Sunny Valencia

Thursday, January 31 – The weather has been fine here in sunny Valencia, no complaints. We haven’t done a lot.

On Monday, we went for a walk after lunch into and through the centre, initially in search of some remembered landmarks, later aimlessly. We found Plaza Redondo, a small courtyard among surrounding buildings. It’s near the central market. There are craft stalls here but, being Spanish lunchtime, most were closed.

We also (re)found the City Museum which is housed in an attractive 17th century palace, variously referred to as the Palacio de los Condes de Berbedel and the Palau del Marqués de Campo – not sure why it has two names. It includes a hodge-podge of historical and archaelogical exhibits. We thought of revisiting it, more to see the lovely palace itself again. It’s on a very posh square across from the residence of the archbishop of Valencia. In the end, being cheapskates, we decided to wait until a Saturday or Sunday when it’s free.

I spotted this guy on a little side street near the central market, working in his studio attached to a shop selling fans. We've seen him – and I've photographed him – before, but it makes a good picture.

We walked on, through the edge of Carmén to the Turia park and went down into it. We found a bench in the sun just below the Museo de Bellas Artes, where we sat and read for almost an hour. It was out of the breeze, nice and warm. 

Karen reading

Vandalized sculpture in the park

We walked back through the centre, admiring the lovely architecture, especially the neo-baroque Bank of Valencia building on Carrer del Pintor Sorolla – which I was surprised to learn was built in 1942.

Unidentified building in centre

Bank of Valencia building

When we got back to Ruzafa, we found a seat outside in the sun at A La Fresca, just down the street from our flat, and had a beverage. In the sun.

Tuesday was to be our going-out-for-lunch day. Given our less than successful experience in Ruzafa the week before – at the Turkish restaurant – we decided to try Carmén, a neighbourhood where we’ve found good value and selection in the past. We set out walking. It felt cold, although it was well into double digits Celsius. The breeze chilled us. We’ve become acclimatized to warmth.

There was a place near Plaza Tossal we’d liked on other occasions. We found it, but it appeared to have changed hands, and no longer offered a fixed-price menu del día. The next idea was Plaza de Carmén where we’d also eaten a few times.

We had some difficulty finding it. By the time we did, it was after 2:30 and we were starving. We chose the first place we came to, right on the square, one we’d eaten at a couple of times before. It’s called María Mandiles and bills itself as a place for authentic home-made Valencian food, comfort food. It does have a homey atmosphere. The food is fairly basic, but good value. We had pork chops with a potato and cheese casserole for mains. Karen had a Russian salad – creamy potato salad, not my taste – and I had cream of vegetable soup for starters. Dessert was an apple cake-tart thing. Beer and wine included: €9.85 each. I’m pretty sure the price has gone up 85 cents since we were here three years ago. Outrageous!

Carmén street art

Of course, I found more street art to photograph on the way home, most of it in a little square a block from Plaza de Carmén. And streetscapes.

Yesterday, Wednesday, we were determined to get out in the morning for a change and see something before everything closed up for siesta. We decided on a return to the Fondación Bancaja. There are three or four exhibitions on at any one time, only one of which we’d seen – on the Spanish sculptor Alfaro. We set out about 10:30 and walked straight down Avenida de Colón, the big shopping street. It’s always busy.

We ended up seeing Picasso: The joy of life. Bancaja has a thing for Pablo. I believe they own a lot of his work. We’ve seen a couple of Picasso shows here in the past. This one included some paintings and some ceramic ware. Some of the material they had borrowed from other institutions. Most of the pieces, though, were the etchings and lino blocks that Bancaja owns – and that Karen and I have both come to love, mainly from seeing them here.

The idea for the show starts with a quote from Picasso: “All the things I do in relation to art give me great joy.” The curator has chosen works he thinks reflect that joie de vivre – la alegría de vivir in Spanish. They’re organized by the themes that inspired Picasso’s supposedly most joyous art, including Afrian masks, the circus, dance, the great masters of art, the bull and the minotaur. I particularly liked – again – the etchings from the Vollard Suite that he made in the 1930s. The subjects are mostly very sensual and dreamlike, including minotaurs cavorting with ladies.

We had been puzzled by the fact that one of the other advertised shows – of historical paintings on the theme of the expulsion of the Moors in the middle ages – was nowhere to be found. When we looked more closely at the posters for it, we realized they referred to another entrance on the other side of the foundation building, which we walked around and found. It’s interesting, the last time we were here, my impression was that Bancaja had pulled in its horns a bit on the cultural foundation front, wasn't doing as much. Now, it seems, it’s doing more than ever. Why don’t our banks do stuff like this?

Basílica San Vicente Ferrer

We walked back by a slightly different route, ending up on Ciril Amarós street again. We passed the Colón market and stopped briefly at the Basílica San Vicente Ferrer, an elegant neo-gothic affair built in the early 20th century. The last few times we were in the city, it was closed for renovations, with scaffolding all around it. Today it was open, so we went in. It didn’t hold us for long. Lunch beckoned.

  

Basílica San Vicente Ferrer

After lunch, we did a big shop at Mercadona. We had intended to go out for another walk later in the afternoon, but I got tied up finishing my column for EatDrink, and we never made it out.

Today dawned cloudy and has stayed that way so far, although we are promised sun at some point, and warm temperatures. We’ll get going eventually...