One Day in Valencia, Spain.

Recently the family and I spent a week in Spain in a little town an hour south of Valencia, so we did a day trip to the city one day to soak up the beautiful architecture and eat paella! There isn’t a huge amount to actually do in Valencia, it’s more a place to wander around staring up at the buildings and visiting the stunning churches to escape the heat. It’s such a pretty city though that I just had to share our day trip with you all!

We parked in one of the many underground car parks in the centre of the city and then walked the short distance up to the Central Market for their famous Horchata drink at La Huertana, which is a refreshing drink made from tiger nuts. It pretty much tastes like any other nut based drink, but is apparently something you ‘have’ to try when in Valencia.

After trying a cup of Horchata we then made our way up to Valencia Cathedral via the smaller church of Iglesia de Santa Catarina. At Iglesia de Santa Catarina we climbed the hundreds of steps to the top of the bell tower were we could see the entire city from above!

Valencia Cathedral itself was absolutely STUNNING, so so beautiful. We spent ages just walking around the cathedral staring at every detail and chapel. Valencia Cathedral is really important to Catholics as it is supposedly where the Holy Grail – which is the cup/vessel that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper, and which Joseph of Arimathea used to catch Christ’s blood at the Crucifixion – is located. You can see it in a side chapel behind protected glass, which was pretty mind-blowing and very surreal.

Next on the list was lunch, and enroute we stumbled upon Plaza de la Virgen, which is THE cutest square ever with a fountain and beautiful buildings and cafes!

Dress: GAP // Shoes: Slydes // Bag: Primarni // Sunnies: M&S

But. We were on the hunt for the world-famous paella from a specific restaurant that was on the wikipaella.org website (which lists the only restaurants in Spain to provide certified authentic Paella), called La Cigrona. Sadly when we arrived we discovered it was reservations only (boooo), so we ended up in some random tourist restaurant, which made me sad. So, if you go to Valencia, book in advance for La Cigrona!

After lunch we walked down to Hard Rock Cafe so my brother could get his drumsticks (he’s a drummer and has collected drumsticks from Hard Rock Cafe’s around the world since he was a kid), and then walked back to the car. It was a stinking hot day in the high 30s and we were all pretty exhausted, so we decided to drive to the City of Arts and Sciences then head back to Moraira where the villa was.

The City of Arts and Sciences was absolutely beautiful, and I wish we could have spent more time there. It’s just so photogenic and the gardens are stunning!

We had a lovely day in Valencia, and although I’m disappointed we didn’t have enough time to see the beach, we got a really good feel for the city and I don’t think you need more than a weekend there to see it all.

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