The Holy Grail (Valencia)
Who'd have thought that either Tam or I would behold the mythical Holy Grail. Let's throw all that Dan Brown Da Vinci Code malarkey out the window and focus on the facts. From Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade we learnt that he (or she) who drinks from the cup of Jesus will be blessed (or cursed) with good health and eternal life. [What's that?! You haven't seen it?!?! Indiana Jones movie marathon at our place when we get back home] How handy? However, we also learnt that Jesus was probably a poor man and that the cup that he last drank from was probably a poor peasant's cup of modest wood or clay or something simple like that; not the heavily ornate, jewel encrusted gold chalice that will melt your face and turn you into dust in a quick and painful sequence of special effects. Anyway, we'd read in the UK version of TNT magazine (a very useful and free weekly publication) that the Holy Grail is located in a small chapel (Capilla de Santa Cáliz) within the main cathedral of Valencia, located on the east coast of Spain.
We'd left Cordoba (and a pair of jeans) behind, and traversed the country via Madrid, arriving at our destination late that night. The next day, we got up early and made our way over to the Cathedral to beat the crowds and your groups. Expertly planned and done, we arrived and entered the cathedral without any fuss before the tourist crowd. The fact that it was a weekday may also have been on our side. This is the Cathedral of Valencia (Catedral de Santa María de Valencia).
From our research, we knowingly skipped the roundabout search of the Cathedral proper and turned right finding the entrance to the small chapel near the little souvenir shop. The door was closed, but it opened after a minute or so as one of the locals left after finishing praying. We stepped in and took a seat at the back, holding our breaths as we took in the magical mystery of the Holy Grail.
There's even a picture of it up in the rose window. That's funny, it doesn't seem to be made out of wood or clay...
We left after a quick tour of the Cathedral and grabbed a cortado (macchiato, our new coffee drink of choice) at a cafe nearby before heading into the another cathedral nearby in the Plaza de la Virgin which has this cool ceiling full of angels (seemingly at war).
We then headed out to see the sights and also to visit the huge covered market (Mercado Central), which is apparently one of the largest in the world.
I wonder if nuns get a discount on ham...
Being Halloween in a few days, someone had erected this cool Corpse Bride at the Plaza Lope de Vega.
Back on the main square.
Then we headed to the Estacio del Nord (train station) where we probably spent too much time during our stay.
It's got some cool architecture and interiors, including these kinds of designs on the wall saying "Bon Voyage" in every language.
Anyhoo, we then headed over to visit the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias de Valencia, which is basically these three weird and sleek buildings constructed just outside the main CBD where the River Turia which used to run (but which they filled in to make parklands).
Once again, some really cool architecture in Spain. Sort of brings to mind Darling Harbour and the Opera House.
After taking heaps of photos, it was time for an extremely late lunch. The area around Valencia is where paella originated from and we were keen to try the local take on it as instead of seafood, they use chicken and bunny rabbit.
This is the Torres de Serranos, which is the old gateway to Barcelona.
They also have one in the east, which is the old gateway to Madrid, but we didn't get around to seeing it as we caught the tram out to visit the famous coast of Valencia, which will be home to next year's America's Cup. Unfortunately, there wasn't that much there and most of the bars and restaurants were closed as it was the off-season. It was strange to see fancy 5 star hotels and restaurants on the beach right next to run-down shacks and houses right across the street.
With nothing to do, we came back into town. Here's the fountain at the Plaza de la Virgin, which I think was somehow inspired by Gulliver. They really must love Gulliver there as there is also a gigantic Gulliver's Park playground in the Rio Turia Park, where you can jump and walk all over Gulliver or even go into his hat.
The next day was our last day, and we caught the bus out to the Museu Fallas, located near the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias de Valencia.
Valencia is famous for its annual Fallas Festival where they create gigantic floats, scenes, figures and effigies of anything that may have been important, interesting or newsworthy that year. Mostly, they make fun or criticise politicians. What's cool about the Museu Faller is that these are the ones that survived and were kept because they were the best for that year. All the others are burnt. Like a lot of places, it's forbidden to take photos inside, but it wasn't so busy, and we took some sneaky ones anyway. But you got to be careful as there's security cameras everywhere.
Look, here's Indy. I wonder what he thinks about the cup in the cathedral.
We'd left Cordoba (and a pair of jeans) behind, and traversed the country via Madrid, arriving at our destination late that night. The next day, we got up early and made our way over to the Cathedral to beat the crowds and your groups. Expertly planned and done, we arrived and entered the cathedral without any fuss before the tourist crowd. The fact that it was a weekday may also have been on our side. This is the Cathedral of Valencia (Catedral de Santa María de Valencia).
From our research, we knowingly skipped the roundabout search of the Cathedral proper and turned right finding the entrance to the small chapel near the little souvenir shop. The door was closed, but it opened after a minute or so as one of the locals left after finishing praying. We stepped in and took a seat at the back, holding our breaths as we took in the magical mystery of the Holy Grail.
There's even a picture of it up in the rose window. That's funny, it doesn't seem to be made out of wood or clay...
We left after a quick tour of the Cathedral and grabbed a cortado (macchiato, our new coffee drink of choice) at a cafe nearby before heading into the another cathedral nearby in the Plaza de la Virgin which has this cool ceiling full of angels (seemingly at war).
We then headed out to see the sights and also to visit the huge covered market (Mercado Central), which is apparently one of the largest in the world.
I wonder if nuns get a discount on ham...
Being Halloween in a few days, someone had erected this cool Corpse Bride at the Plaza Lope de Vega.
Back on the main square.
Then we headed to the Estacio del Nord (train station) where we probably spent too much time during our stay.
It's got some cool architecture and interiors, including these kinds of designs on the wall saying "Bon Voyage" in every language.
Anyhoo, we then headed over to visit the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias de Valencia, which is basically these three weird and sleek buildings constructed just outside the main CBD where the River Turia which used to run (but which they filled in to make parklands).
Once again, some really cool architecture in Spain. Sort of brings to mind Darling Harbour and the Opera House.
After taking heaps of photos, it was time for an extremely late lunch. The area around Valencia is where paella originated from and we were keen to try the local take on it as instead of seafood, they use chicken and bunny rabbit.
This is the Torres de Serranos, which is the old gateway to Barcelona.
They also have one in the east, which is the old gateway to Madrid, but we didn't get around to seeing it as we caught the tram out to visit the famous coast of Valencia, which will be home to next year's America's Cup. Unfortunately, there wasn't that much there and most of the bars and restaurants were closed as it was the off-season. It was strange to see fancy 5 star hotels and restaurants on the beach right next to run-down shacks and houses right across the street.
With nothing to do, we came back into town. Here's the fountain at the Plaza de la Virgin, which I think was somehow inspired by Gulliver. They really must love Gulliver there as there is also a gigantic Gulliver's Park playground in the Rio Turia Park, where you can jump and walk all over Gulliver or even go into his hat.
The next day was our last day, and we caught the bus out to the Museu Fallas, located near the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias de Valencia.
Valencia is famous for its annual Fallas Festival where they create gigantic floats, scenes, figures and effigies of anything that may have been important, interesting or newsworthy that year. Mostly, they make fun or criticise politicians. What's cool about the Museu Faller is that these are the ones that survived and were kept because they were the best for that year. All the others are burnt. Like a lot of places, it's forbidden to take photos inside, but it wasn't so busy, and we took some sneaky ones anyway. But you got to be careful as there's security cameras everywhere.
Look, here's Indy. I wonder what he thinks about the cup in the cathedral.
posted by DnT Blog Guest at
7:25 PM
1 Comments:
heyo...
so the holy grail eh...that's what they say. we all know it's in scotland...or paris...mmm...whatever.
i like the cool museum. We need some more big, uber modern buildings!
and i like the fountain at night photo.
By
case-in-point, at 10:26 PM
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