Preview of Sharm’s blog at TravelPod. Read the full blog here: www.travelpod.com This blog preview was made by TravelPod using the TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow creator. Entry from: Valencia, Spain Entry Title: “Valencia” Entry: “We arrived after a five hour drive from Barcelona in Valencia, easily finding tourist information to once again get directions to out hostel. We stopped for a quick lunch consisting of packed bread and jam, given our tight Spanish budgets! We found Homebackpackers in what can be described as as the dodgey area of town and became a little concerned when the hostel staff told us that that if we encountered strange homeless men we should just give them 50 cents for our own peace of mind…not such a great start! We settled into our 14 bed dorm (slightly difficult to deal with at this stage in the trip) and discovered our pleasant unisex bathrooms shared between the whole floor. On the upside the hostel had a massive kitchen and roof terrace that kept us going through the next four days. On our first full day we decided to cover the sight seeing, so ventured into town and came across some cute markets and then headed onto Plaza Reine where we found the main Cathedral, the home of the Holy Grail. Here we spent our first Euro on sight seeing in Spain. After a tour through the Cathedral we entered the chapel of the Holy Grail (the chalise believed to have been used by Jesus at the Last Supper.) Given it was only mid afternoon and sight seeing was …
Arctic Monkeys performing Dance Little Liar & Brianstorm live at La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, Valencia, Spain, February 13th, 2010. Lyrics: Alex Turner. Music: Arctic Monkeys. Setlist: 1. Dance Little Liar 2. Brianstorm 3. This House Is A Circus (not broadcast) 4. Still Take You Home (not broadcast) 5. Potion Approaching (not broadcast) 6. Red Right Hand (not broadcast) 7. My Propeller 8. Crying Lightning 9. Catapult (not broadcast) 10. The View From The Afternoon 11. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor 12. Cornerstone (not broadcast) 13. If You Were There, Beware (not broadcast) 14. Pretty Visitors (not broadcast) 15. Do Me A Favour (not broadcast) 16. When The Sun Goes Down 17. Secret Door 18. Fluorescent Adolescent/Strange (Patsy Cline) 19. 505
Preview of Youngt’s blog at TravelPod. Read the full blog here: www.travelpod.com This blog preview was made by TravelPod using the TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow creator. Entry from: Valencia, Spain Entry Title: “My first bullfight” Entry: “**PLEASE NOTE THAT IF YOU HAVE A BIG PROBLEM WITH ANIMAL CRUELTY THEN PERHAPS YOU SHOULD SKIP THIS ENTRY AND GO ON TO HAPPIER THINGS** The matador approached the bull, his sword outstretched. With a lunge (his second try) he slipped his sword through the ribcage of the bull and into his heart. The bull looked dazed and confused. He took two steps, looked to his left, and then vomited blood. The crowd collectively gasped and Ashley covered her eyes. “Is it over,” she asked? “No,” I replied as the bull vomited once, twice more before finally toppling over. I guess what you read about instantaneous death for the bull isn’t always the case. *** I took Ashley to see the mascleta this morning. The Mr. Pirotecnic guy was particularly talented today, and decided to synchronize his firecracker explosions to the tune of Beethoven’s 9th. It was pretty special. I had gone to get bullfighting tickets for the two of us about a week earlier. The big fights were filling up fast. There were bullfights the entire week of Fallas. There would be another week in May but bullfights were more or less regulated to special occasions in Valencia. There was actually a strong anti-bullfighting sentiment in Spanish government and it seems likely that this …
Preview of Emmab’s blog at TravelPod. Read the full blog here: www.travelpod.com This blog preview was made by TravelPod using the TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow creator. Entry from: Valencia, Spain Entry Title: “Sunday in Valencia” Entry: “First stop this morning was OpenCor, the supermarket to buy some breakfast! I bought some fruit juice by relying on the brand, Minute Maid, and the picture of lemons. By association, this should have been the greatest idea ever, as Canadian Minute Maid still lemonade is awesome. No. This one was actual lemon juice (sqqqqueeeeeee!) with mint in it. I kid you not. Anyhoo, I carried on to Tourist Information where I was hoping to pick up my usual round of leaflets; however this was scuppered by the fact that every single one was in Spanish. TOURIST OFFICE. For FOREIGN visitors. Honestly. The staff member I spoke to was particularly helpful and spoke to me in English and even found out if the aquarium would be open on Christmas Day for me. It is, wahey! Valencia has nothing particular or special to do or see, nothing is a ‘must see’ like the Mona Lisa in Paris or the Colosseum in Rome but it is a nice place to be, with lots of beautiul architecture and green spaces everywhere. Also there are ridiculous amounts of trees; orange trees with oranges still on them, on the side of the road!, palm trees, other trees I don’t know the names of…. The space which used to be the river has been turned into gardens, and in the streets, poinsettas are …
Going way back in time it seems that the first ever known building to be constructed in this Castellón de la Plana area was in fact the famous Moorish castle of Fadrell situated near the Alquerías de La Plana.
Some time later the real town was officially founded in the year of 1251 and this was after the historical conquest of the Moorish Kingdom of Valencia that was done by King James I of Aragon at an earlier date in 1233.
King James I in fact then granted a royal permission to actually move the new town down from the mountain and on to the plain on the date of September 8 in 1251 Historically it now seems that tradition claims that this move was in fact completed by those that undertook this enormous task on the third Sunday of Lent in 1252.
Right throughout the Middle Ages this Castellón de la Plana city was well protected by moats around defensive walls and towers and later a new church was built which later become the city’s cathedral.
Later on in the 17th century the town became one of the very last great strongholds in the Revolta de les Germanies or “revolt of the local guilds”. And the town also was supportive of the Archduke Charles of Austria in the historical War of the Spanish Succession which ran from1701 to 1714. The city however was then taken by the troops and supporters of Philip d'Anjou.
More recently in the 19th century all of the city’s walls were taken down as it slowly began to expand beyond them and this a process which was interrupted only by the War of Independence against Napoleon which occurred from 1804 until 1814 and then again later by the Carlist Wars from 1833 up to 1863.
At the start of these wars in 1833 was the year that Castellón de la Plana became the new capital of the newly constituted province area.
Even more recently in the second half of the 19th century the city of Castellón de la Plana began to expand again even more. And this time it was marked by the arrival of a railway into the city and also included the enlargement of the city’s port area as well as the construction of some important representative buildings such as the Provincial Hospital and a Casino and the city’s Theater. Many parks were also developed at this time.
Very recently just a few years ago in 1991 a new university in Castellón de la Plana, named Jaume I University, was created and built on a new modern campus location. Today the local economy of the area is mainly based on industry and craft work.
