The worst part of my job is that I spend all day researching amazing locations but don’t get to travel to any of them. The past couple weeks I’ve been researching Valencia, Spain for an episode and I’ve totally fallen in love with it. Here's a few reasons why.
1. Valencia is the birthplace of paella.
Saffron-colored rice, succulent seafood and fresh veggies make up this dish which originated in L’Albufera, 15 minutes outside the city of Valencia. With rice from the paddies there, farmers added whatever meat and veggies they had on hand to create this delicious one pot dish. While many places serve frozen versions to tourists around the city, it is worth seeking out the real deal, like at La Pepica, a favorite of Ernest Hemingway's.
"Dinner at Pepica's was wonderful. It was a big, clean, open-air place and everything was cooked in plain sight. You could hear the sea breaking on the beach and the lights shone on the wet sand." - The Dangerous Summer, Ernest Hemingway
Designed by Valencia’s native son Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela, the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciencies is a complex of 7 buildings. The complex holds an IMAX cinema, an opera house and a performing arts center among other museums and interactive exhibits. It’s also really cool looking as seen below.
3. Novelist Vicente Blasco Ibáñez made Valencia the star of his books.
Blasco Ibáñez was a writer from Valencia who came to fame in the English speaking world for his novel, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The novel was made into a movie which became the 6th best grossing silent film of all time, inspired a tango craze and turned Rudolph Valentino into a star. However, his novels portraying Valencian life, such as Cañas y barrowhich tells the story of a family of fishermen in L’Albufera, are the most prized for their realist writing.
4. Valencians know how to party.
Every year, Valencia plays host to Las Fallas, a giant fiesta that celebrates the beginning of spring. Neighborhood groups fundraise year round to build giant puppets mounted on floats which are paraded around and then burned in huge bonfires on the last day of the festival. The puppets are based off of historical figures, politicians or pop culture icons like Shrek. Music, food and fireworks are integral parts of the celebration, turning the city into an open-air non-stop nightclub for four days.
Valencia is the city that we intend to live in. I am reading everything available about Valencia and surroundings to be prepared for our new life in this wonderful city.
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