I’m sad to see my time in Madrid come to an end, there are so many more day-trips I would have taken given the time. i.e. Segovia and Toledo. But I know I will return. 🙂 We decided on an early train this morning to give us a chance at getting some sites in before the day ended, officially activating our EuroRail passes.
As you can see, I was very excited to hit this milestone of my trip (or my mother was :P).
Arriving in Valencia around 1 PM, we headed to our hostel in the old city (Mom wanted to try this experience for herself). After getting ourselves settled, we went to explore. However, since the old city’s streets are far from on a grid, we got quite confused by the angular irregularities of the streets at first. Eventually, we happened upon the Valencia Cathedral, and despite it being a Sunday, it was open, so we opted to go in for the tour.
The Cathedral was consecrated by the first bishop of Valencia in 1238 after the Reconquista; It was dedicated to Saint Mary. Its lies on the former site of a Visigothic cathedral, which was turned into a mosque under the Moors. The predominant architecture of the cathedral is Gothic, in its Catalan or Mediterranean version.
Valencia Cathedral
Basilica
The basilica was particularly illustrious as you can see . The most moving room included that in which one of the rumored Holy Chalices is located.
Holy Chalice
In the wise words of Wikipedia,
“Indeed, most Christian historians all over the world declare that all their evidence points to this Valencian chalice as the most likely candidate for being the authentic cup used at the Last Supper.”
Since it was sunday, everything was closed when we finished exploring the cathedral, therefore, we decided to head to the beaches of Valencia! It was absolutely gorgeous, the temperature outside was just right, and the sand was certainly the finest I’ve seen on any beach (including the infamous jersey shore). It was a relaxing and leisurely travel day.
CestLaJu 