Day 11- Valencia

Day 11 26 August 2008 Last night i got into the Ashlee House hostel in London and was awoken at 3am with someone in italian professing that my bed was there. After saying very kindly i am off back to bed, i awoke at 3.45 am to get the bus to the train to the airport for my trip to valencia. I finally got into valencia and found my way to the hostel at 11am. I then headed out to see the sights of valencia on my own unguided walk around the old city. Trying to find a drink i ended up getting lost in the many little lanes, and came across several attractions, churchs etc that i thought i would take a look at whilst i was there. There was an impressive looking church so i thought i would go into (i did not know the name as there were no signs) and i paid my 4 euro and took an audio tour around. I got to the last room and thought i had seen enough but decided to enter the room anyway. As i sat down and listened to the talk about the room they were talking about a challace in the corner of the room. I then found out it was the challace that jesus drank out of at the last supper. Yes for those who have watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusdade, it was the actual holy grail !!! This was very exciting. Although given it was in a spanish church with no security at all, i guess the nazzis have stopped looking for it and it maywell not give the drinker every lasting life. One thing i noticed that despite hollywood, it was a gold impressive looking challace with jewels around the bottom of it. Unmarked and on the other side of the church you could pay 2 euros and climb the many many many stairs to the top of a tower with 360 degress fantastic views of valencia. It was very impressive. This church is called the Capilla Del Santo Caliz with the Miguelete Bell Tower. Inside the church there is also the very ornate virgen de los desamparados statute which is the statute of the virgin, the patron of valencia. There were many other very cool attractions found such as churchs, courts, large castle enclosures such as Plaza de la virgen which looks like a church and with part of a colessum attached to it but very run down. I also visited La Lonja which was a commodity exchange and trade court it twisted columns and one room on the second level with an amazing cofferred ceiling in the consulado del mar (court room). I went to the Mercado central (the market) which is similar to the vic market area that has the meat in it, it sells fruits vegitables and all sorts of meat including small cows heads.... I went to the original entrance to the city the Torres De Serranos which is a castle like two towers with an entrance which you can climb to the top and get very good views around valencia. Even the estacion del norte (main train station) is impressive with its extensive wall and ceiling mosaics it is truly a memorable visit and much nicer than our train stations back home. The Main post office has an amazing ceiling with flags of all of the cities of spain in lead light in a large dome. Spain definitely has a thing for ornate ceilings and making public buildings very special places. Valencia now has a female mayor and you can tell as the city is very clean, plenty of garbage bins and lots of flowers everywhere. At night we stayed in the hostel with a few others on the tour and drank sangria and a few beers.