Throughout Valencia’s 2,000 year history, the River Turia flowed around the ancient walls of the city’s medieval centre. Most of the year, a dry, hot climate and low rainfall meant it was little more than a stream, but spring and autumn rains in the hills behind Valencia often turned the river into a raging torrent. In 1953, those rains broke the banks of the river and turned into a catastrophic flood.
Flooding wasn’t uncommon in Valencia, but what happened on October 14, 1957, was of a different magnitude. At one point 4,000 cubic metres of water per second swept through the city, killing over a hundred people and washing away homes. The devastation took months to clean up and a huge engineering project diverted the river to the south of the city. That left the original river and its bridges high and dry.
For 20 years a debate raged about what to do with the space left by the river. One plan was to build a multi-lane highway down it. By some miracle a more visionary view took hold, and instead of concrete and toxic fumes the old River Turia became a tree filled park running for almost 10km from the outskirts of the city all the way to the port on the Mediterranean Sea. It is a glorious piece of urban planning and one of Valencia’s greatest assets.
Throughout the week we spent in Valencia, the Turia Gardens drew us back repeatedly. They made for a lovely evening stroll, but along the former river banks you can find many other attractions. We set off one day to walk the whole route stopping first at the Modern Art Museum. From the Pont de les Arts, we walked around a bend in the river bed and under the 17th century Pont de Sant Josep and the 16th century Pont dels Serrans.
Further on we stopped at the Museum of Fine Arts for more Sorolla paintings and a wealth of other great artists, all housed in a 17th century palace. Back in the gardens we passed under another medieval bridge, the Pont de la Mar which comes with its own reflecting pool, before finally arriving at the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias. In a city of ancient history, the City of the Arts and Sciences, or CAC, is out-and-out futuristic.
As you emerge from the gardens, you’re confronted by brilliant white buildings reflected in aquamarine pools and gleaming in the Mediterranean sun. Most are designed by Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava, the setting and architecture are simply stunning, and deservedly world famous. Three times over budget and a €900 million price tag, CAC didn’t come cheap, but the result is fabulous.
Europe’s largest cultural centre – it houses an opera house, science museum, planetarium and an aquarium, itself the largest in Europe with 45,000 specimens – has to be seen to be believed. The Turia Gardens flow down one side of the complex, while above it on the other are the delightful L’Umbracle gardens. It is genuinely one of the most extraordinary places in Europe (I don’t say that lightly).
A little further down from here is the busy port, but we were headed for the gentrifying marina area and the old fishing village of El Cabanyal, now a buzzing and trendy district of colourful houses just behind the main beach. It is renowned for having good bars and even better restaurants. We were keen to try both. In the harbour area is an attractive Art Nouveau warehouse now a public space, and La Pamela, a much photographed sculpture.
In the tightly packed streets of El Cabanyal we stopped for a pre-lunch vermouth and tapas in Bar Lapaca, a lively and popular place festooned with all sorts of weird wall hangings. Deeper inside the neighbourhood we found a pedestrianised street with a truly great seafood restaurant and a local wine list for a long lunch. The perfect way to end a day of art, architecture and gastronomy? A stroll on the Playa Malvarrosa and the Paseo Marítimo.
Fascinating, didn’t know any of this so as well as being a good insight and read it has now been added to my list of places to see….
Valencia’s a lovely city, it’s definitely worth a visit.