The beginning of the end of days...in Valencia

Wednesday, February 15, 2023 - Things are starting to wind down here. We leave for Firle on Saturday.

On Monday, I ran in the morning - back to my usual route, down to the Túria and back. In the afternoon, the sun came out. Karen, whose tender knee is not any better, suggested we head over to Central Park - an easy walk - to grab the late rays. 

This time, I remembered to take my book. I’m reading, among other things, a book Karen gave me for Christmas, by Jason Webster. Webster wrote a series of detective stories set in Valencia, which we read the first couple of years we were here. He spent many years living in Spain, including in Valencia. This book, Duende: A Journey in Search of Flamenco, is a memoir of his early years in Spain, right after university, when he was trying to learn flamenco guitar. It’s very good. (Have I already mentioned this?)

We sat reading for 45 minutes, not unfortunately on one of the wooden benches with backs, but on a backless stone bench, which was not the most comfortable. Two prime benches in the sun were taken up with the coats and bags of a group of seniors involved in a fitness class, and the paraphernalia of an abuela out with her grandchild, who was playing nearby. How rude!

I dropped Karen at home and went back out around the neighbourhood on a fruitless search for birthday presents. I did go into a couple of shops I’d been wanting to explore, including an English book shop, Book Lovers Valencia, just off Gran Via on Calle de Sevilla.

A few things surprised me about it. First, it’s apparently run by a Spaniard, not an English expat, which I had assumed would be the case. His English was perfect, but you could hear the Spanish accent and he looked Spanish. It’s also more than half new books - I had thought it was all used. I was interested in the section devoted to “local authors.” It included a couple of translations of recent Spanish titles, but more books in English by English-sounding authors, presumably expats.

I also checked out a used record store a block or so from here, but found the selection disappointingly slim compared to London’s Grooves. And the prices, as in the UK, were quite a bit higher than we pay at home.

The other shop that tickled me was a very eccentric little place that appeared to be curated by the proprietor - who was just opening up after siesta when I arrived. The stock includes a wild mix of things, mostly art related, including artists’ supplies, artsy knick-knacks, stationery products, original paintings - I think, by the proprietor - and vintage clothes, mostly leather motorcycle jackets. Crazy.

Tuesday was International Caitlin Day, the day our darling was born. (Yes, yes, it’s also Valentine’s Day, but who cares about that?) 

I ran in the morning, the usual route. We had a long-ish portal with the girl in the late morning, during which she showed us the very nice haul of prezzies she’d gotten from her family. And heard all the gossip and latest news about her podcast - she’s commissioned an artist to create an image of a haunted house that she’ll use at her site and on Facebook.

Tuesday was also restaurant day in Valencia. We decided in the end to wimp out and go back to one of the restaurants we tried early in our stay that we thought was phenomenally good value. It’s called Gepetto, in Rodrigo Botet square. The menu del dia is only €10 and includes starter, main and dessert or coffee. The first time we came, in the warm first week of our stay, we sat outside in the sun and thought the food was unbelievably good for the price. 

The menu doesn’t change from week to week, so we ended up having the same stuff we had last time. The main was entrecote. The first time it was tender and tasty, perfectly cooked. This time, alas, it was so tough that even Karen - who likes “chewy” meat - gave up on it. Very disappointing. But the starters and dessert were good. We thought we remembered that first drinks were included, but they’re not. And they’re not cheap either. We had two each. So it ended up being a bit more expensive meal than we’d bargained for. Ah, well.

Shop selling fabric for Fallas costumes

Religious ornaments shop

Karen hobbled home on her own, while I struck off further into the centre, still on our gift-buying mission. (Karen was excused due to her ongoing mobility issues.) I immediately found myself in a very cool section of the city, between the Central Market and the main squares, some of which was new to me - either that or I’ve just forgotten it. Lots of cool little shops, where I did eventually find mission success. 

Front of unidentified church (there are so many)

Back door of Renaissance-era Silk Exchange 

"Your street art raises my rent" Huh?

It was an even more successful ramble from the point of view of photo subjects. I took a ridiculous number of the usual kinds of pictures, which I spent a good part of today processing.

High-end antique shop

A matched set

Tonight, I go to my second concert of the week in the University of Valencia free series - a clarinet trio accompanied by piano. I might head out a little early and explore some more of my new favourite part of the city. Meanwhile, here are a few more from yesterday's haul of photos.

Unidentified church interior

The same high-end antique shop - different window

Our Lady of the Paella Pan

Last weekend in Valencia

Sunday, February 12, 2023 - Karen’s knee is not getting better quickly. The weather in Valencia is improving only slightly faster. 

We’ve completely lost faith in weather forecasts here. The current temperatures given often seem wildly wrong. Today, for example, some sites were saying it was 14C, when it felt more like 7 or 8. And the days and days of rain we were threatened with, thankfully, haven’t materialized. The daily highs are edging back up into the mid-teens, and there’s been more sun than expected - all of which is of course good. 

On Friday, I did a fast walk in the morning. After lunch/dinner, we headed down to Bancaja Foundation, the bank-funded art venue in the old city. By the time we’d walked there - a 30-minute hike - Karen was in considerable discomfort from her knee. She soldiered through, though. We looked at three separate exhibits. I don’t think either of us was really into it on this day, Karen because she was so uncomfortable, me because I was concerned about her. Which is too bad, because I think they were all interesting artists.

Jaume Plensa, Poetry of Silence

Jaume Plensa, Poetry of Silence

The first one we looked at was the major exhibit at the gallery, one they’ve been advertising all over the city, a 40-year retrospective of work by the Barcelona-based sculptor, Jaume Plensa - The Poetry of Silence. (Jaume is Catalan for James.) Plensa is obsessed with words and letters - the curators note that he has always been inspired by poetry and literature. A lot of his pieces are bronze figures, often kneeling and faceless, constructed in an open lattice of letters - both Roman and other characters - or, in one case, musical notation. 

Jaume Plensa, Poetry of Silence

Jaume Plensa, Poetry of Silence

Jaume Plensa, Poetry of Silence

As often at this gallery, it’s an ambitious and well-presented exhibit. Some of the work, I liked very much, other, not quite so much.

Joan Genovés, a rare early work with colour

The second big exhibit, another retrospective, looked at the work of Joan Genovés, a Valencian painter who was working well before the end of the Franco era and who died a couple of years ago. His early work is very political. I found it oppressive - mostly monochrome oil and acrylic paintings of people being chased, brutalized, or lying, apparently dead or injured, in the street. A reflection, presumably, of the tenor of life under Franco in Valencia. 

Joan Genovés, The Hug (El Abrazo)

One of the works from his middle period became an icon of the transitional period in the country and the “reconciliation” after Franco died. It shows a group of people in the street hugging each other or running to join the hugging. They’re presumably celebrating the end of the dictatorship. It at least has a somewhat hopeful feeling to it, though he’s stuck with a monochrome colour scheme.

Joan Genovés, from the late period

The later stuff continues to feature human figures, usually congregating, but it’s much lighter in tone. The pictures show aerial views of people milling about or moving towards something. He developed an interesting technique in which he built up the tiny figures of the people using clumped paint and sometimes bits of found material, then painted shadows to enhance the three-dimensional effect. It must have taken an enormous amount of time to complete each one - some are quite large canvases. They’re really relief sculptures in paint.

Joan Genovés, from the late period

Joan Genovés, from the late period

The last exhibit was about another Valencian artist - Pepe Gimeno: Dialogues Between Art and Design. There was little or no curatorial information, but I gather he’s a well-known and influential graphic designer in town, also of the boomer generation, who does “fine” art on the side. Some of it, again, I liked very much, some was just puzzling. I particularly liked the early collages featuring collections of stones, twigs and other found materials.

Pepe Gimeno

Pepe Gimeno

Pepe Gimeno

Pepe Gimeno

Karen insisted on walking home. I suggested the tube, but based on the advice of the doctors she saw 12 years ago, the first time she injured her knee, she thought it better to walk, if slowly. Which we did. And she took an extra-strength Tylenol when we got home.

Shot from our balcony

On Saturday, I ran in the morning, a new route, a variation on my walking route: through Central Park, over the tracks, then into the anonymous modern streets of whatever that neighbourhood is called - don’t know, not particularly interested, it’s kind of ugly - and ended up running down Jesus, the street we stayed on a few years ago. I came out  on Xativa, just down from the train station and ran back along my usual walking route.

Karen wasn’t up for a lot of walking, but did want to get out in the afternoon when it warmed up and the sun came out. So we walked over to Central Park with the idea of sitting in the sun and reading. I stupidly forgot to bring a book, so I established Karen on a nice sunny bench and wandered about taking pictures of foliage and flowers. There was a child’s birthday party going on nearby - one of a few we’ve seen in this park. This one appeared as if it might involve a community of Latin Amerians - there have in the past been lots living in Ruzafa. They had a piñata. I don’t think that’s a Spanish thing, but could be wrong.  

The interlude ended when I stepped in a pile of fresh dog shit in my new boots. Seething with rage would be an appropriate description of my feelings. I scraped as much off as I could, but we headed home at that point to finish, or try to finish, the cleaning job. 

Karen was done for the day, but I wanted more time in the old city. I changed shoes, rode over to Carmen and wandered around trying to get lost - with only fleeting success. I did find some interesting new street art, though. And took the usual absurd number of grotty streetscape photos.

Today, we were scheduled to go to a free concert at the Botanical Gardens, at noon - a brass quintet. I had coaxed Karen into signing up for it as well, suggesting that she could always duck out of the concert if it bored her and look at the gardens. That wouldn’t have been possible, as it happens, because the auditorium where the concert was held was separate from the garden. In any case, Karen decided - I think wisely - that she didn’t want to risk making her knee worse for something that she wasn’t super-keen on to begin with. It would have been a 30-minute walk, or more - biking, she feels is out of the question.

So I ended up going on my own. I biked over. The Botanical Gardens, part of the University of Valencia, is a couple of blocks from the Torre del Quart, one of the two surviving mediaeval tower gates. It’s just into the Extramurs barrio, the neighbourhood that would have been just outside the old city walls. It’s a very modern complex, and the small auditorium is lovely with great acoustics and sightlines. 

Torre del Quart from near Botanical Gardens

The concert was…okay. Five middle-aged guys, each of whom holds down a first chair in the orchestra that employs them, all in Madrid. So they’re really talented instrumentalists. Two trumpets, a French horn, tuba and trombone. They call themselves the ABQ Quintet. The first couple of pieces were classical, or in the classical tradition. The rest of the program was modern, based on popular music forms. I thought some of it - like the ragtime they played - was kind of stilted and lacked, I don’t know, joy. They did get a little looser as they went on. But their choice of second encore was slightly ironic, an arrangement of “If you ain’t got the swing.” I wasn’t actually sure they did.

I walked back to the tower and a couple of streets into Carmen, taking pictures, then grabbed a bike and rode home. I love the towers - I think because they loom so forbiddingly over an otherwise fairly modern city, a stark reminder of the darker past. The pock marks in the masonry are supposedly scars from shelling by besieging forces during the Napoleonic wars. I probably photograph them, or try to, every time we come here - this time no exception.

Climate change be damned!

Thursday, February 9, 2023 - Climate Change is starting to get personal. After my last post, in which I complained about uncharacteristically rainy weather here in Valencia, Shelley Boyes reminded me that last year she endured 25 days straight of rain in Javea, which is just down the coast. So, is climate change ruining one of the northern hemisphere’s most benign winter climates? I sure hope not, but it begins to look that way.

Meanwhile, our forecast has improved minimally in the short term - it’s actually sunny today, if still cool - but, where we were previously promised a nice week to finish out our time here, now the prognosticators are saying it won’t be as mild or as dry as they originally said. Firle, is looking better and better, with less rain than here the week we arrive back in England, and temperatures similar to what we’ve had the last several days here - low teens. We’ll hope it holds to that.

We haven’t done a lot the last couple of days. The cool, wet weather has been a factor, but we’ve also been further limited by Karen tweaking her knee the other day. 

Tuesday was unexpectedly fine, if cool. I ran in the morning, blogged much of the rest of the morning and early afternoon.

WHAT IS THIS TREE?! It's everywhere here...

After our mid-afternoon dinner, we did get out for a walk. Karen wanted to stick as much as possible to the sun, so we walked down the north side of the Gran Via to the Turia, then cut over towards Calle Regne de Valencia and found another street with some sun, which we followed until we had to turn off to go home. 

Doorway spotted on the Gran Via

That was it for the day. Other than mostly fruitless attempts to make my multiple-exposure images work. I got one that I’m sort of okay with. I'm thinking of calling it "Rose of Paradise"…

Yesterday, Wednesday, was pretty miserable in the morning, with a few hours of misty rain and cool temperatures. Just as well I was taking a day off from exercising.

After our mid-afternoon meal, I went out on my own - Karen wanted to give her knee a rest. I meandered, down Calle de Colon first, ducking into a couple of shops, including the big Corte Ingles at the bottom of the street. The third-floor men’s department has a bunch of designer boutiques with absurd prices. Massimo Dutti, across the street, a Spanish chain - despite the Italian name - has much more interesting clothes and way better prices. But nothing was purchased, nor will be.

Plaza of Alphonse the Magnanimous

I came out of the Corte Ingles at the Plaza of Alphonse the Magnanimous, with its grand statue of a mounted James I, King of Aragon, Mallorca, Valencia and Count of Barcelona, aka James the Conqueror, the guy who drove the Moors out of Spain in the 13th century. The sculpture was made by one Agapit Vallmitjana i Barbany in the middle of the 19th century. The building across the street, which I’ve always admired is the Palace of Justice.

James the Conqueror - vanquisher of Moors

From there, I wandered over to the University of Valencia’s old-city precinct and the La Nau Cultural Centre. This was the first building of the then newly constituted university at the end of the 15th century. It has been built over many times since then, most notably in the 19th century when the cloister with its beautiful columns was added. The statue in the middle of the cloister is of Juan Luis Vives (1492 - 1540), a Valencian-born humanist, philosopher and educator.

La Nau cloister from mezzanine

La Nau cloister, mezzanine

The latest comprehensive renovation and restoration was completed in 1999. Today La Nau is a cultural centre with performance halls, like the Capella Sapiencia that I went to to hear a violinist last week, lecture rooms, exhibit halls, and administrative offices. The exhibit you can see in the arcade on the cloister’s mezzanine level is photographs of Ukrainian refugees escaping the country.

Palace of the Marquis of Two Waters

La Nau

La Nau Street - Cultural Centre on right

Next stop: the Palace of the Marquis of Two Waters (Palacio del Marqués de Dos Aguas), a rococo mansion with some of the most ornate exterior decorations I’ve ever seen. It was rebuilt for the family of the marquis, starting in 1740. Today it houses the national ceramics museum. Many of the rooms have been restored to their gaudy 18th century splendour. We’ve visited it a few times, and no doubt will again if anybody new ever comes to visit us while we’re in Valencia. On this day, I was mainly interested in photographing the exterior decorations.

Palace of the Marquis of Two Waters - carvings over main door

Palace of the Marquis of Two Waters

Palace of the Marquis of Two Waters

Palace of the Marquis of Two Waters

From there, I grabbed a bike and headed home.

Karen waiting for her lunch at Thai Mongkut

I ran this morning. At about 1:30 we headed out for our weekly restaurant meal. Today, it was a special treat - not our usual cheap menu del dia, but lunch at a highly-regarded Thai restaurant, Thai Mongkut, in the Carmen neighbourhood. It was very good, as good Thai food as we’ve had in a long time. We had spring rolls and tempura veg for starters, and a yellow curry and beef in oyster sauce for mains. With two glasses of wine each, it was almost exactly twice as much as we’ve been spending to this point.

Catholic University of Valencia

Catholic University of Valencia

Karen’s knee was paining her on the walk home. I can always find things to photograph in Carmen. Most of these were taken of or near the Catholic University of Valencia, which is housed partly in this beautiful gothic building, reminiscent of Oxbridge colleges. 

Near Catholic University

Carmen - street art by Disneylexya (aka Lupe Fullana)

Somewhere in Carmen

Somewhere in Carmen - the Lady of the Paella Pan

Karen was in considerable discomfort by the time we got home - enough so that she broke down and took an extra strength Tylenol. I’m assuming we’re in for the day…but you never know, I might go out again. (No, I’m not.)