Valencia Ideas Needed
 

Hi! We will be in Valencia for 4 days in February and it is our first visit. I would love to hear any ideas about things people love in Valencia (food, cultural, arts, artesan shops). Thanks in advance...

We really enjoyed this place.
They are located at Carrer de la Pau, 48.

The Hortensia Herrera Museum.

The town of Meliana for a paella lunch

The church of San Nicola.

We enjoyed walking to the Jardin Botanico, Jardines del Real and wandering through the street art. I bought some hand painted tiles from an artist. The store was El Raconet de la Cerámica. The Mercado Central was a wonderful place to explore.

The Mercado Central in Valencia is within a beautiful building, but that market itself was one of the least friendly food markets I'e been to in Spain. I've never seen so many signs, in English, warning people not to touch. And signs prohibiting taking photos at many stands. And announcements over the loudspeakers saying the same.

I'm sure there is a reason for this=poorly behaved tourists. But it was off-putting.

I'll be in Barcelona soon and I imagine that La Boqueria will have even more of those warnings!

if you want to explore a real food market without all that, go to the one in Ruzafa.

Another neighborhood you should visit is El Cabanyal.

Eks- I didn’t have that impression at all. The vendors were very friendly and I shopped there daily. My niece is moving to Valencia so I will tell her about the market you suggest. Thanks 😊

Ok..maybe I was not clear. There was nothing negative about the vendors themselves (although I did not buy more than one or two items). But I had never before seen so many signs warning not to touch and not to take photos, and announcements over a loudspeaker saying the same things.... I was just surprised by this, but I should have not been so strident in my comments. I guess it's the issue of mass tourism, and the influx of so many tourists coming to visit but not to buy....maybe they impede actual shoppers from browsing and buying.

When I visit markets or food shops where fresh produce is exhibited, the vast majority of my US companions tend to touch the tomatoes, peaches, with their bare hands,..., any fruit but the bananas. Not sure why, maybe because it´s not that common to show fresh, unpacked fruit in shops in the USA, but imagine if the same tomato is touched and pressed by 20, 30 people each morning...and by people that are not even going to buy it. The fruit will get damaged and the buyer will not have a good tomato or whatever fruit has been repeatedly touched. That´s the reason for the signs. Also, in Spain it´s compulsory to get the fruit and vegetables with plastic gloves.

By the way, I´m in Valencia now, on a family weekend getaway, going to the Mercat Central in a few minutes!

Valencia is one of my favorite cities, I could live there. Rent a bicycle from the historic center and ride to the beach Playa de las Arenas. It's a nice ride and you'll see alot of the city that way.

My trip report covering Valencia

Trip Report: Granada, Córdoba and Seville, October

Mikel; Agree!! But in the US, whether in a supermarket or in a Greenmarket, shoppers are used to touching (and even gently squeezing) the produce in order to determine ripeness, etc. Most are pretty respectful but there is that issue of having so many hands touching your tomatoes!! (I actually never gave that much thought--until I read your post). It's just a different system in Spain, or in Italy. The owner of a fruit stand in Spain, whether in a large market like Mercado Central or in a small shop, is a figure of respect, I think. This respect is not accorded the owners of large supermarkets where most Americans do their shopping...

I may have come across as critical of the signs and announcements in the Mercado Central. That was wrong on my part. I can only imagine the frustration, and annoyance of a proprietor in that--or any other Spanish market--when people begin squeezing the peaches and pressing melons against their noses in order to smell. They may be used to doing this back home, but need to have some common grasp of local customs before a visit to a market, or anywhere else in a country foreign to them.. More than anything else, those signs are in response, I think, to the many hands that are constantly poking and prodding the persimmons and plums and yes, maybe even the bananas!

If you have time, try to get out to Meliana for lunch....I'd be so curious about what you think about CA PEPICO or NAPICOL, where we had those two fantastic paella lunches last year...

Buen viaje and a million thanks for all of your contributions to this forum, here and in the past....ek

Thanks to you, Ek, your information has been extremely helpful whenever I´ve traveled to some place in Spain you´ve also been to!!

Your explanation on the touching of fruit and veggies makes sense...it´s just that we do not do that in Spain, fruit is expected to be ripe and good to eat, so you do not touch it, unless you´re going to buy it. Been to the Mercat Central, the signs were there and also occassional loudspeaker warnings. We´ve had a great "mollete" of iberian ham with Agua de Valencia, extremely good.

We had lunch at Alquería del Pou, right outside the city and close to the City of Arts and Sciences...a sharp, sudden, between the asphalt and the agricultural fields, it´s what used to be a restaurant for farmers and peasants (an "Alquería" is a farm in Valencian language) and now a place for locals to enjoy a really good paella (always for lunch, not dinner!) and some fresh produce (we´ve enjoyed really good grilled artichokes and tomatoes). Today, we´ve gone to La Mora, very much locals only, amazing tapas at amazingly low prices and excellent service. Wine, a local Bobal grape, unique to this Mediterranean area.

Will check out Meliana tomorrow...

We couldn´t make it to Meliana due to some travel changes caused by the Ingrid storm, affecting several parts of Spain right now (it´s been a wet, snowy and windy winter in many parts of Spain). But we did very much enjoy having an aperitivo at the Mercat Central with Agua de Valencia (champagne and more...), then a wonderful visit of La Lotja de Mercaders (amazing building), we also visited San Nicolás de Bari (the Sixtine Chapel of Valencia, with its many frescoes) and had a great light dinner at La Mora, much off-the-beaten-path. We also visited the absolutely wonderful museum https://www.cahh.es/en/, Centro de Arte Hortensia Herrero (she´s the wife of Juan Puig, owner and founder of Mercadona, the biggest supermarket chain in Spain). Located in a 17th century palace, refurbished to hold the amazing artwork inside, it´s been the gem of our visit to Valencia (I think you recommended it too, and it´s a real must-see).

Thanks for the post. Looking forward to seeing the museum in May . We first visited Valencia in 2013, a wonderful city.

Mikel, I'm so glad you enjoyed Valencia! I will mark La Mora for a future visit!!

And thank you for the info on Sra. Herrero; I wondered where that fortune came from. That museum is a jewel!!