VALENCIA’S GARDEN OF EDEN

VALENCIA grew alongside the river Turia for many years and has a very special relationship with its water way. After the devastating flood of 1957, it was decided living alongside the river had become too great a risk and it was diverted. Today, the Turia’s old courseway is the largest urban garden in Spain, even though there was pressure for it to become a motorway...

As the popular Spanish proverb goes, ‘nothing bad ever happens where some good doesn’t come out of it’, and the catastrophe of 1957 brought with it an amazing silver lining. The river turned into a magnificent garden that crosses the city from the north to the south and offers numerous possibilities for walking and sightseeing to visitors and residents

A walk along the Turia
It is best to explore the Turia, by starting from the south and heading north, beginning with a visit to the impressive Arts and Sciences complex designed by prestigious architect, Santiago Calatrava. This year, the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (CAC) is celebrating its tenth anniversary, so it is a good time to visit and enjoy some of the one-off activities that are taking place.
A visit to the CAC will take the best part of a morning, and later you can go down to the riverbed and start walking away from the sea.

For those who are allergic to exercise there is a miniature tourist train that runs along the riverbed. The first feature you come to is the Gulliver, a children’s park with Jonathan Swift’s character of the same name lying asleep. He also serves as a climbing frame with several slides and other apparatus to keep the kids amused.

Next is the Palau de la Música, the first of the city’s musical buildings and at its feet, some beautiful palm-lined gardens popular with skateboarding fans. Nearby fountains provide other activities for parents and children such as sailing remote-controlled model boats.

Further on, there are several tiny copses where residents practice jogging, T’ai Chi and gymnastics. Soon you come across a bridge known as the Puente de las Flores. This walkway that crosses the river is home to – hence the name – thousands of flowerpots that change shape and colour according to the seasons. Later, there is another bridge, the Puente de Santiago Calatrava, which the Valencians call the Puente de la Peineta (‘little comb’) precisely because it looks like the comb-type accessories that falleras wear in their hair. Here, the trees begin to take on a dense, green lushness and their shade is very welcome on a warm, sunny day.

Next, you will make out the shadow of the San Pio V fine arts museum with its blue dome alongside the Jardín de los Viveros. Both garden and museum are well worth a visit. The San Pio V gallery houses Spain’s most significant collection of 19th-century painting after the Prado museum in Madrid.

A few metres on and you will probably come to a mass of people playing football at the feet of the Torres de Serranos. These imposing towers are one of the twelve gateways that gave access to Valencia via its old city walls - the majority of these gateways have disappeared now but these towers remain in a good state of repair, despite having been built as far back as the 14th century.

Continuing on to the Pont de les Arts – a recently-constructed bridge that is influenced by 1970s’ architecture.

Next, you will reach the entrance to the IVAM, or Instituto Valenciano del Arte Contemporáneo, one of the largest and most significant of its kind in Europe. Here, you can stop for a well-earned rest and a bite to eat in the cafeteria, which has a varied and tempting menu at very reasonable prices.

You can continue along the Turia gardens as far as the Parque de Cabecera, crossing the La Petxina bridge and admiring the shell of the same name that christened it.

Just fifteen minutes further on, you come to the last of the parks built into the riverbed that is soon to become home to Valencia city’s new zoo.

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