Thursday 20th April 2023

Second full day in Valencia, and a day of culture planned, or at least visits to several churches.

Which counts as culture, right?

We laid in bed to half seven, then leapt out, had showers and after dressing went down for breakfast. Breakfast was fruit, cold cuts, fresh rolls and cakes all with lashings of coffee, was good.

Traffic outside the hotel is mad in the morning, with it trying to get on the main roads alongside and over the long park, we walked over to the other side and flagged a taxi down to take us to San Nicolás de Bari, or close to it, though walking would not have taken much longer than the taxi ride. We think we got the driver to understand our required destination, and he drove off, weaving in and out of the other cars and buses.

He dropped us in a narrow alleyway lined with old shops covered in grafitti, not sure it it was art or just rundown. But with Maps on the mobile, we walked the three minutes to the church, and found out it opened at half ten. We had 90 minutes to kill.

Down the street was a coffee shop, so we had another coffee and watched the world go by from our small table on the street. We then sat on a bench nearer the church as time crept to half ten and the opening of the church.

I will be forever haunted by the homeless man who was in the doorway opposite, who had made a pair of shoes from offcuts of plastic, and who bought a coffee when he had begged enough. He had dreadlocks, and a trolley of possessions, but was young, handsome, and who knows what his story was.

I even thought about buying him some shoes and taking them there next day, but the heat of the day made me feel quite ill, so not up to the walk.

Both Jools and I have had luck, we both nearly went bankrupt and could have ended up homeless.

St Nicholas is an ancient church, but had something of a Baroque makeover in the 18th century, and the walls, ceilings and everywhere covered in paintings, fresos and statues. As a whole it is remarkable, and the work is of a very high standard indeed. As is the way here, it seems, the church was lined with side chapels with statues or triptychs.

I took lots of shots, though my vertigo was giving me grief, and I would have to sit down between taking shots up at the roof. This would come to a peak at the basilica later that morning, when snapping the inside of the dome I nearly fell over. Jools saw that I nearly came over to catch me.

Oddly, that was the last day I had vertigo, a week later after staring at choughs on the cliffs for ten minutes, I realised I wasn't getting dizzy.

So it goes, so it goes.

Or went.

A short walk away is the Cathedral, a large a sprawling complex meaning that in the search for the entrance I found another Basilica conjoined to it, so we went it and found a small square church by with the underside of the dome gloriously painted.

Basílica de la Mare de Déu dels Desemparats is a stone box with a dome, at least from the outside, but the Spanish Baroque had visited here as well, most impressively on the underside of the dome.

It was crowded, which meant any detailed shots were impossible without annoying people who had come to actually worship..

We sat for a wile in the cool before moving on, but crowds at the entrance to the cathedral meant we thought we would return on Friday, early, to beat the crowds. It was half eleven, and in trying somewhere to shady to sit, I find two more churches which to visit, the second a service began at midday.

Santa Caterina offered a climb up the belltower for a few Euros: not in this heat I thought. So we entered the church and found a brick vaulted building, austere compared to St Nicholas and St Mary, but cool and calm.

I took a few shots before we went in search of somewhere to get a cool drink.

We found Església de Sant Tomàs i Sant Felip Neri also open, but just before midday itmeant a service was about to start.

We did stay for a while, but in a break in the service, we make best our escape back into the bright sunshine.

Back outside it was hotter than ever, and packed with people. One last visit was to Pl. Redona, a circular plaza, which looked photogenic. But as most other photographers from Europe and beyond had the same thought, and it was filled with market stalls and street cafes, I take a few shots and we leave again through a portal into a quiet street.

But being after midday, it meant bars and restaurants were open, and on a side street we fond a small place that did cold beer and were happy to make us a bowl of Valencian paella, made with chicken and rabbit. Paella takes at least half an hour to make, so we sat, talked and drank cold beers untel the tin pan full of rice, herbs, vegetables and meat was brought.

Once we had eaten, it being two in the afternoon, we walked back to the hotel for a siesta. Going was hard, but we walked on the shady side of the streets, and in 20 minutes we were back in our room, but it had yet to be serviced. When the maid came at three, we went and sat in the shade in the small park in the centre of the boulevard outside the hotel, watching people and traffic coming and going.

We sat in the room, writing and listening to podcasts until it was half six, and the heat of the day had left, to walk back to the centre for arts, so we could take shots of the complex once the sun set at quarter to nine.

In fact, the hour we took to ambe there on Wednesday could be done is close to 20 minutes if you don't stop every 20 yards to take photos. Who knew?

The paths and tracks were packed with people doing exercise, taking their dogs or children out for a walk, or just out.

Like us.

Once we reached the complex, crowds had thinned as all was closed to visitors, so it was just a hardy band of photographers and tourists waiting for the sun to set. We had 90 minutes to wait, so we walked up to the far end of the site, where the zoo was, and in there is another fine building, but it could not be seen from the road or paths, but the walk did increase our step could to over 16,000!

As the sun set, lights came on, so we walked back to the taxi rank, taking dozens, if not hundreds of shots, as the light changed minute by minute, and lights came on, illuminating and highlighting the shapes of the buildings.

Half nine, it was dark, and it took ten minutes for a taxi to come by that we could flag down, he whizzed us back to the hotel, and a walk over the road to the Irish bar where most of the city were inside watching the various games ebig shown. I got us a drink and we took them to sit on the cool pavement tables, watching the traffic and beautiful people passing by. Some were on their way out to paint the town, we were pooped, so went back to the hotel.