Itinerary planning is a norm before holiday. 7 days to cover 3 popular cities in Spain, possible?
Yes... lol
Anyway, itinerary is always a guide. Usually use to pin those "MUST-GO" places, but not necessary to follow the itinerary strictly.
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| Itinerary for our Valencia -> Madrid -> Barcelona trip |
We took a evening flight to Valencia. Still in the summer time, we will only say goodbye to the sun after 8:30pm - 9:00pm. So we will be expecting daylight when we arrive. After 3.5hrs, we touch down Valencia Airport (Aeroport de Valencia). We did not check-in any baggage, after alighting from the flight, we took a slow stroll towards the metro station.
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| Left: Quite standard ticketing machine. Easily found just next to the gantry. Right: Nice decorated ticket. Kids below 12 year old are free. |
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| The train is much well maintained, comparatively. ☺ |
After 40 mins of train ride from Valencia Airport Station to Colon Station, we reached the city of Valencia. It give me a good impression instantly. Clean and well lighted street, minimum "artist" painting on the wall. Weather ranging around 25 Degree Celsius.
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Regardless, quickly settled the accommodation, we "fast-hand fast-leg" head out to walk on the street, and look for dinner...
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| Night view of Valencia Catheral |
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| We had our first meal in Valencia at "El Micalet", located at Plaza de la Virgen. Sitting between some ancient buildings and there are street music performers to enhance the ambiance. |
Shall have a good night rest as tomorrow will be an intensive walking day.
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Day 2:
First stop: We head to The Central Market of Valencia for breakfast. Just 5 mins walk from our hotel.
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| Main Entrance to the market. |
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| Wide variety. From dried preserved to fresh. |
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| One and only stall that serve cooked food. Delicious, but its quite a heavy breakfast though. |
Just beside the market, there are many people walking in and out from this ancient building. Not pinned in the itinerary, but we decided to check it out. The building is Esglesia dels Sants Joans, it is actually a Catholic Church.
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| Interior look of the Cathedral |
We make our way back to Plaza de la Virgen, to visit Basílica de la Mare de Déu dels Desemparats.
Basílica de la Mare de Déu dels Desemparats is known as a renowned shrine to the patron saint of Valencia.
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| Beautiful fountain sitting on Plaza de la Virgen. |
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| Exterior and interior view of Basílica de la Mare de Déu dels Desemparats. |
While we are heading to Torres de Serranos, we come across some advertisements on Segway Tour in Valencia. There are many Segway Tours in every parts of Europe, but we are always been reject due to my princess age. However, this company agreed to let her try on the segway.Look at how much she focused on the Segway.
So we decided to join the 60 mins Segway Tour for EUR105 for 3 of us.
Excited!!!
Geared up and ready to go...
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| Fruitful 60 mins tour and tour guide (Patrick) trying to fill us with as much information as possible. It should be easier to be wheeled around the city than walking, but standing and balancing on that Segway platform can also be tiring. lol... |
After all the fun, we go for lunch in "El Forcat" which is introduced by the Segway guys. Then, we shall continue with our itinerary to Torres de Serranos.
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| Delicious!!! |
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| Torres de Serranos, its known to be a gate to enter Valencia City. As according to Patrick's introduction, Valencia city was walled in xxx century, there were total of 12 gates and the only way to get into the city is through one of these gate. Till today, 10 gates were destroyed by "don't know what", so this is one of the precious gate left behind. Obviously that I am not focusing on what he is introducing, I am having fun on the Segway... LOL |
Seems like we had accomplished the point of interests pinned in the itinerary. Feeling still energetic, we head towards Bullring of Valencia.
Had an experience on the local bus system. You do not need to hunt down the ticketing machine, just pay to the bus captain either by cash or card.
EUR 1.50 per pax, regardless adult or kid.
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| No doubt there is no bullfight on that day, we just go there to appreciate the arena and there is a museum regarding bullfighting. |
Entrance fee is just EUR 2 for adult and EUR 1 for kid.
It covered the entrance to the arena and the museum.
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| Grand suit wore by the warriors (Left). Actual size of the bull (Right) |
Have never experience a bullfight in my life before. All I though was a warrior holding on to a red cloth to play around with the bull, to exhibit his brave heart to face the bull that is much bigger size than him.
Partially right!!! That is not the end of the exhibition.
There is a short video clip to show the overall bullfight in the museum. The end of the fight is literally killed the bull with these equipment.
Cruelty??? Thousand of people fly from many countries to witness the fight. I would say; this is the culture.
Last event of the day; sweetness will always enhance the mood. Lets go for a feast of Chocolate.
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| Valor Chocolate; well recommended in TripAdvisor. Many choice of chocolates. Princess opt for a crepe, while Queen go for 4 taste of Chocolate. The top-right photo is not 油条 with Kopi-o. Its like 油条 but its called Churros, with melted dark chocolate. |
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Day 3: Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias comprise of Science Center, Art Gallery, IMAX, Opera house and Underwater world. A huge landscape that required half or 3-quarter day to walk around.
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| Opera House of Valencia. Resemble of a ancient warrior helmet. |
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| IMAX of Valencia. Resemble of an eye with an eyeball inside. |
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| Pricelist of different package |
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| Artistic sculptures along the walkway |
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| Lunch at restaurant in Underwater World. Delicious seafood combo. Spend 3-quarter day walking in the warm weather, finally going to end our day and head towards Valencia Joaquín Sorolla Intercity Train Station. Travelling to Madrid Puerta de Atocha tonight. |
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