MTV Winter 2010, Valencia (SPAIN) — ARCTIC MONKEYS — DANCE LITTLE LIAR & BRIANSTORM

Arctic Monkeys, Secret Door, Live @ Valencia, Spain, MTV Winter 2010

07/02/92 – Plaza de Toros de Valencia, Valencia, Spain

A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Valencia, Spain and Canary Islands by TravelPod blogger Johnandrich titled “The Spanish Mediterranean Coast” Johnandrich’s travel blog entry: “April 29 and we arrived in Valencia, Spain. Valencia is Spain’s 3rd largest city with approximately 2 million residents. Rich visited Valencia when he was 16 and was not terribly impressed. The city, however, has made tremendous progress since then and has done a great job at cleaning up and renovating itself. Valencia is now Rich’s favorite city thus far on the trip. The city is clean and vibrant with many historic buildings having been restored and many new parks having been developed. A large river use to run through the center of the city and often caused flooding problems. In the early 1990s the city rerouted the river to flow around the city instead of through it. The city planners then took the 5 mile stretch of dried up river bed that ran through the city and turned it into a beautiful park complete with bike paths, many trees, flowers, fountains etc. It is a great testament to city planning and a creative development of green space for such a large city. Now, the “river” park is the focal point of Valencia. Our time in Valencia was made very special by the fact that a friend we made on the cruise (Tony) was born and raised in Valencia before moving to the US Tony took us all over the city to see where he grew up, went to school, etc. He introduced us to a local treat …

Spain’s third-largest city (after Madrid and Barcelona) comes as a pleasant surprise. Famous for its Paella Valenciana and the Cathedral which houses the Holy Grail relic and the mummified hand of St. Vincent the Martyr, Valencia is identified with the Mediterranean Sea because it is right in the center of the Mediterranean coastline. The Plaza de la Virgen in the old district breathes with history, hosting three buildings of huge importance – the Cathedral, the Basilica de Virgen de Los Desamparados, and Palau de Generalitat, the seat of government. Built between 1262 and 1426, the Cathedral of Valencia stands in the same place where the first temple of this Roman city was erected, and later, an Arab mosque. On the way to Valencia is Alicante, one of the most well-known towns along the Costa Blanca, with its wide tree-lined boulevards, beautiful sandy beaches, and shopping streets, a great example of what is known as Mediterranean landscape, and a mecca for weary travelers.