Valencias Altstadt, Carmen-Viertel & Gotisches Erbe
Valencia's historic centre — the 'Barrio del Carmen' (the oldest and most bohemian neighbourhood of Valencia, the warren of narrow streets between the two surviving sections of the medieval city walls), the Llotja de la Seda (the UNESCO World Heritage Site Gothic silk exchange, the finest civic Gothic building in Spain), the Valencia Cathedral (containing the 'Santo Cáliz' — the Valencian Holy Grail), and the Torres de Serranos (the spectacular 14th-century Gothic city gate) — together form the compact and extraordinarily rich medieval city centre of one of the great medieval kingdoms of Spain.
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Valencia Cathedral — The Holy Grail Chalice
Valencia Cathedral (Catedral de Santa María de Valencia, Plaza de la Reina, free for worship, ¥8 for the museum access and Miguelete tower climb, Monday–Saturday 10am–6:30pm, Sunday 2–6:30pm) contains the Santo Cáliz — a 1st-century agate cup identified as the chalice used at the Last Supper, the most theologically credible of the 200+ objects claimed to be the Holy Grail; the Miguelete bell tower (207 steps, 51m, the finest panorama of central Valencia), the Gothic nave (the original 1262 construction), and the Borgia Pope Alexander VI's baptismal chapel are the principal architectural features; the Gothic and Baroque exterior faces four different squares.
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El Carmen Barrio — The Medieval Quarter at Night
Barrio del Carmen (the historic quarter northwest of the Cathedral, bounded by Torres de Quart and Torres de Serranos, the two surviving medieval city gates) is Valencia's oldest neighbourhood and its most intense nightlife district — the Torres de Serranos (1392, the Gothic northern city gate, ¥2 adults, Tuesday–Sunday 10am–7pm, the views from the tower top across the old city roofscape are the finest available ground-level panorama) and the IVAM (Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Guillem de Castro 118, the Valencian contemporary art museum, ¥6 adults, the permanent collection featuring Julio González's iron sculpture — the most important collection of González's work in the world) anchor the neighbourhood's cultural life.
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Mercado Central — The Modernista Iron and Glass Market
Mercado Central de Valencia (Plaza del Mercado, the 1928 iron, glass, and ceramic tile market building by Alexandre Soler March and Francesc Guàrdia Vial, the largest covered market in Europe by floor area, 8,000m², free entry, Monday–Saturday 7:30am–3pm) is the finest market building in Spain — the interior (the Art Nouveau ceramic ornament, the orange-dome centrepiece, the 1,200+ market stalls) and the products (Valencia's own: oranges from the Huerta, tiger nuts for horchata, buñuelos, fresh fish from the Mediterranean just 10km away) make it the correct starting point for any food-focused visit to Valencia; arrive before 10am to see full trading activity.
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La Lonja de la Seda — The Silk Exchange UNESCO Site
La Lonja de la Seda (the Silk Exchange, Plaza del Mercado, directly opposite the Mercado Central, UNESCO, free, Tuesday–Saturday 9:30am–7pm, Sunday 9:30am–3pm) is the finest example of Gothic civil architecture in the Iberian Peninsula — the Sala de Contratación (the 1498 trading hall, 35m long, the twisted palm-tree limestone columns carrying the vaulted ceiling, the hall where Valencia's medieval silk merchants conducted the most valuable commodity trade in Western Europe) and the Torre del Consulado (the 18th-century tower containing the Tribunal de las Aguas room — where the oldest continuously functioning court in the world, the Valencia Water Tribunal, has met every Thursday since at least 1350) are the two principal interiors.
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Jardines del Turia — The Dry River Become a Garden
Jardines del Turia (the 110-hectare linear park running 9km through central Valencia in the former bed of the Turia River, diverted after the catastrophic 1957 flood) is the finest example of river-to-park infrastructure conversion in Europe — the park (from Bioparc in the west to the Palau de les Arts in the east) contains: the Gulliver Park (the 1990 Gulliver sculpture, 70m long, the playable children's slide attraction), the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (the 2005 Santiago Calatrava opera house in the park's eastern section, free exterior access), and 9km of cycling and jogging paths; the entire park is accessible on bike via the city's Valenbisi bike-share (¥13.30/week subscription, 276 stations).
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Agua de Valencia — The City's Own Cocktail
Agua de Valencia (the Valencian cocktail of cava sparkling wine, orange juice, vodka, and gin — invented by Constante Gil at the Café Madrid, Calle Abadía de San Martín 10, Valencia, in 1959 as a challenge response to a group of Spanish tourists who ordered 'Agua de Valencia' as a joke order) is served in a large communal pitcher (the standard serving is 1 litre, ¥18–25, the pitcher is shared between 4 people) — the Café Madrid (the original bar, still operating, the most atmospheric place to drink the cocktail in Valencia, the interior unchanged since the 1960s) and the bars of Plaza de la Reina (the square facing the Cathedral) serve it to tourists; the locals drink horchata (tiger nut milk, ¥1.50/glass at any granja).