In the course of being an international airline pilot, I have been fortunate enough to visit some of the largest and most famous cities on the planet. Sometimes however it's the small and out of the way places that can be the most interesting.
This summer, my company started seasonal service between New York's JFK Airport and Valencia, Spain . Valencia is a coastal town on the Mediterranean about halfway between Malaga and Barcelona. While a summer layover at any coastal town on the Mediterranean is normally enough to get me to raise my hand to volunteer for the trip, a search through Flickr on what the city had to offer was what really peaked my interest on flying the trip.
The first thing that stands out when you arrive into town is the architecture. Arriving to our hotel, we drove right by the "City of the Arts and the Sciences" (Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències). While most of the complex was inaugurated in 1998, some is still under construction. The whole complex is very futuristic and walking around it almost feels as it belongs in a Star Trek movie.
Abeam the City of Arts and Sciences is a park with walking paths that among some of the nicest I've seen in Europe. The park was built in what used to be a riverbed (Turia... in 1957 a flood of this river devastated the city and it has since been diverted to the south).
The food was hit and miss throughout my stay. My pre-trip research told me that the famous Spanish dish paella originated from this area so of course this was the first thing I went looking for. Unfortunately, my experience was below average at best (at least compared to what I've had in other cities like Madrid). However the abundance of good tapas bars more than made up for this.
One of the best highlights of the layover was without a doubt was the nightlife. On our first night of the 48 hour layover we discovered The Portland Ale House (or try facebook fan page link
). With a nice mix of locals and visitors, this bar is owned by Spanish born Americans from Portland, Oregon. Mauricio and Esther Mata and their staff made us feel like we had a home away from home. A good (and cheap!) selection of beers, Mauricio is also working on his own hand crafted beers as well. A perfect place to unwind and feel welcomed, the Portland Ale House should be on every Valencian visitors agenda.Of course for all the pictures from my trip to Valencia, you can click here to check them out!
