A day in Valencia

Valencia....the third biggest city in Spain, the home of the 33rd America's Cup, well known for the Valencia Grand prix, and a city with the most amazing architecture - from gothic, baroque, and ultra modern, it is a very interesting city to visit.

It was about an hour and a half's drive down the coast, passing orange and olive plantations all along the way. It was very hot in Valencia - the 35C soon had me yearning for the English autumn! We walked around visiting the cathedral, the 15th century silk exchange (La Lonja) and the central market with over 1000 stalls. However the heat got to us and we decided to use the hop on hop off bus to tour the city, which took us past the harbour area, the grand prix circuit, the new city of arts and science, the aquarium and many more sights. There was a breeze on the top of the bus which was very pleasant while we enjoyed the sights of the city.

On the way back we decided to stop off at Peniscola. This is often called 'the city in the sea' as it is a fortified seaport built on a rocky headland joined to the mainland by a narrow strip of land. The castle there was built by the Knights Templar and it has a fascinating history. As we walked up all the stairs to the castle we saw a storm approaching which looked very ominous. As we were climbing down there was thunder and lightning - we could not decide whether to have a drink and wait for the storm to pass, or to run back to the car and miss the storm. In the end we were too late and we got caught in the storm and got absolutely soaked! This is a view from half way up to the castle over Pensicola, and you can see the darkening sky as the storm approaches.

It was a lovely day out, and we got back quite late to a wet boat as we had left all the hatches open!