Valencia: A city rich in architecture

I was there at the historic Mestalla Stadium to witness my team just about qualify for the next round of the Champions League. But my favourite part of the trip was exploring the city and and enjoying its many and varied architectural treats.

The old

The obvious focal point is the cathedral, and there are many other beautiful examples too, including a basilica just metres away and a pair of 15th century towers which have protected the city as recently as the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s.

Compact by design, the centre itself can be taken in within a single day – with a wide choice of galleries and museums for anybody with a little more time to spare.

The new

A project costing almost one billion euros, it features extensive gardens, an IMAX cinema, an aquarium, a science museum and an opera house. But these are no ordinary buildings: architects Santiago Calatrava and Felix Candela were tasked with creating something that will live long in the memory.

Antoni Gaudí