Today on our 4th day we’re changing scenery!
Still in Valencia, but after the old town, here’s the ultramodern part!
The City of Arts and Sciences is a cultural and architectural complex and it is the most important modern tourist destination in the city of Valencia.
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.
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.
L’Hemisfèric, Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe, L’Umbracle, L’Oceanogràfic, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, Montolivet Bridge, Assut de l’Or Bridge, L’Àgora and Valencia Towers are buildings and structures of this complex.
We visited the Palau de las Arts Reina Sofía with our guide Sergio. It’s an opera house and performing arts center dedicated to music and the performing arts. It is surrounded by 87,000 square meters (936,460 sq ft) of landscape and water, as well as 10,000 square meters (107,639 sq ft) of walking area. The Palau de Les Arts has four sections: the main hall, the master hall, the auditorium, and the Martin y Soler theatre. It holds many events such as opera, theatre and music in its auditoriums. Panoramic lifts and stairways connect platforms at different heights on the inside of the metallic frames of the building. The building has a metallic feather outer roof that is 230 meters long and 70 meters high. The building is supported by white concrete. Two laminated steel shells cover the building, weighing over 3,000 tons. These shells are 163 meters wide and 163 meters long.
After lunch in the mall nearby we visited the CaxaForum Museum and a dinosaurs exposition. CaixaForum Valencia adapted 6,500 square meters to house two exhibition halls, an auditorium with 300 seats, two multipurpose rooms, a bar-restaurant, a bookstore, and family and educational space on a second level. The space offers art exhibitions, conferences, concerts and shows, social events, educational and family workshops and activities for the elderly.
After that we had free time at the Mall El Saler.
If the Algemesí festival is inseparable from its very essence, then providing a space where this essence is explained and remembered is essential—a space that recreates the atmosphere and evokes emotions. A space that showcases the dedication, precision, vibrant colors, and solemnity of each dance in the Procession of Our Lady of Health, the Muixeranga, the Bastonets, Arquets, Carxofa, Pastoretes, Llauradores, and Tornejats, the Mysteries and Martyrdoms, the Biblical Characters, and so on. All this continuous stream of sensations experienced during the magical days of September by the people of Algemesí and all those who visit the town year after year to experience this festival, which is ours and everyone’s. History, music, clothing, customs, anecdotes, festive cuisine, objects, and documents, etc., presented in a direct and educational manner, will be the point of reference from which all exhibition spaces will be presented. Special attention will also be paid to education and leisure, with temporary educational offerings such as workshops for school-aged children, exhibitions, concerts, theater performances, and displays of festive elements.
Then everyone of us got back home.
Que tinguis una bona nit!!!
