Valencia

The province of Valencia is the largest of the three that make up the Valencian community and is situated in the centre of the Spanish Mediterranean coastline. It overlooks the spacious Gulf of Valencia and is skirted by a group of mountains and rolling plains leading to the lands of Aragon and Castile-La Mancha. It is opposite the Balearic island and equidistant from the country's two major decision-taking centers: Madrid and Barcelona. The city of Valencia is the administrative capital of the Valencian community and the centre of the region of L'Horta. It is the most densely populated town in the Valencian community as it is encircled by a wide belt of medium-sized municipal districts which form an unbroken, built-up area, with an average density of 1,600 inhabitants per square kilometer.

Sightseeing around the city begins in the old quarter. Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was defended by a wall, the inner route of the number 5 bus. Still standing as proof are the graceful Torres de Serranos, the spacious Torres de Quart and some remains of the apron wall in the basement of the Valencia Institute of Modern Arts. The most outstanding artistic heritage is to be found in the districts of Seu and Xerea, where the marks left by the Romans lie hidden beneath Arab ruins and modern churches and palaces.  The Mercat district took shape around the commercial life of the city's inhabitants. Accordingly, its two most emblematic buildings are used for trading purposes. The Gothic building of La Lonja, declared by UNESCO as a heritage of humanity, features a beautiful columned room where the old tables on which trading transactions were finalised are still in use today. Outside the destroyed wall, grew the Valencia of the bourgeoisie, with its wide pavements, broad landscaped thoroughfares and countless instances of modernist architecture. On the other side of the Turia's old riverbed lie the nursery gardens, along with the Fine Arts Museum and the ultramodern part of the city which, on account of its size, serves as a nexus between the coastal townships and the old quarter. The futuristic face of the city is mirrored on the old riverbed through the Gulliver Children's park and the leisure and culture complex, Ciutat de les Arts i de les Ciencies. Life in the city spreads down to the seafront with the harbor and the beaches of Las Arenas and La Malvarrosa.

If you are traveling to Valencia via Barcelona, do not forget to spend some time in the Catalan capital. Although both are situated on the Mediterranean Coast, each city has a very different cultural appeal. For instance, where Valencia has its Institute of Modern Art, Barcelona has the Gaudi Museum.