A home for my words.

Valencia is my hands down favorite city in Spain’s mainland! I visited Valencia while I was still living in Madrid and said to myself that I would love to live there. When an opportunity came up the following year to do just that, I took it.

My favorite thing was how (at least at the time) Valencia was a populated city that still had a small town-feel. Valencianos are proud of their roots and even street signs are in their regional language. In fact, the school that I taught English at was just outside of Valencia’s city limits and the children learned English, Spanish, French and Valenciano! That meant I picked up a lot of phrases in Valenciano that year. Here’s a look into some things to do in Valencia, Spain.

Las Fallas

Without a doubt, the most spectacular celebration in Valencia is Las Fallas, which takes place each March. Neighborhoods erect their own beautifully crafted ninots, the Valencian word for ‘dolls.’ Many of these temporary art installations take satirical stabs at the political and social issues of the day, which only makes me love them more. On the final day of the two weeks of Las Fallas celebrations, the ninots are burned to the ground. It’s marvelous getting to walk from barrio to barrio and see the fixtures melt away. There are also a fair share of firecrackers going off as well.

One of my former Spanish language exchange partners who lives in South America said he had plenty of friends from Valencia and they’d never even mentioned Las Fallas to him! I joked that it must be because they want to keep it a special secret for their city to enjoy. Still, I had to sing its praises here.

If you can do yourself the favor, try to visit Valencia during the time of Las Fallas. It may be more crowded/expensive/cold, but it’s one of those traditions that bring warmth to the tail-end of the winter season. If you can swing it, stay for a few weeks admiring the figurines all over the city and joining in on parades and concerts that take place.

Food

Prior to living in Valencia, I wasn’t too big on seafood. I grew up loving my mom’s steamed snapper and fried king fish, but that was the extent. I still didn’t even like shrimp! (That’s wild considering the amount of shrimp I’ve had in the past two weeks as I type this, haha). But Valencia changed all of that. The abundance of seafood dishes in Valencia, paella in particular, expanded my seafood palette.

Valencia’s traditional paella dish is made with chicken and rabbit, and I had my fair share of it as well. I also lived near a famous paella shop that sold portions, which meant I could get enough just for myself instead of wrangling together enough people to split a ginormous platter of paella or negotiate with a server to box up my leftovers.

Plaza de Virgen

When I first moved to Valencia, a fellow teacher took me to see the fountain at Plaza de la Virgen at night. It was lit up beautifully and she pointed out that one of the figures was meant to represent the town that we taught English in. I recommend visiting the Plaza on a weekend, grabbing a spot outdoors, and nursing a beverage and some snacks as you wait for one of the free performers to begin working their magic. If you like what you see, then you can also leave them a tip 🙂 Here was one mesmerizing performer I saw on my most recent trip to Valencia:

Homemade Meals

Even though I was always sharing a kitchen while I lived in Valencia, I was able to enjoy cooking at home! One of my fellow teachers, a Valencia local who remains a good friend to this day, graciously housed me for two weeks until I was able to move into an apartment. As a thank you, I made her chicken soup, which she said she loved but admitted she wasn’t able to tolerate spicy food very well. I have to remember that a Jamaican’s palate of what constitutes spicy isn’t going to be the same for everyone lol.

There are some other things that make it easy to love Valencia. For one, there’s a beach! It’s a modest one, but I say it’s better to have one than not. And there’s also “El Rio,” named for the fact that it used to be a river. After a historical flood back in the day (unfortunately Valencia has since had a similar tragedy take place), the government decided to convert the river into a park to prevent future flooding. I lived right by this park. The good thing is that the former river wrapped around much of the city. So that meant I could hop on my bike and be protected by the park’s bike lanes and get around much of the city with ease. It does wonders for mental health and overall happiness. There was a fair share of bike theft in Valencia, but I’ve unfortunately seen this as a recurring issue in cities all over the world.

Summary

I loved my time living in Valencia and have even visited again since then. I hear it’s more popular these days and even has a sizable nomad and international retiree population. I run too cold naturally to ever consider it as a long-term option, since the city does experience a bit of a winter, but I am nothing but grateful for the time that I got to live there. It was more my speed than a place like Madrid, which still deserves its kudos as a fun, global city. I’m sure I’ll be back to visit Valencia again within the next few years 🙂