Valencia

Valencia, Spain!  What  glorious city on a glorious day!

Beautiful architecture and artistry wherever  you looked from Roman to Gothic to modern. First we visited the Valencia Cathedral, built over several centuries beginning in the 13th century and ending with the 18th century entry to the basilica.   The Santo Cáliz Chapel (1674) has a vaulted ceiling with star motifs, an image of heaven with the 12 apostles and the coronation of the Virgin Mary with a rich blue background that the picture below only begins to capture.  The dome of the cathedral is beautiful carved alabaster -- letting light in through its lacy openings.


Not to be missed in the side chapel pictured below is a relic of the Holy Grail, from the 1st century AD which, tradition has it, Jesus used to institute the Holy Eucharist.

At the other end of the old river bed that runs through the city, which is now filled with parks, playgrounds and museums, are the newest buildings in the city -- buildings conceived by the world-renowned (and city-born) architect Santiago Calatrava. He produced the futuristic City of Arts and Sciences (Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències), which contains an opera house/performing arts centre, a science museum, an IMAX cinema/planetarium, an oceanographic park and other structures such as the long covered walkway where George and I took a picture.

Not to be missed on a tour of this city, are the buildings dedicated to the America's Cup sailing vessels, which Valencia hosted in 2007. Pictured below is the Oracle/BMW building which sponsored San Francisco's entry to the 2007 races. People were hard at work at the major buildings, making preparations for the 2010 America's Cup. Wouldn't it be nice to be here for that!