just be able to eat without performing an autopsy first.