Day 41: Tour of Valencia-Part 1

I was lucky to get a great guide (Mimosa) to share with me her city of Valencia. Mimosa came to the city as a refugee from Kosovo where she had been tortured, jailed and lost her family. She had to restart her life and make something of herself - now 3 degrees and major career in management, she is now learning to take the suffering and live a better life.

The backdrop is important as we spent a lot of time talking about how València helps heal people and the city believes in making changes right away vs waiting for everyone to agree. The city will be only pedestrian by 2028.

We started our tour at the train station that was built in 1920 and has a design that felt Arts and Crafts. The detail mosaics are impressive.

Then we stroked around and looked at old buildings and she explained the hodge podge of styles. It was a bank holiday today so a lot was closed. The bat is the animal of the city. When an enemy was about to attack, the bats would fly out in a flurry and warn the guards.

We walked through to old town and found the silk trading building open called La Lonja de La Seda de. Valencia. She explained that the building was built between 1482 and 1533. As traders came to the space, they had to wash in the fountain before going into the Trading Hall. The hall has twisted columns which was first created for this space as it connects the celestial with the ground. After a deal is made they go into the financial area. Then they can go get grounded in the lower floor where the energy from the ground helps them heal. After this they can go upstairs and find the brothel. One of the cleanest brothels as the owner also had physicians employed to ensure clean. Funny is that some of the gargoyles are of people in certain states of sexual acts.

After this building, we wandered around old town where I found some great street art. After a bit, she showed me Knights Street where the knights families lived - including the Borgias. Guess the families still own the buildings but do not use - so the mayor taxes them and the money goes to low income housing where rent is $10 per month.Read more