Barcelona v Valencia – which city is the best to visit?
Valencia is like a film set. Everywhere you look is beautiful and it is so clean. I mean, I’m going to have to say that in my estimation, it beats Barcelona now. But what do you think? Barcelona or Valencia? Let’s start at the very beginning. How easy is it to get from your ship? Valencia is a working port, which means we’ve got to get a bus out of the port and then a second bus into the old town. Now, the shuttle bus is going to take us from the port and drop us by the museum, the Ocean Museum and the Opera House. From there, we’ll get a public bus. And as you can see, many people look quite lost when they get off the shuttle bus. But Jean has looked on Google Maps and she knows exactly which bus to get. So that’s a 20inut drive out of the port in Valencia and then a 20inut public bus. Whereas in Barcelona, the cruise port is right next to the center. So you could walk across the bridge, you could walk into it, but there is a shuttle bus that will get you there in 5 or 10 minutes. This is where your cruise shuttle bus will drop you. And it’s very handy for a few things. The city hop on hop off bus is just opposite. And also if you look for the statue of Christopher Columbus that you can see clearly, it’s right at the bottom of Lambla. So far Barcelona 1 nil up, but it’s early days yet. There’s a lot of match to play. We’re going on a walking tour starting at Blackard de La. This statue in the middle of Virgin Square is to represent the river which flowed over where the park is, but was then diverted after the great floods in October in 1957. Valencia, the people are really friendly. The streets are incredibly clean. Look at that. and it’s not overcommercialized. One thing to be careful for here is pickpockets. It’s famous for them. Barcelona is also kept clean, but is certainly more like a city and is more commercialized and doesn’t have that friendly feel that Valencia does. So, one up to Valencia. This is called Black Square because of the statue. And at night, this is where it all happens. It’s absolutely rammed and it’s full of provolity. Barcelona is a lot more edgy at night. There are some nogo areas and people tend to use trendy rooftop bars. [Music] The road works will only apply in 2025 and they are everywhere. But the tree problem that’s probably not going to go away for a while. Along Ramblers is Lavocaria. It’s an amazing market. It’s a delight to walk through. This is the central trade market. It is in fact the biggest market of fresh products in the whole of Europe. Two things Valencia is famous for is oranges and rice. I thought I had to have some freshly squeezed orange juice. And also, I’ve got the national dish of um Spain, which is the omelette, the Spanish omelette. Barcelona market is buzzier. Valencia is bigger. They’re even. But what I love about Valencia is everything feels so close and so less hassled that you can just walk inside places. The church, I prefer the free one. I think it’s prettier inside. The special thing about the church is the chalice. It’s said to be the very chalice that Jesus drank out of with the disciples at the last supper. Maybe it’s here in the churches that we start to see the real difference in the look of Barcelona and Valencia. It’s the influence of Gaudi and not just in the Sagrada Familia, but in all of the other buildings, too. I used to love reading historical novels about the Boures. They were so wicked. They all slept with each other. They were incestuous. They poisoned each other. And there are only two popes from Valencia. And one of them was Alexander Boura. Valencia feels more traditional, square. Gaudi has a permission to be arty and curved. Chhatta Butler. One of Gaudi’s masterpieces with a roof shaped like a dragon is right by the metro station Gracia. But in the parks, we find the opposite. Valencia is new and modern. In theory, if I walk to the very end of this park, it’s 47 minutes. I’ll come out to where the shuttle bus stops. Here in Valencia, the old town, and this wonderful new area only separated by the 95 bus. If you want the museum, the opera house, the gardens, the boardwalks, they’re here. Just along from where the shuttle bus drops you, you can’t miss it. It’s such an impressive building. Is the opera house. The bus ride to Park Girl is longer. This was Gaudi’s own house. He lived here for 20 years from 1905 to 1926. And in 1963, it was opened as the official Gaudi Museum. It was built as the show home for the park project and inside some of his furniture and personal effects. [Music] The castle of Montur dates back to the 17th century. And this area also has a significance to the Civil War. It is crazy to think that it’s less than 200 years ago that during the Spanish Civil War, the government of Madrid was shelling Barcelona from this flat castle top. And you can see the Sigrada Familia from here. We’ve just had a very interesting walking tour where we learned that paella is not the Spanish national dish. It’s from Valencia. And the Spanish national dish is Spanish omelette. Also, we learned that paella does not have seafood in it. It has chicken and rabbit and garlic. A little bit of garlic. That is the traditional paella. And no charitzo. Jamie Oliver. Payella has white butter beans, green beans, and meat. No fish. And it comes from Valencia. Valencia is attractive. It’s clean. It’s friendly. It’s got a lot to offer. And it’s well worth a visit. And it definitely gets our vote. The red top bus, which lives just up the hill from the port, will take you all the way to Nice. But there’s enough to see in Phil Fr. This citadel was built in 1557. If you thought Valencia was clean and friendly, you’ll get the same feeling from Vil France. In Laort Deathante is St. Peter’s Chapel, which was built by the fisherman and was decorated by Jean Kto. The Ruds obscure dates back to the 14th century. It’s 130 m long. It’s a covered passageway and it acted as a sort of defensive passageway. If you come into Von S on train, you come in right next to the beach. Do you know I probably would never have come here if I came to the Riviera, but it’s absolutely charming. So, I’m so glad I came on this cruise. The most ancient historic temple in western Greece dates back to the 6th century BC and was built for Apollo. And just behind it is a market. In the middle of the square is this beautiful fountain for Artamus or Diana in English. Very clever idea in Sicily. They know the grandparents are coming and they can embroider your name on anything so you can take it home. Personalized gifts. Wow. [Music] The cathedral is the core of Srausa. Against the glamorous backdrop of the Baltic cruise revival. A covert team races to stop a second attack on the $40 billion cruise industry. A compelling ensemble of flawed, deeply human characters. 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Barcelona v Valencia – which city is the best to visit?
We show one against the other, parks, churches, market, journey from the port, and walking tour. Take a look.
INDEX
0:00 – Valencia for Jean
0:20 – Valencia port
0:58 – Barcelona port
1:34 – Valencia Virgin Sq
2:05 – La Ramblas
2:29 – Val nightlife
2:39 – Barc nightlife
2:40 – Barc Market
3:09 – Val Market
3:30 – Walking Valencia Cathedral
4:00 – Barc Sagrada Familia
4:17 – Val Borgias
4:29 – Gaudi
4:51 – Valencia’s modern park
5:21 – Barc Parc Guell
5:45 – Montjuic Barcelona
6:14 – Valencia Paella
6:57 – Villefranche preview
7:59 – Syracuse preview
8:38 – The Unexpected
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