vicarious travelling: Valencia, Spain - City of Arts and Science

Continued from yesterday.

In the Turia Park there were people running, walking, biking, walking their dogs, pushing strollers

it is a lovely band of greenspace

winding through the middle of the city.

A children's playground

with all sorts of places to climb and slide.

As we walked we were moving further away from the old centre of the city and into a newer area

and we were starting to get glimpses of our destination; The City of Arts and Science

The City of Arts and Sciences (Valencian: Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, Spanish: Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias)^[a] is a cultural and architectural complex in the city of Valencia, Spain. It is the most important modern tourist destination in the city of Valencia and one of the 12 Treasures of Spain.

The City of Arts and Sciences is situated at the southeast end of the former riverbed of the river Turia, which was drained and rerouted after a catastrophic flood in 1957. The old riverbed was turned into a picturesque sunken park.

Designed by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela, the project began the first stages of construction in July 1996, and was inaugurated on 16 April 1998 with the opening of L'Hemisfèric. The last major component of the City of Arts and Sciences, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, was inaugurated on 9 October 2005, Valencian Community Day. The most recent building in the complex, L'Àgora, was opened in 2009.^[1]

Originally budgeted at €300 million in 1991 for three structures, additional structures were added, contributing to a three-fold increase from that initial expected cost. from Wikipedia.

The architecture is stunning

and invites photography

from

every angle.

By now we were looking for food but had to settle for a place that just served coffee.

Getting ready for the summer influx of tourists, they were cleaning

windows and vacuuming the pools.

The previous photos were all of the theatre/opera house. This one that looks like an eye ball is an Imax theatre, the one behind it with spikey bits is the Science Centre, the post sticking up is part of a supension bridge and the dome beyond is the Agora (an event space). Beyond that is the aquarium our eventual destination.

But first I wanted to walk through

The Umbracle

umbracle is a Catalan/Valencian term for a shaded, covered, or partially sheltered structure designed to protect plants from direct sun, typically featuring a roof made of wooden, metal, or iron, allowing air to circulate. It literally means "shaded spot" or a type of walk that acts as a greenhouse or sunshade.