Travelling to Valencia & Cuenca?
DOs and DON'Ts
On September 2003 I went to Valencia 
and Cuenca
(Spain) with my wife. We don't like arranged travels and we
prefer to travel on our own, because we think is the only way you can get in touch with
the real country and its people. This way of travelling is harder and more expensive than
others, but also more pleasant, relaxing and, that's the best, gives you a different point
of view on the culture and way of life.
After my experience here you have my advice if you plan to travel on your own to Valencia and Cuenca. You have to understand that this is MY PERSONAL POINT OF VIEW and that it is not my intention to criticize the people or culture of Valencia / Cuenca. You also must take into account that these observations are from year 2003. Things might have changed (either in the right or in the wrong way) since then.
Click on the links on the map to see some photos of the area in my photo album.
| Legend: | ||
Excellent / Specially interesting |
Very good / Very interesting |
Good / Interesting |
Mediocre / Not very interesting |
 Very
bad / Not interesting |
|
Click on it for pictures of the area |
Click on it for hotels in the city/area |
|
| ___________________________________________________________________________________________ | ||
,
but in order to complete the journey we also spent some additional rest days
in Cuenca, which I hadn't visited since I was a teenager..
Ordering it in this way the price was really excellent and we didn't
have any trouble., hosted at "Encarnin's house" (Aunt
of Trini, my wife), so I can't give any reference regarding hotels..
The first day fully dedicated to l'Oceanografic ,
with its excelent installations and impresive aquarium, without
forgeting its refined (and expensive) submarine restaurant (Restaurante Submarino) .
The second day we visited the Museum of Sciencies
(specially interesting if you go with children, but little attractive for
adults) and
l'Hemisferic
(That holds a planetarium and an IMAX cinema).
of the buldings of the Museum, l'Hemisferic, l'Umbracle and the Palace
of Arts (Still not finished at that time)
.
Leaded by "tia Encarnin" we visited the most typical areas of the
old town, from which the most interesting for me was (because of its
olds-times charm) the Plaza Redonda (Round square). Although other places as
the Palace of thel Marquis of Dos Aguas (Where the Museum of Ceramics is
located) the Lonja de la Seda, the Central Market or the Cathedral (with
it's famous tower know as El Miguelete") are also worth the visit by
themselves.,
specialized in rice dishes (In Valencia there are many dishes with rice,
apart from the well known "paella"),
in Alboraya (The bus stops just in front of the entrance) to try their well
known cold "horchata" (tiger nut milk) and "fartones" (A
typical cake of Valencia)
is a nice village with a beautiful square of renaissance style, that it's
worth a walk by its streets.
is also a must. You can walk along the streets of this small village,
declared historical-artistical monument, in little time, and the visit of
the Castle (currenly holding a hotel of Paradores Nacionales) is a good
pretext to begin geting used to the regional gastronomy, at the excellent
restaurant of the "Parador"
(located in a room of the own castle), where you can begin with some
"Patatas Viajeras" and end with any regional delight.. There we stayed at the
Parador Nacional
(Convent of San Pablo), altough the first night we had to sleep at the Hotel Torremangana ,
because the Parador was full. The option of the Parador Nacional is
certainly not cheap, but its exceptional location (at a few minutes
walk of the center of the town, but away from noise at the same time) its historical
nature (it's a building of the XVI century) and the incredible view
over the river Huecar and the Casas Colgadas, are worth the money.
took us, from the Parador, crossing the river Huecar by the iron bridge, to
the well known Casas
Colgadas (hung houses) and from there to the close Plaza Mayor (main square),
start point of all tours by the old town.. What I particularly liked
the most was walking up to the Castle's neighborhood, which provides and
excellent view of the city and the rivers Jucar and Huecar (which
surround it)..
A roast lamb or pig are good for helping the body after the walk.
,
with the pleasant surprise of finding it as virgin as when I was
there in the 70's for camping.
(with its fantastic forests of conifers with yellow spots of deciduous
trees), by the spring of river Cuervo
and then to
Poyatos and Las Majadas along narrow and solitaire roads crossing the
forest, where it's still frecuent to watch deers and wild boars. A very
advisable tour for relaxing and enjoying the spectacle of nature. In
this last part of the itinerary there are not many restaurants or gas
stations, so keep this in mind when making your plans, and don't do
as someone I know who was just about to end the route by foot ;-),
where for a very little money you can eat an abundant and home-made menu (Artatunos, Morteruelo,
Roast lamb, Stew of deer...) in a familiar atmosphere.
(a must when travelling to Cuenca) and by the road that goes parallel
to the river Jucar towards Tragacete, one of the most important villages
in the mountains of Cuenca, where you can stop at the restaurant El Gamo
to taste a Sopa Castellana and a Cochinillo[Roast pig] (for instance...).
FORGET the big restaurant//bar
in front of the entrance of the Ciudad Encantada (across the road), is
expensive and the attention of the waiters is far beyond what one can expect
from a touristic business.
(Impressive collapses of the terrain dude to underground caves, some
of them filled by water) and stoping at the ruins of the medieval city of Moya
.
Specially interesting for the inveterated romantics and amongst which
multiple buildings covered by the vegetation it wouldn't surprise to meet
the soul of Lord Byron passing by.
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