The bells were calling to us as we hurried along to early morning mass at St Peter's. We moved through security and then up the steps, passing one priest after another whose walk, by contrast, was slow and measured.
Well folks, that concludes my Valencia posts and not a moment too soon as tomorrow I'm off to Rome.
The Fallas festival must be one of the best known in Spain and it's unique to Valencia. It happens every year around the feast of St Joseph on 19th March as it is said to have started when the carpenters of the city, whose patron is St Joseph, would clear out their workshops and burn their scraps of wood as part of their spring-cleaning. |  |
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After our picnic from the Mercado Central I decided to take a look at the Cathedral of Santa Maria, but as my family didn't share my enthusiasm for old churches I left them relaxing in the Plaza de la Virgin while I took a look. |  |
La Lonja is highlighted in all the guidebooks and it was certainly one of my favourites of all the places we visited in Valencia. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site and has been recently restored so you can now see it in it's full glory - as a bonus the entry is free. It would be a great contrast if you're feeling overwhelmed after the Baroque splendour of the Palacio del Marques de dos Aguas, as there is a tranquil and cathedral-like feel about the place.
You may be aware that I am a lover of painted ceramics, so when I discovered that there was a ceramics museum in Valencia I immediately put it on my list of must-sees.
After our first night in Valencia at Hôme Backpacker's hostel, we moved on to another in the Hôme group, the Hôme Rooms Deluxe Hostel. I'd picked it because I loved the individually designed rooms, each created by an artist with a different theme - I wrote about them in a previous post. The place has a modern, stylish feel and would attract anyone with artistic tendancies. The other guests were couples of all ages and families with older children. One suspects they were, like us, more interested in seeing the city than staying up partying all night. 
I mentioned in an earlier post that we stayed our first night in Valencia at Hôme Backpacker's hostel in the older area of the centre known as the Barrio del Carmen. It was a stopgap, as our main hotel, Hôme Deluxe Rooms was full for the Saturday night, and I thought it would be good to stay one night in the centre. |  |
I'm breaking off my Valencia postings momentarily to share with you an interesting video that's come my way from a group called Bristol 5 on 1. You remember that in March I wrote about the street-art that's springing up all around the Stokes Croft area of Bristol.
We'd seen the stalls selling Horchata (or Orxata as it's written) at the Cuidad de las Artes y las Ciencies and around town too, so at the point in the afternoon when we needed a break from sightseeing, we decided to try out this local Valencian drink. It's sweet, milky and made from tiger nuts and has a powdery texture a little like soya milk.
Duende - the overwhelming passion and emotion that you feel when you're in love, or when you're swept away by the spirit of Flamenco.
The bullfighting museum, next to the the bullring in the centre of Valencia is small, but gives an interesting insight into this sport which is deep-rooted in southern Spain. The museum is free and we were also presented with a pack of booklets in English with information on the museum, the bullring and some background about the bulls and bullfighters. After seeing the museum you can take a look inside the bull-ring itself, although it wasn't possible for us as they were preparing for a bullfight the next day.
The stairs as you walk up to the museum were covered with photos of the great matadors of the past, posters and other bullfighting memorabilia. The main exhibits were the costumes of the bullfighting greats with information about the matadors who had worn them. The costumes known as Traje de Luces or 'suit of lights' are beautifully embroidered and skin tight and there was an interactive presentation where you could dress the matador, which explained the different items of clothing.
For our last day we had thought to try out the traditional Valencian paella in one of the beach side restaurants, but there was rain in the night and the day dawned a little damp and cloudy. Instead, we headed into the old town once more, for lunch at La Beneficencia which had been highly recommended by our Valencian friend, Angel.
In the evening we met up with our new friend in Valencia, Angel, for dinner. We asked him to recommend a typical Spanish restaurant and he led us to a place tucked down a small street close to the Palacio del Marques de dos Aguas which houses the Ceramics museum. |  |
The sky was blue as we caught the bus into town this morning from our hotel near the City of Arts and Culture. The number 35 took us painlessly in less than 15 minutes to Plaza de Ayuntamento. You can pay on the bus but it's a lot cheaper to buy a card of 10 journeys from any Tabac shop.
Here's what my teenage children like on holiday
To get our bearings in the city we hired bikes in the old town at Do you bike, tucked down a side street in Barrio Carmen (€15 per person per day). Orange Bikes is also nearby but it was closed on Sunday and we also found an interesting small hire shop run by an English guy that specialised in Chopper bikes, but sadly not for children.
After reading in the Guardian about Vicky Baker touring South America with the help of contacts she had made through social networking websites, I decided I'd try a little experiment of my own. I signed up for one of the websites mentioned, Hospitality Club and it was all pretty painless. To my surprise I quickly received a request from a Spanish member who wanted to visit Bristol, but although I offered him advice, we were unable to offer him accomodation as we had family staying. He mailed me later to say that he'd found someone else to host him and had a great weekend in Bristol over Easter.
Easyjet brought us safely to Valencia, an easy modern airport. A painless and cheap €1.80 Metro journey took us in 20 minutes to the city centre and spilled us out to the evening air, somewhat warmer than the misty Bristol we had left. We emerged onto Calle Calon in the major shopping district of Valencia, bustling with people hurrying home from their Saturday shopping or just wandering to take the evening air.
Dear readers and fellow bloggers.
So begins a book that my father gave to my mother on her 22nd birthday and which she brought for my son to read before we all go to Rome together in a few weeks time.
Today I got an interesting e-mail. Was it a spoof? No - I'd really won a copy of the new Lonely Planet Guide to Devon, Cornwall and the Southwest of England.
