February 9, 2024
Day 3: Valencia's City of Arts and Sciences
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Although Valencia is a port on the Mediterranean, the main life of the city does not seems focussed on the port, as least as far as we have seen to this point. Rather, there is the linear park formed when the Turia river was diverted away from the town. And near the port end of the park there is City of Arts and Sciences, which was built over a former industrial area. The buildings that comprise this area are stunning architectural masterpieces, in the dramatic style we associate with world's fairs or Olympics. There is an art museum, an Imax theatre, a science museum, a convention center, and an aquarium, among others. We, of course, could not miss spotting these when we came by, out of Germany, last year. We took lots of photos then, and promised ourselves that we would visit inside when we came back. We are back, and this was our day to see inside the buildings.
Dodie had recommended that we stay at a hotel just near the "City", so we could walk over. But I liked the ten jammer breakfast so much at the "NH Center", 5 km away, that I insisted on returning there. Here are some shots from that ten jammer, and then we will have to start walking and catching the bus to pay for having come here, rather than closer to what we were actually supposed to be doing.
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We had to walk along the park for a bit before reaching the bus stop. But almost immediately we spotted a small flock of Monk parakeets. We got a couple of shots before a jogger ran through them scattering them to the four winds.
I was momentarily disappointed, but then we ran into this Common Wood Pigeon, and a Eurasian Collared Dove.
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Google Maps led us exactly to the bus stop to pick up Line 95, which went right by the aquarium. We used the card we bought yesterday at the metro to get on the bus. At 50 euro cents per ride it was a real bargain. The reader on the bus reported the remaining rides left on our card, so the whole thing was very slick.
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We could track our progress along the route of the bus with the phone, so we never felt lost at all. Very soon we were abreast of the building known as the Agora, and then we were at the aquarium, which is called the Oceanografic. This was really our main objective, sounding like the most interesting of the options at the site. It turned out to be far better than we had dreamed of!
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We had thought that the aquarium would be basically a building full of fish tanks, but not so. Rather the Oceanografic occupies a spread out site, filled with various indoor and outdoor enclosures, through which we were guided on a winding series of pathways.
The main entrance building of the Oceanografic did house some various floor to ceiling aquarium tanks, but these were sort of samplers. The main function of the building was to channel the visitors out to the other sections of the site.
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All sort of paths and tunnels gave access to the different parts of the site. Some of the featured exhibits were of marine life of the Mediterranean, the Arctic, and a huge dolphin pool.
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With the Oceanografic being a largely outdoor thing, the grounds connecting the exhibits were very much a part of the experience. For us it turned out these grounds provided the main fun, because a large part of them was covered by water, in what they termed their "Living Lake". This water was teeming with water birds, and fish. Birds! - our latest mania. Many of the birds were different kinds of ducks, or waders, that had been put there. But the site also attracted wild birds, making it great for running around with the camera.
In the water was a large assortment of ducks we had not seen before.
The Oceanografic was very much into displaying water birds, no doubt because they were recognizing that not only fish are tightly bound to the water. But they really got into it with an aviary chock full of water birds, mostly representing the wetlands of the nearby Albufera ecological park.
Care was taken throughout the site to picture, name, and explain the fish or birds. The poster below is an example.
Here is a selection of birds that we spotted.
The grounds of the Oceanografic were so pleasant to walk around, not only for the water features but also for plants, for benches, and for paving stones and other materials under foot.
Flamingos, of two types, pelicans, avocets, and more and more ducks, were not just incidental, but were intentional major displays. We just loved it.
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One of the modernistic buildings housed a wonderful display of the Arctic. There were perhaps a dozen types of penguins there, many fish, and the star attractions - two Beluga whales.
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Outside the Arctic building, there was another major display of Flamingos - these being ones tagged as Chilean. The Chilean have a white and black bill, while the "Greater" have a pink and black bill. We particularly noticed the pink knees and toes of the Chileans as well.
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Several types of tortoises could be found in other exhibits, not to mention turtles!
The final really big display was the dolphin pool. There were a couple of fixed times for dolphin shows, but we happened on feeding time. The fellow lying on the front of the boat was paddling, to provide the motive power, while the one in the back was handing out the goodies.
More walking in the lush environment, and we were ready to quit. To say we felt we had outr money's worth would be a big understatement.
Back out on the street, here are some of the nearby modern apartment buildings. The whole district is a demonstration of what modern design can be like. We still prefer the old city centers, but this was really nice as well.
We had also bought a ticket for the science museum, but by now we were so tired that we really could not do it. We did walk to the stunning building, and around for a bit, but we had to quit.
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Of the things we did see in the museum, here are two total random bits:
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We had considered cycling to the City of Arts and Sciences, but didn't because we would have worried about the locked bikes the whole time. It turned out good that we took the bus, because we were so tired by the end. But then, back at the NH Hotel, we found that we had taken something like 300 photos on the day. We started to go through, winnow down, and make sense of them, and though we made good progress, our computer did not. It declared itself too tired to continue, with a battery depleted even while plugged in. So we gave it and ourselves a break, and we all turned in, failing to post the blog promptly for one of the first times in history! Anyway, we did it now. Since you have read this far, we hope you have strength to soon look for the post covering the actual excitement for today!
Today's ride: 5 km (3 miles)
Total: 10 km (6 miles)
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