A taste of Valencian culture

Hello readers, sorry for the slight delay in updating you.  We left Valencia last weekend after 3 weeks.  There's a couple of facets of Valencian food and culture that I thought you'd like to see.

Dance & Music
On any given Sunday there is a display of Valencian music and dance in the nearby Plaza de la Virgen - here's a clip.

Demonstrations
It seems that not a day passes without a manifestacion (demonstration) for one cause or another.  To date we've seen one or more a week, e.g. petitions for equal pay for women, marches against cuts in disability services but the most poignant for us was a march against cuts in public health services and petitioning for homes for everyone - we just caught the back end of the march.  All sounds very familiar to readers in the UK but the difference here is the Spanish actually get out and protest about things - if only the Brits were more outspoken.  

Food glorious food!
There's nothing more typical in Valencian life then a visit to the stunning Mercado Central where you can buy fabulous fruit, veg, fish, meat, spices, bread, patisseries, etc.  I'm never happier than wandering a Spanish market taking in the fabulous displays - the Spanish take pride in what they produce and sell.  Still savouring our delicious paellas, tapas and calabaza (baked pumpkin - delicious!) I'd been meaning to try another Valencian speciality - horchata - a cold drink made from ground tiger nuts served with - wait for it - fartons - a cake which resembles a finger doughnut.  I have to say Mick and I took a sip each and left it on the counter - it was awful - quite medicinal in taste.  We did, though, share a farton!

In the market, psyching myself up for horchata & farton!

Buenissimos jamones

The best 'til last!
Our lovely host, Juan, wanted to take us out on our last night - there's no better way to see real Spain than with a local.  He took us to two typical Spanish eateries - Tasca Angel - a buzzing tapas bar where we tried some Valencian wines, sardines & boquerones (our favourite!)  In typical Spanish style we moved on to a restaurant/wine bar called Las Cuevas - if only I'd taken my camera!  It is a well-known fact that digestion begins with the eyes - well - this place made tapas an art form - beautifully presented regional food with a contemporary twist.   

A special church
Juan also showed us an extraordinary church - La Patriarcha - which doubles as arguably the best, yet little known, art gallery in Valencia.  It is still a working church in a former seminary and is like a mini Sistine Chapel - the bottom half of the walls are covered in beautiful ceramic tiles whilst the top half is painted with beautiful religious artwork.  La Patriarcha was founded by San Joan Ribera and the museum contains priceless artworks by some of the great masters.  Ribera changed Valencia forever and, as such was made Archbishop and Viceroy of Valencia, beatified and finally canonised in 1960. 

We spent a lovely evening with Juan and we look forward to meeting him again.

So, that's it from Valencia - we've had a wonderful time there and our next post will be from Cartagena in the Murcia region so, until then, hasta pronto!