Valencia sits around 500km to the north-east-ish of Cordoba; with the train travelling at speeds of up to 250km/hr that shouldn't take long. Unfortunately, Renfe finally let themselves down, with the scheduled 2 hours and 20 minutes taking an extra 45 minutes for some reason - although we did seem to stop a lot on the tracks. However, we arrived safely, and to a quite balmy 25-ish degrees, with blue skies.
Folowing easy instructions, I found the apartment in around 15 minutes walk of the station, to be greeted by Grego and his big sook of a dog, Lusty (at least that's how I'm going to spell it). The area the apartment in seems lively, and has an interesting feel to it. The city centre (which is quite small for a city of this size), is about another 15 minutes walk away, so the location is ideal, particularly as I only have one full day here.
Valencia was founded as a Roman colony in 138 BC. The city is situated on the banks of the River Turia, on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula, fronting the Gulf of Valencia on the Mediterranean Sea. Its historic centre is one of the largest in Spain.
With its heritage of ancient monuments, views and cultural attractions, Valencia is one of the country's most popular tourist destinations; however, I've only got one day here - something had to give on this itinerary!
The original Latin name of the city was Valentia meaning "strength", or "valour", the city being named according to the Roman practice of recognizing the valour of former Roman soldiers after a war. The Roman historian Livy explains that the founding of Valentia in the 2nd century BC was due to the settling of the Roman soldiers who fought against an Iberian rebel, Viriato; of course one man's rebel is another man's hero - and it seems to me it largely depends on who wins in the end as to which one you are called!
During the rule of the Muslim kingdoms in Spain, it was called Medina at-Turab City of Sands'), since it was located on the banks of the River Turia, while the term Balansiyya was reserved for the entire Taifa of Valencia.
The two official languages spoken in the city are Valencian and Spanish - and here I was just starting to get used to Spanish! Due to political and demographic pressures in the past, the predominant language is Spanish (thankfully for me), but Valencian is taught and spoken in most of the surrounding metropolitan area and
province of Valencia. The government emphasizes the usage of the local language by posting signs and announcements of the metro area in Valencian with Spanish translations. Valencian is also used when naming streets. Street signs generally give the Valencian name for the street. However, older streets and those which span longer distances are also labelled in Spanish.
And so, to stretch the legs there was plenty of time to head into the city centre to get my bearings. It's a lively city, with some beautiful building that appear to date to the early 20th Century - a time when buildings were built for beauty as well as function: