Valencia: 5 essentials and 5 curiosities

Valencia is the third biggest city in Spain and a good destination year round. The city attracts millions of tourists. Its climate, gastronomy, heritage, beaches, universities….all of it makes Valencia a highly attractive city for students worldwide.

The Carmen Quartier is one of the most representative in Valencia at the heart of its ancient city between the Muslim and the Christian wall.

La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias

Which are Valencia’s musts? There are many essentials and here we propose 5:

• Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias. Work of the Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava, it has several buildings that have become the icons of the city. It is a unique scientific and cultural leisure complex
• Valencia Cathedral ; A beautiful mix or Roman, Baroque and Gothic styles. There is the believe that its houses the Holy Chalice. It also has two pictures by Goya. From the Miguelete, you can enjoy a spectacular 360º view of the city.
• The Silk Exchange . It is one of the best civil Gothic monuments offered by Europe. It is a National Artistic Historic Monument since 1931 and was declared by the UNESCO as Heritage of Humanity in 1996.

La Lonja de la Seda

• Central Market. The biggest market of fresh products in Europe. It is located at one of the most relevant Modern buildings of the city.
• Albufera . The Natural Park of L’Albufera is an oasis surrounded by rice paddies and forests; the place the famous paella was invented.

Mercado central

Albufera

These are only 5 options but Valencia has much more to offer. We remind you to visit some of its museums and beaches or to take a bike ride around the Turia Garden, the former river bank with over 8 kilometres of gardens.

5 curiosities about Valencia

Valencia is full of curiosities. We here tell you a few:

•  Las Fallas have the status of Intangible Heritage of Humanity

Las Fallas is the most important festivity of Valencia. Hundreds of huge artistic monuments are built to be burnt on 19^th March.

Although there are different versions about their origin one of the most widely spread says that in the 18^th century carpenters pilled useless woods to burn them the day before Saint Joseph’s day. They received the status of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO in 2016.

• The Oceanogràfic is the biggest aquarium in Europe

Located within the avant-guard architectural complex of the Ciudad de les Arts i les Ciències de València, it contains aquariums of great dimensions that faithfully reproduce the most important marine eco-systems. Inside there are 45,000 living creatures of 500 different spices.

El Oceanogràfic es el acuario más grande de Europa

• The Meninas travelled to Valencia

The Torres de Serranos is one of the most famous tourist attractions of the city and during the Civil War – as the Prado Museum was in danger- it was the hiding place of the famous work Las Meninas by Velázquez.

• The narrowest façade in Europe

At Santa Catalina Quartier we find the building with the narrowest façade in Spain and in Europe and the second one worldwide following one in Brazil.

• A bat in its emblem

A bat forms part of the emblem of the city. Legend has it that a bat woke the king Jaime I and his soldiers during the night while they were sleeping and as a results his men also woke. It was just then when Muslims attacked the city.

• The biggest academic group

CEU the biggest Spanish academic group has one of its international universities in Valencia, the UCH (Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera). Do you want to know more?