Valencia 2

Valencia is the third populous metropolitan area in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona, though not so far behind is Sevilla. It seemed logical to cover all the major cities in my tour of Spain and also I needed a couple of stops between Barcelona and Madrid, as Spain is a sizable country.

Breakfast was a croissant and café con leche, very typical, taken at the Mos Cafeteria. In Spain you get a sugar sachet with orange juice, even if it's sweet enough already. At the Mercat Central I browsed the aisles. I like noting what people eat, and looking out for distinctive products. Those patches of red at the fruit stalls are for sure strawberries since I recorded that I bought some, as well as pistachios and apples.

In other sections were vegetables, meat, fish, poultry (aves), dried fruits, cheeses, preserves and pulses.

There were also a video stall and a photo stall in the market. Makes sense, do your market shopping, get entertainment for the evening and prints of that last family gathering all in the same building.

A huge bonbonerie was another shop to drool at the windows of.

Opposite the market is the Lonja de la Seda (Silk Exchange). A nationalist had defaced Lonja to the Catalan orthography Llotja. This gothic building goes back to the glory days from the 15th century onwards, when Valencia was a major mercantile city.

More French again! Schoolchildren and teachers on an educational tour, doubtless. There was a retrospective of Finnish architect Alvar Aalto's works, such as Sanitoria Paimio, and Villa Mairea. They were modernist and, to my taste, a bit sterile.

A large electronic billboard exhorted citizens to economise on water, which no doubt the climate requires.

Which leads to the next attraction, the noon Tribunal de las Aguas. This is a reenactment of an ancient ritual where allocations for irrigated plots were adjudicated. It was all over in a few minutes. Schoolkids on study outings were observing.

I caught a bus to the Playa de Arena at Malvarossa but didn't like it because it was unrelieved glaring sand, and there was no shade. The trees were still young. Maybe in a decade's time. I gave that up as a bad job and returned to the centre.

This is the Palau de la Musica (Concert Hall), by the Túria again. My mistake the day before was expecting people outside in the middle of the day. Post-siesta, joggers, strollers, dog-walkers were in abundance. All and sundry were there to see and to be seen: couples, young, elderly, etc.

Back at the centre, the main drag, Gran Via, was more touristy than Barcelona's, menus had translations, a sure sign of visitors.

I found a cheap dinner of tortilla española at the Cafeteria Duero. It's basically a potato omlette, more like a potato quiche I would say. A simple but filling and tasty dish.