TOMORROWLAND

Goodbye to beautiful Granada and on the bus for the long slog (300 miles) to Valencia.  As we drove along the motorway just outside Granada, we got a nice view of their Sierras.

I had to shoot that through the window while the bus was moving.  Not too bad.  I was jumping all over the place trying to get shots, most all of which I deleted for blurring.  We had a long and uneventful trip up the inland and then coastal areas, but nothing dramatic to see.  At our motorway lunch stop, Loni and I investigated an RV with a nice motorcycle rack on the back.  While we were examining it, the owners walked up and we struck up a conversation.  They were German, but lived part time in Malaga.  They had spent time in the U.S. three years ago, RVing it from Vegas to Alaska.  Nice folks.  There also are a lot of Brits down in this area in various towns along the Costa del Sol.  Once we got to Valencia, we checked into our hotel, the Tryp Oceana, part of another chain.  It sat right across the street from another chain, this time a chain of mega-department stores called El Corte Ingles, the biggest group in Europe and fourth in the world.  This was a particularly large outlet; we saw many smaller ones in the various cities we went through.

Our time was our own this afternoon and evening, so we decided to get out an walk after the long day in the bus (we didn’t roll in until about 4:30 pm).  Valencia is a mixture of traditional old town and, well, bizarre stuff that looks like it was plopped down here from the future.  Tomorrowland, I would say.  The latter is all part of the Ciutat de les Arts I les Ciencies (c’mon, you can figure that out), a sprawling, futuristic complex of buildings designed mainly by native son Santiao Calatrava.  This is the Science Museum Principe Felipe.

Those of you who have seen the recent (June 2015) Disney movie “Tomorrowland” will recognize this as one of the backdrop sets for the film. Below is the Agora, a sort of convention hall and performing arts space.

Sitting in the middle of the lagoon is the Hemiferic, site of an Imax theatre and planetarium.

All of this is bizarre and, well, neat.  I took some more shots on our last day, but this will give you an idea.  This complex sits in what was the former bed of the river Turia, which used to wind its way through the heart of Valencia.  It was always prone to severe flooding, and after a particularly deadly one in 1957, the city decided to divert the river elsewhere.  The left-behind riverbed was turned into a nine kilometer green belt, with walking paths, playing fields, access to cultural spots, and something for everyone.  We walked down this towards the center of the city, its old town.  It is spanned regularly by bridges for vehicles and pedestrians.  The neatest thing we saw down in the parkway was this children’s playground formed by a massive supine sculpture of Gulliver, with climbing places and slides all over his body.

Who wouldn’t want to be a kid again on this thing?  Most of the park is not that remarkable, just a pleasant place to be.

Some of the crossing bridges were prettier than others, especially this one called, naturally, Puente de las Flores.

Once we turned into the old city part, we just wandered around not knowing what we happened to be looking at, just taking in the flavor of the place.

Here’s another example of my “smart” camera being too clever for its own good.  Don’t use the “high dynamic range” feature when there are moving bodies.  The melding of the three shots can produce these ghostly images.

I curse the camera, but really I’m just ticked off that I don’t know how to use it properly.  The thing can do so much, but you need the manual in hand to figure out how to proceed.  I had lots of shots I wasn’t happy with, and I fear I’ve blown a lot of dough being dazzled by specs.

 

 

 

 

 

This below is some former palace now repurposed as government offices, but it sure looked nice in the late sun.

On our way back to the hotel, we crossed over the Puente de la Exposicion, named after the former bridge on this site.  This one was done by the same architect that did the Ciutat buildings.

Not everything was either old or futuristic;  whimsy is alive and well in Valencia.

Back at the hotel we joined up with fellow travelers James and Melody and walked a few blocks over to where we had scoped out a couple of restaurants on our return walk.  Loni had a nice Brie salad and a duck cannelloni.  I had, well, it was interesting.  I was after the baked sole with almond sauce.  I even pointed to it on the menu.  The waitress, however, asked how I wanted it.  “Con blood?”  What?  Blood?  Fish?  I ended up shrugging and she retreated to give in the order.  When my dish came, it was a perfectly respectable steak, cooked rare.  I told her I hadn’t ordered that (I really wanted fish in this seaside city).  She took it away and eventually I got an excellent fish dinner.  I felt bad that a beautiful steak got wasted, but maybe they could repurpose it.  Sure wish I knew any Spanish beyond ole!