puroticorico
Chicago
Dima Uralov
Barcelona
Hey Richie!
Don´t worry too much. Valencia is a really small place, where EVERYTHING is within 15-20 minutes walking. I think that choosing any nice hotel / hostel in the city centre will enable you to enjoy your stay and to get anywhere. Besides metro, which I think actually does get you to most of the places, you have a developed bus system. And taxis are one of the cheepest in Spain (5-6 euros for a ood trip). If you have any other questions, please contact me :)
Happy New Year!
puroticorico
Chicago
Ahhh, wonderful. I’m very excited about my trip. I figured taxis would be the answer for traveling since the Metro isn’t developed quite yet. Valencia is still growing as a Spanish metropolis and for tourism as well ;). I made a reservation for Puerta Valencia by Hoteles Silken (http://www.hoteles-silken.com/portal/pictures/index.php?idhotel=15&idmenu=20&idsub=0&lang=es). It looks like a really nice place but is it in a nice area that isn’t TOO far from everything? Too bad I’m missing las fallas :(.
Let me know what you think and thanks for you help ;). Oh also, I have made a list of sites I want to see in only three days. Would you recommend others that I haven’t listed (perhaps off the “tourist track” or “average path?”
Museum Quarter (Oceanarium, etc)
Plaza del Ayuntamiento
Torres Serranos
Plaza de la Virgen
Iglesia de San Juan del Hospital
Palacio del Marques de Dos Aguas
La Lonja Castle
Sagunto/Jativa (perhaps, but is it hard to get here?)
Thanks Dima!
Dima Uralov
Barcelona
Hey Richie!!
Sorry for such a delay in responding you, but I’m finally here! :)
The hotel you’ve chosen is quite a good one. I live really near and it looks solid, modern and beautiful. It’s located in a noisy avenue, but don’t worry, you’re about in a 5-10 minutes walk distance from the city centre and the City of Arts and Sciences.
I assure you that public transport here in Valencia is much better than you expect – metro and buses function very well, taxis are cheap, and Valencia is a really neat place, it’s small and you can get anywhere in 20 minutes just walking. I would also recommend you hiring a bike, it’s a great experience here.
If I’m not too busy when you’re here, we may meet and I’d be glad to show you the town. I’m sure you’ll love Valencia.
About the places of interest you mentioned, I’d add the City of Arts and Sciences, the new Port which has been built for the America’s Cup 2007, and maybe a couple of museums, but in fact I think you won’t find any difficulties in seeing ALL Valencia in a couple of days – I repeat, it’s really small :). You can consider going to Sagunto as well – there’s a nice Roman theatre there. Jativa might be a bit far, but you can make it as well.
Feel free to ask any other questions you like, it’d be a pleasure to help you! :)
and don’t worry about the Fallas, I can recommend you a wonderful movie about it from Shiney Films (www.shineyfilms.com).
See you soon, Richie!
Best regards,
Dima.
puroticorico
Chicago
Hi Dima,
It would be awesome if you were around to show my best friend and I the town. If you could email me at puroticorico@gmail.com with your real email, we could keep in touch. We’d be happy to buy you lunch for a mini-tour. I’m very excited to be in Spain for a second time and spend more time and see more places (and obviously mejorar mi español, por supuesto, aunque no hablo como un castellano pero en cambio un costarricense porque vivía en Costa Rica por un año y medio). Anyways, I will definitely add the City of Arts & Sciences to the list. Could you perhaps tell me a bit more about Sagunto and how to get there, etc. I’d definitely be interested. You’ll have to travel to Chicago in the future too :). I’ll be studying abroad in Buenos Aires this summer and wish I could find someone like you, but I’m not having much luck, haha. MUCHAS GRACIAS!
~Richie
