Valencia

So I know I still have to make my 2nd post on Sicily, but uploading pics takes forever with Spanish internet, so I'm just going to make a short post of my adventure of the day: exploring Valencia (after more than a month here there's still more to see around the city)

After doing some homework and studying vocab for business spanish, I decided to take a walk around Valencia and admire its beauty.
I began by renting a Valenbisi bike and riding toward the center of the city and La Plaza del Ayuntamiento.

mostly all of the architecture around the center of the city looks like this. amazing.

this is the Banco de Valencia (Bank of Valencia)

after getting lost wandering through side streets, I looked down another one to find the cathedral in the Plaza de la Reyna (Plaza of the Queen), which is the center of the historic district (we went here on our walking tour at the beginning of school).  

view from the bell tower of the Cathedral of Valencia

La Plaza de la Reyna (from atop the bell tower)

Entrance to the Cathedral of Valencia

(which opens up to La Plaza de la Reyna)

Café con leche while taking in the scenery

Behind the cathedral there is a large open area with a fountain at the other end and heladerías (ice cream shops) lining the opposite side.  

Fountain in front, Cathedral of Valencia back left, and where I was at the café on the right

Fountains down in the Rio (which is actually called Jardín del Turía)-- because it's apparently a garden. This used to be a river, but in the 50's it flooded and many people unfortunately ended up losing their lives.  So what did Valencia do? They drained the river of course, and turned it into an amazing nature area for running, walking, biking, and lounging around.  It is one of the most beautiful places in Valencia if you ask me.  My friends and I often run or ride our bikes through here, it is always crowded with families, runners, bikers, and everyone in-between.  One of the great things though is that it is always filled with police as well. Valencia takes their security and police forces very seriously, which is nice because I feel much more safe even when I'm with a group of people.  (There's no hiding the fact that I'm American)

After miles of walking through this natural paradise with tons of bike trails and winding sidewalks, you encounter this: The City of Arts and Sciences-- by Santiago Calatrava

 L'Hemisféric (Valenciano, not Spanish), has an IMAX cinema and digital projections.  It's shape symbolizes an eye open to the stars and to knowledge.

The Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (back right, the largest structure) completes the artistic facet of the Generalitat’s firm bid for culture in its broadest sense together with science, technology, and nature. It was inaugurated in 2005 and is equipped with the most modern technologies to constitute an avant-garde and modern space, which is the cultural catalyst that has placed the Region of Valencia, with its centenary musical tradition, in a privileged position among all other world regions.

Gotta run, my madre just called me to eat some dinner

Ciao!