Valencia, Spain: The Modern Spanish City

We began the morning at the Mercado Central, a giant food market in downtown Valencia that runs every morning from Monday-Saturday.  Needless to say, the food looked amazing, but even more impressive was the fact that the market is held in this beautiful, tiled building, with marble stalls and floors.  It was very interesting to watch the locals go about their business here.

After the market, while walking through the city center of Valencia, we saw a green pigeon.  Yes, green.  Not dyed, not fake, just naturally green.  I include this because, as many of you know (especially those who have traveled with me), I hate only two birds: pigeons and ravens.  Well, I think this is the only pigeon I have ever and will ever like, so I thought he deserved blog space!

The big stop of the day was the Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences).  This is a massive modern complex, begun in 1997 and still being added to, that at present includes an art museum, a science museum, Europe's largest aquarium, and an IMAX/planetarium.  We elected to hit the science museum--which is amazingly informative, interactive, and expansive--and the IMAX.  The shot above is of us in our IMAX headsets, which were individualized so everyone could hear it in the right language.  Star Trek, anyone?

This is a part of the complex in the evening.  Given that this is only a small fraction, you can imagine how impressive the whole thing is.  I feel like I saw much more of Valencia today, but I'm glad I still have tomorrow morning left!