One day after school, the excursion for the day was to visit La Ciudad de Los Artes y Ciencias. The City of Arts and Sciences was a few miles away, so this was the first time I would need to take public transportation. I will discuss transportation later, but I wanted to note that most people would buy a card that you can activate at a drugstore, so I went to the nearest tobacco shop to be able to purchase 10 bus/metro tickets for 8 Euros (quite a deal if you use it right!). When we embarked, we walked to the nearest bus stop and hopped on and found our way over to a place with the most impressive architecture I have ever seen. Getting off of the bus, I turned and stared down this completely massive structure, standing just as wide as it was tall. It was not a simple skyscrape, but rather had distinct curvatures and appeared as an eagle’s head with wings going down as the support structure. This building is used as a theater for entertainment purposes. I never walked inside it, but I did go under it, and it was truly spectacular. Directly next to this massive structure would be a line of 6 more impressive structures, including a cinema (Hemisferic) that goes underground and is a 360 projection of the world, an amazing science museum that is extremely tall and long, a bridge (Puente del Azud del Oro) that is supported on only one side, so it leans that direction. This bridge’s support cable is also the highest point in all of Valencia (it was really tall). Then, a massive structure called Agora that was originally constructed to be an indoor tennis arena, but due to its failure of success, was repurposed as an amazing art exhibition structure. To the other side of this stands the largest aquarium in all of Europe, Oceanographic. It runs underground and above ground with many different structures to enter into to see different species from different water regions. Lastly, all of this was lined by a giant walking bridge called Umbraculo, which like it sounds, has an umbrella of metal that covers part of the bridge and within it is a beautiful, long garden of amazing plants and palm trees. It was so magnificent to walk through an amazing garden with a panoramic view of the Ciudad de los Artes y Ciencias in my sight. Under the bridge was a craft fair with many artists set up selling their own works, in which I found a beautiful plate with a yellow flower and a Spanish inspiration. I came back on my own one day to revisit the setting and go to Oceanographic. The reason being I was so appalled by these structures that I had to come back to appreciate it once more. In Valencia, some structures are 1,000+ years old, yet some are so futuristic such as these. To be in a place that takes you back in time and also projects you into the future was very beautiful, humbling, and absolutely wonderful.
Comments