Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Valencia - Food, Architecture and Sport

We had the opportunity to visit Valencia a couple of weeks ago. The city has received tremendous investments in recent years, with a number of new and very exotic modern buildings, such as the Imax theatre above, and the opera house below. Both of these are set among a large complex of pools giving a very high-tech appearance. Awesome.




Although yours truly was there for a conference and therefore had to work a lot, the hosts made sure that everyone had a fantastic time. They arranged for all visitors to have 'shadows' who were undergraduate seniors who impressed us with their mature but fun and relaxed attitudes and whose language skills were enviable. Our young guides and translators did a really nice job of showing us around and helping us learn about all Valencia has to offer.

This is a place where there is great food, dancing, beautiful beaches, and sports - F1 Grand Prix arrives on the streets of Valencia in August, and the city hosted the most recent America's cup. I think the biggest surprise for us was the food. If you choose, or are lucky enough to be taken to, the right place, there are some very innovative and complex dishes to be had such as the fig, and ice-cream (made from olive oil) salad.

We're hoping to head ack in a couple of weeks for the F1 GP. Enough said.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Lladro Porcelain Factory

We are visiting the Lladro Porcelain factory this morning. The work they do here is amazing (and not inexpensive!) Here are some pictures. We will post more later.
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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Scary times

Scary times here in Valencia. Our hosts have been absolutely wonderful, generous and kind. However, our first 'event' after arriving was to attend the bull fight. I will spare you the details. Here are some pictures. Now we can say, been there, done that, I don't recommend.

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