Valencia

As I have said before Valencia is a city of apartments, and every road is lined with apartment blocks.  There are Victorian, Edwardian to contemporary architecture, many appalling from the 50 - 70s and others stylish and elegant, or brightly modern.  What there doesn't seem to be are houses anywhere in the centre, or if they were houses, they are now apartments.  The old town is a little different and there are a lot of old mansions that have been turned into flats.

I know that London has a lot of flats, but it is much more of a mixture.  Here it is obviously a completely different type of living for people and I would love to and hope to understand it better over time.

Today we ventured out of the old centre, across the Turia and into and outer barrio, that I don't know the name of.  We walked passed the Fine Art museum into it's gardens, which were huge, through the back and walked around for an hour or so. 

There are a lot of open spaces, which in such a dense area must be absolutely necessary, as there are few private gardens. 

                                                Very strange looking bird life around here.

I would like to understand whether until say the 60's Valencia was housed mainly in the old part and that the outer suburbs were built on spare land, or did they knock down swathes of smaller houses to make way for the blocks.  Did they have a mass migration from the countryside into the cities, or whether this happened after the civil war.

After the Republic was announced, Franco who was in Spanish Morocco brought an army over and attacked Madrid.  The current government then moved itself to Valencia, which afterwards fell as well.    So I presume there was war damage to the city.  There is a Valenciana Museum here which we will visit sometime, which should answer some of these questions.

Anyway, the reason for this ramble is that in the outer barrio we came across a few little streets tucked away that were lovely, quite unloved, and perhaps a view of the area before the blocks were built.  In some places they looked like people were starting to do them up.

This place was derelict, and the netting up to stop bits falling off.  What a shame for such a lovely building and I hope someone rescues it eventually.

The Turia was a wide river running around the outside of the old town until the 1950's when it seriously flooded the city and a lot of damage was done.  It was then decided to divert the river elsewhere and use the Turia for something else.  It was turned into the recreational heart of the city.

There are football, baseball and rugby pitches,  running tracks and outdoor gyms.  There are small lakes and glades of trees and formal gardens in certain areas.  If you go down after 5pm there are always loads of people walking their dogs, running, cycling and sitting in the sun.  It is a real breathing space in the city.

We haven't been there yet, but in parts there are formal gardens, and a sculpture park, and in places small cafes, unfortunately not open at this time of year.  I bet in the summer there are all sorts of events going on.  Last weekend there was a half marathon and mini marathon for childen.