Valencia; Saturday, 19 January, 2019

I had a bit of a lie in and a late breakfast before heading out from the hotel and over by metro and tram to the opposite side of the former river. I walked from the tram stop down to the Pont dels Serrans – a gothic bridge that stood over the Rio Túria for centuries. Normally if a bridge is no longer over a river it’s because it’s been dismantled and moved. In the case of the bridges in Valencia they are all in their original locations, it’s just the whole river that’s been moved.

The Rio Túria had always been prone to flooding, but in 1957 there were devastating floods in Valencia that finally made people act. To prevent the city being flooded again a new channel for the river was dug that diverted it to the south of the city centre and straight out to sea. During low flow periods the river is pretty much dry as most of the water fills the irrigation channels that were started by the Moors, and are still in use today, but when there are high flows this new Southern channel keeps the water away from the city centre. The now dry riverbed has been converted into a lovely park that runs through the heart of the city, well below the bustle of the city and the heavy traffic, and regularly crossed by the former river bridges.

The Pont dels Serrans is perhaps one of the most spectacular of the original bridges, partly as it is fully pedestrianised, but also as it forms the approach to the Torres de Serranos – the spectacular entrance gate to the city, with crenulations and designs inspired by the Moors. Today the gatehouse stands alone, the city walls, and all but one other gate, having been torn down in the 19th century.

The gate is open to the public to explore so I headed up the steep steps and through the different levels of the gatehouse before finally reaching the very top from where there were stunning views over the city skyline, and the former riverbed.

Back down at ground level I went for a wander through the old town and along the way ticked off a number of different museums, including the city Art Gallery, the ruins of a Visigoth church in the Crypt of St Vincent and the stunning archaeological museum, located just below the surface of a square behind the cathedral.

By the time I came back up to ground level it was already gone two and I did wonder if I was going to be able to get any lunch, but thankfully there were a couple of restaurants overlooking a large square the other side of the Cathedral that were still serving, so I had a very nice relaxed lunch and planned the rest of the afternoon.

The main site I was heading for was the Historical Museum, and to get there the easiest way was just to pick up the open-top bus I still had a ticket for. I’d also worked out that if I spent just under two hours in the museum I’d be out in time to pick up the bus as it completed it’s penultimate journey of the day and could then stay on to do the historical tour at night.

Plan in place I finished lunch and headed back to the bus stop and over to the Historical museum. The museum is very interesting for it’s content – telling the story of Valencia from it’s founding by the Romans through to the 1970s. However, it’s also interesting for the building its in. The former water reservoir that the museum occupies is a stunning piece of architecture with a forest of brick columns and vaulted ceilings creating a cavernous space where noise does strange things as it reverberates off the arches and columns.

I took nearly two hours to look around, though if my feet weren’t aching, I could quite easily have spent another two hours to fully see every exhibit (the very chunky English translation I was presented with at the start of the exhibition doing a very good job of covering each exhibit). So I headed back to the bus stop, just in time to pick up the open-top tour bus back to the start of the tour, and as luck would have it again I’d managed to bag the front seat for the night tour of historic Valencia.

Back in the city centre I had a bit of a wander before finding a nice tapas restaurant for a quick bite to eat before heading back to the hotel.