{"id":5400,"date":"2016-06-09T10:49:40","date_gmt":"2016-06-09T09:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eurotalk.com\/blog\/?p=5400"},"modified":"2016-06-09T10:49:40","modified_gmt":"2016-06-09T09:49:40","slug":"destination-valencia-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/destination-valencia-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Destination: Valencia, Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><em>Next up on our list of top holiday destinations is Valencia &#8211; here&#8217;s Ioana to explain how\u00a0the Spanish city captured her heart&#8230;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">The fact that it\u2019s not one of the top touristic destinations in Spain, had me not really knowing what to expect of Valencia. Of course, I was looking forward to amazing paella, sunny skies and tapas, but Valencia has its own special charm that makes it feel like everything that you\u2019d expect of Spain but better. Valencia has surprised me in a delightful way and I want to share my excitement and love for this place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Not too big and with <strong>very good public transport<\/strong> options, it\u2019s a very \u201cmanageable\u201d city, as a former local told me. They love <strong>bikes<\/strong> over there so if that\u2019s your thing, research on how you can rent a Valenbisi. <strong>Walking<\/strong> is a pleasure &#8211; beautiful old buildings and orange trees that decorate many of the pavements.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">What used to be the bed of the the river Turia was transformed into a huge park with plenty of vegetation, sports courts, fountains and the futuristic looking Calatrava buildings and bridge, collectively called the <strong>City of Arts and Sciences<\/strong>, including a planetarium, an oceanarium and an interactive museum. Feeling like you\u2019re about to embark on a spaceship, the beautiful buildings make it hard to take your eyes off them. All white and with bold curves and angles, decorated with light blue water fountains all around, it\u2019s very easy to be impressed by the architect\u2019s talent and vision.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/eurotalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/PenultimateFullSizeRender.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-5409\" src=\"https:\/\/eurotalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/PenultimateFullSizeRender.jpg\" alt=\"PenultimateFullSizeRender\" width=\"300\" height=\"540\" data-wp-pid=\"5409\" margin-top:20px; margin-bottom:20px\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">South of the park is the <strong>old city centre<\/strong>, which is best explored by foot. All the little streets are beautiful and each neighbourhood has many cafes and bistros where you can take a break and indulge in the delicious Spanish cuisine. One of my favourite places is <strong>Plaza de la Reina<\/strong>. The fact that we had some amazing chocolate con churros at one caf\u00e9 of the many around the plaza does not influence my decision at all \ud83d\ude09<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/eurotalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/ThinkstockPhotos-488522515.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-5410\" src=\"https:\/\/eurotalk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/ThinkstockPhotos-488522515.jpg\" alt=\"Plaza de la Reina in Valencia\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" data-wp-pid=\"5410\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Where do the cool kids hang out? I hear you ask me. The answer is <strong>Russafa<\/strong>. It is the hip neighbourhood with a rich cultural mix which makes it the favourite social place for both tourists and locals. The classic Spanish buildings are home to many restaurants and cafes with delicious pastries. The nightlife here is very lively and is the kind of place where on a hot summer night you might accidentally walk right into a street festival.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">In only four days Valencia has managed to make me fall in love with it and quickly climbed and reserved a spot in my top 3 favourite places in the world. Characterful, filled with culture and history, great food, amazing weather and happy palm trees, Valencia surely knows how to impress.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><em>Heading to Spain this summer? Remember to download <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/app\" target=\"_blank\">uTalk<\/a> before you go\u00a0so you&#8217;re prepared with some basic Spanish conversation!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Next up on our list of top holiday destinations is Valencia &#8211; here&#8217;s Ioana to explain how\u00a0the Spanish city captured her heart&#8230; The fact that it\u2019s not one of the top touristic destinations in Spain, had me not really knowing what to expect of Valencia. Of course, I was looking forward to amazing paella, sunny &#8230; <a title=\"Destination: Valencia, Spain\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/destination-valencia-spain\/\" aria-label=\"More on Destination: Valencia, Spain\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,9,97,18],"tags":[198,681,268,7,8,38,28,1576],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5400\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}