Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias

Today K gave me a brief walking tour of Valencia city. We walked through the major plazas (Ayuntamiento, Plaza de la Reina), and to the north side of the old city where we walked through the antiguo cauce del rio Turia, or the old river Turia. The old river Turia is now a giant green space that hugs the old city from the north and continues into the urban sprawl that is new Valencia. On our walk I also got to see one of the remaining gates from the old city wall (there are two now). This one was called Torres de Serrano.



Around noon K went back to Zafranar and I stopped at a little restaurant called L'ALMONLINA for a bite to eat and some beer. It wasn't lunch time (the Spanish have a four meal day desayuno, café, comida, and cena), but I was hungry so I had a perico and two cañas of San Miguel beer. A caña is smaller than a pint, and a perico is a sandwich made from egg, onion, and tomato. For a while I thought I was eating an authentic spainsh treat, but then I met the lady behind the counter who turned out to be from Columbia and informed me that the perico was not Spanish at all. Anyhow, when she found out I was Peruvian she seemed to take a liking to me and I think she gave me a discount (I paid about 6USD).
After lunch I headed to 'Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias.' It's a 35,000 meter squared complex of buildings spread out on the last section of the old Turia riverbed befor the sea (although you can't see the ocean from the complex). It's quite impressive with five major areas.

1. Hemesféric: houses a planetarium, an IMAX, and a laser show

2. Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe: an interactive science museum

3. L'Oceaonogràfic: Europe's largest aquarium

4. Palau de les Artes: convention center / auditorium / and arts structure/building

5. L'Umbracle: an outdoor landscaped walk with an impressive 109 arch structure shading the entire thing