more Valencia

Valencia continues to delight at every turn, even in apparently insignificant streets.  First up today, the Art Nouveau market,

which strongly made me wish I was in an AirBnB and could buy lots of fun things to cook with (as it was, I came back to it later, and bought a slice of tortilla and a freshly squeezed orange and peach juice for lunch).

Then to La Lonja - a commercial/political center for the city for centuries (and, in a strange story, was replicated, or at least its tower was, in the Spanish Pavilion at the Columbian Exposition in 1893, where it was looked at somewhat askance because its architecture didn't fir with the prevailing neoclassicism).

I'll spare you the Silk Museum, where I learned a lot about silkworms (and about silk's importance to Valencian history, to be sure); and then onto the Church of Santos Juanes, which is just hugely under restoration to restore all its baroque glory.  I'll confess I hadn't realized how much destructive burning of churches was done by Franco in the 1930s.

Also - imagine, in this heat (it was around 84 today), what it's like trying to make a living dancing around inside a 10 foot tall polar bear costume.

This evening, a tour of the nature reserve of Albufera, and then a boat trip on the lagoon to see the sunset. I learned a lot about eel fishing (these are eel traps);

saw a particularly fine heron;

and indeed, a particularly fine sunset;

and old fishing village houses (ok, now reimagined as restaurants, but pretty, all the same).

We weren't back into town until 10.30: thank goodness it's Spain, and tapas bars are still in full swing.

My night owl wings are flapping nicely on this trip.