Valencia Day 13: Biking Valencia

It’s Saturday so the city is busier than usual. We took the bus from our residence hall to the city center for a tour of Mercat Central, the largest food market in Valencia. We first toured the original 15th century marketplace, which is unused today. This is the birthplace of the idea of taxes. The building held three things: a market, a jail for thrives, and a courthouse to try those suspected of crimes. 

Orange trees grow in the middle of the old market. No touchy!

The original 15th century market. The columns used to be painted as palm trees, and the ceiling was a blue sky with stars.

This is the courthouse. The person suspected of a crime would be visible in the window above the judge table for all to see. The ceiling is in elaborate wood crown molding with actual gold painted onto it.

Next week heard the current market (Mercat Central) which is across the street. Marquette Central. “Fresh” is the word I would use to describe the market, and the food scene in general, in Valencia. My lunch today consisted of fresh berries and freshly shucked oysters. 

Mercat Central. If you can’t find it here, it don’t exist. 

Funny looking tomatoes. 

Oyster shucker lady. 

We ended the day with a bike tour through the city. Touring a European on bike is like bucket list material for me so I very much enjoyed this! In my opinion, there is no better way to see a city. And Valencia has built a bike infrastructure that makes this easy to do. In fact, Valencia is considered the greenest city in Europe, in part due to a park that meanders through it like a river. In fact, it used to be a river! Valencia was very much like Venice and its aqua-ducts until they got their engineering on and moved the river to the outskirts of the city. 

I don’t think a picture would do this justice so I took my life in my hands and took a couple of videos to illustrate how fun this is. You’re welcome.

City of Arts and Sciences Monuments of Valencia regularly host art shows, concerts, and lots of parties. 

A second video just for grins.