Blipper's paradise

Backblipping again. We had a lovely evening on Wednesday -- after a brief rest at the hotel, we headed back into town for 7 p.m., to see a procession the receptionist had told us about. Unfortunately when we arrived the crowd was alread solidly packed four deep and we could barely see a thing. But later we found a "Moors and Christians" procession that was spectacular too, including belly dancers, goats, horses, an ox, and a camel. Later we picked a tapas bar just because it looked classy, and had the best jamón we've had since we've been here, along with some roasted camembert and jam (yum! A very popular tapa) and a couple of glasses of wine. Then we handily stumbled across the very first children's falla to be burnt, just as they were about to set fire to it. After that we visited amazingly illuminated streets, saw a few more blazes, ate more tapas, strolled some more -- and S bought me a very cute present, which I'll save for a blipless day.

We got back to the hotel at 2 a.m., so we weren't up bright and early on Thursday. We had a couple of hours before our train was due to leave though, so we took a bus to a blipping must-see: Santiago Calatrava's Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias, which was supposed to be Valencia's answer to the Guggenheim in Bilbao. It is a sheer delight to wander around, photogenic from every angle. It's been photographed so much it's almost familiar, but nothing beats being there. I chose this abstract photo because it is different from the usual views of this dramatic complex which you can find all over the Internet (including on my Flickr page when I get around to it). Go large for the full effect!

We did notice a couple of guys on a hi-lift, painting an arrangement of white squares on the battleship-grey whale-shaped Opera House (see my spare blip). They must be going to put some art exhibits on it, we supposed. It was only after we got home that I realised that the classic photos of this building show it in dazzling white mosaic. It didn't take much digging to find that the city of Valencia is currently suing Calatrava because after a few days of high winds last winter, bits of the tiled coating started falling off and they had to close it to the public. They have since removed all of the tile cladding and are planning to paint it white as a temporary solution. So I would guess the two workers are testing different types of paint. It's pretty shocking to see such deterioration in a multi-million euro building that's only been open for eight years. Calatrava has form though -- he's being pursued by various other clients, including the city of Bilbao for a slippery glass footbridge, and the Ysios winery in Rioja for a leaking roof, and he has a history of technical problems and over-budget projects. Such a shame -- I love the look of his buildings, but the beauty appears to be not even skin-deep.

Anyway, we didn't have time to explore all of the exterior areas of the complex, let alone go inside -- and it has the biggest aquarium in Europe, a must for an aquariophile like me. So we'll definitely spend another day or two in Valencia before we leave here. I think we could spend all day on this site alone, and there is much, much more to see in Valencia -- a beautiful city. This weekend I should get time to make a Flickr set of the rest of my photos.