Valencia is a beautiful city! These coastal Spanish cities are so cool - they have the culture of big cities, mixed with lovely beaches that bring a fun and calm to the whole place, and seemingly less rowdy tourists. We got into Betera (a town near Valencia) late the first night and decided to spend much of the next day relaxing in the house. As Marise said, the kids were so happy to hang out together, the fact that we were trying to explore Spain and sightsee was sometimes lost on them. They enjoyed the pool and playing outside for much of the day, before we ventured into Valencia’s BioParc in the late afternoon. The BioParc is a super cool zoo - where they have removed many of the barriers between animals and people, to give you more of a sense of being in the wild. They call it an immersion zoo. In a number of areas animals are allowed to roam in a freer environment, and visitors are roaming through the areas they live. We spent a couple of hours seeing chimps, gorillas, giraffes, lions and more before having a yummy Italian dinner in town. The next day we headed straight into the city for a great bike ride tour with Santiago, who’s enthusiasm for Valencia was infectious. We followed Santiago on 3 tandem bikes, 1 kid bike and a carriage through Valencia, stopping to learn about sites on the way. We were all wowed by Valencia’s Ciutat de les Arts y las Ciències (City of Arts and Sciences). It's a cultural and architectural complex built over a drained river (after a large flood around 1960) - which includes an opera house, science museum, event space, large wading pools (for dogs only!), covered park and the largest aquarium in Europe. I can't do the visual of it justice, so the pictures will have to give you a sense. It's reason enough to visit Valencia. After the bike ride, we headed to the Valencia central market for lunch before exploring a bit more, including a local palace. Then we began what became a walk to a train to two buses back to our place. The kids (helped with some sugar) were champs. I booked an Airbnb 30 min outside the city - thinking a pool and downtime would outweigh the longer commute to the city. But after what turned into this nearly 3 hour trip from Valencia to our Airbnb one evening, it may have been the wrong call. Overall, it meant we saw a bit less of the city, though the kids enjoyed the house. We rewarded them with a late night swim and some yummy paella and croquettes made by a local chef. And of course, ice cream. As we enter the final week of our trip, adult rules and kid behavior is steadily declining. We're on Spanish bed and mealtime, drinking Fanta daily and sibling rivalry is running high.
