Black Magic - Valencia, Spain [Day Four]

In contrast to the previous days crap weather, Tuesday was bright and sunny. I left the hostel early and picked up a punnet of the best strawberries I've ever tasted for breakfast.



On my tourist map I saw a building near the metro station, so I decided to take a look. It was called the Mercado de Colon. A beautifully colourful building housing a large market. The stores themselves didn't seem to have much interesting, but at least the building was cool!


Next stop was the beach! It was massive; the sand seemed to stretch forever. And the shore was lined with palm trees and seafood restaurants. I wandered down the beach and found these huge, intricate sandcastles, as well as a massive beach resort. Paradise!


Just near the beach is the F1 Track, which surrounds the Americas Cup Harbour. The track is not much of a tourist attraction, its basically just a big smooth road, so I wandered along until I found the harbour. There I saw the Team NZ building, with Black Magic II sitting proudly outside. The place was completely dead - I dont think I even saw one other person, but I wandered around for a good 30 minutes checking the place out - head high and full of pride.

I had seen the 'Arts and Science Centre' on the tourist map, and wasn't exactly sure what it was. When I got there, I still wasn't exactly sure. It was like nothing I have ever seen. It is a collection of weird, futuristic buildings which all house different things. The Hemisferic - which contains the largest film auditorium in Spain, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia - an Opera House, the L'umbracle - botanical gardens, Museo de las Cienias Principe Felipe - a science museum and the Agora - a sport and music venue. I'm not going to try and describe these buildings - just take a look.


It is a really interesting place, and I definately recommend going to check it out. It is honestly crazy!

Back on the metro, destined for the royal gardens. When I left the metro the sky had started to cloud over and it had cooled down quite a lot. Being the eternal optimist, I had not bought any warmer clothes. So I had a quick look around and headed back to the hostel. By the time I got there, the sun had reappeared, so I decided to make the most of it, and sat outside basking and reading.

During the day I found more graffiti art I thought I'd share.


After a short while it was time to get going. I headed to the airport, to find that RyanAir were now being absolutely crazy with the carry-on luggage - weighing and measuring everyones bags. I was OK, but quite a few people had to pay about €40 just to take their bags on. The flight home was one of the most annoying I have ever taken. About every 10 minutes someone would come over the loudspeaker advertising all sorts of things - scratch cards, smokeless cigarettes, duty free goods... It almost makes you want to fly with another airline, until you realise you paid £10 for the flight. I arrived home about about 1:30am and literally fell into bed.

Final notes - Spain exceeded all expectations. It was amazing. It is one country to which I will definately return.