The Ceramics museum is housed in the Palacio de Marques de Dos Aguas. The exterior is covered with ornate marble decoration and the huge carved alabaster entrance was designed by Hipólito Rovira and alludes to the two rivers (Turia and Júcar) of the Marques' title. There's even a painted-gilt Cinderella coach to greet you in the entrance and the marble decoration continues inside as you walk up the stairs.
On the first floor of the Palacio you pass through room after room smothered with colourful plasterwork and marble decoration with enormous chandeliers sparkling in the gilded mirrors. The Palacio dates back to the 15th century but the exterior was remodelled in the 1740s and and the interiors redecorated in the rococco style in the 1850s. When you've progressed through the many delightful rooms and admired the beautiful paintings and decorations, you reach the ceramics collections themselves. The highlights for me were the colourful painted Spanish tiles and ceramics, including the replica of a tiled Spanish kitchen on the top floor, and there are also some plates decorated by Picasso.

The museum is free on Saturday morning and Sunday but otherwise it costs €2.40
You can see my review and photos on my blog;
heatheronhertravels.blogspot.com/2008/04/palacio-de-marques-de-dos-aguas-in.html

Palacio de Marques de Dos Aguas, Poeta Querol, 2, 46002 - Valencia
mnceramica.mcu.es/

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The most upmarket of the Hôme group in Valencia (not to be confused with the other Hôme Deluxe Hostel in the centre). Each of the rooms is created by an artist with a different theme. The place has a modern, stylish feel and the other guests were couples of all ages and families with older children. There are several restaurants, cafes and small shops in the neighbourhood, and a shopping mall 5 walk minutes away. The City of Arts and Sciences is on your doorstep, and you need to take a 15 min bus journey into the older heart of Valencia, but it’s an easy and cheap journey.
There was a bright red self-catering kitchen where breakfast was served and a sitting area with large TV and 2 free internet stations. There is 24-hour reception and internet facilities as well as underground parking which would be useful if you were driving through Spain. The multi-lingual staff were efficient and helpful. We paid €70 for a double and €100 for a triple room for a mid-week stay - it's slightly more at weekends.
You can see my review and photos on my blog
heatheronhertravels.blogspot.com/2008/04/hme-rooms-deluxe-hostel-in-valencia.html

Hôme Rooms Deluxe Hostel, Instituto Obrero, 20, (46013) Valencia
Spain
roomsdeluxe.com/

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This is the cheapest of the Hôme group of hostels in Valencia. The hostel is in an old building tacked on to a church and overlooking a square. Our room was brightly coloured but otherwise simple with large lockers, sleeping six people in three sets of bunk beds. On the ground floor there was a sitting area with several internet stations and free wi-fi, and on the third floor a large kitchen which was equally bright and modern. There was an open terrace on the same floor and on the roof was a much larger roof terrace where they hold paella demonstrations at the weekend. The multi-lingual staff on reception was friendly and helpful. The Barrio del Carmen is the place to be for nightlife in Valencia and around 10pm it starts buzzing with bars and nightclubs going on until dawn. We had the full benefit as we tried to get to sleep and at 1am the party was still going strong in the square below our window.
Because of its position in the heart of this area, it's a great place if you're in your 20s, on a tight budget and value a great nightlife over an early night.

You can see my review and photos on my blog:
heatheronhertravels.blogspot.com/2008/04/hme-backpackers-hostel-in-valencia.html

Hôme Backpacker's Hostel, Plaza Vincente Iborra, Barrio del Carmen, Valencia.
likeathome.net/

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If you enjoy street art, then take a walk around the area of the old town known as Barrio del Carmen.

The area is a well lived in and slightly scruffy old quarter of the city and the centre of the nightlife in Valencia. There is a lot of development going on and round each building plot you find cement walls, usually covered by some great street art. Take your time to wander round the area in the day, you'll find some nice street art round every corner.

You can see my review and photos on my blog;
heatheronhertravels.blogspot.com/2008/04/old-town-valencia-and-street-art.html

There are lots of photos of Valencia street art on the Flickr Valencia graffiti pool.
www.flickr.com/groups/graffisvalencia/pool/

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This restaurant was recommended by a Valencian friend and it is a great place to go for traditional Spanish home cooking and great value.

Inside it's decorated with painted Spanish tiles and you can see the food being prepared in the open kitchen. There's a range of typical tapas, seafood and meat dishes - it was good for children as they had some plain dishes like steak, grilled chicken or fish and also some more adventurous things including Paella.

It's tucked down a small street behind the ceramics museum in the Palacio Marques de Dos Aguas but is worth hunting out.

You can see my review and photos on my blog; heatheronhertravels.blogspot.com/2008/04/evening-out-with-angel-in-valencia.html

Restaurante La Utielana, Plaza Picadero de Dos Aguas, San Andres 4, Valencia, Tel 963529414 (The road is just behind Palacio Marques de Dos Aguas)

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La Beneficencia is a free museum, and if you walk through the shady inner courtyard, you'll find the restaurant for a great value set lunch at €9.

Service starts at 2pm although I'd arrive a little earlier and have a drink as it is very popular with the locals.

For €9 you get 3 courses of excellent modern cooking and there are 3 choices per course. To give you an example of what we ate; Salad of salt cod, chicken in a curried sauce with wild rice (or Valencian Paella), Coconut cream with pieapple and lemon sorbet. It was all delicious.

You can see my write-up and photos on my blog: heatheronhertravels.blogspot.com/2008/04/lunch-at-la-beneficencia-in-valencia.html

Museo de Prehistoria y de la Culturas de Valencia (La Beneficencia)
Calle Corona 36. You'll find it in all the guidebooks - it's next to the Institito Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM).
www.museuprehistoriavalencia.es/

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We stayed over at La Casa Azul which is right in front of the central market and we found this lovely new Gastronomik tapas bar/restaurant called Tapa2.

We were amazed at what we got - five courses of pure delight, all served with different drinks to wet the palette.

The owner Eduardo Phillips Blanco (you would be surprised to find out he is English, with that name) and head chef Michael Baering not only provided and served some of the best food we have ever eaten but also entertained us.

Our meal cost us 35 euros each and that was with all drink included, they do a deal with three tapas dishes and a bottle of vino for 15 euros most nights though.

Find them off the beaten track, near La Lonja, not the best setting but the restaurant is cool and funky and it hasn't copped on with the Spanish yet.

Carda6, Barrio del Carmen, Valencia
+34 663 875 903
www.tapa2gastronomik.es (not up and running yet)

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Newly opened zoo which tries hard to present itself as ecologically sound and involved in saving species. It's a taxi ride away in the west of Valencia. Children will love being really close to the animals - and it will be even better once the monkeys are there. Rather pricey at € 20/adult.

Take a taxi which will cost under €10.

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Close to Plaza de la Virgen down a very quiet alley is this unassuming rather dark restaurant. Excellent food, with a choice of either the €12 lunch of the day or a special Dégustacion menu (which everyone has to choose) for €18. Very good quality modern Valencian cooking.

C / Conquista 3
Tel: 963 910 364

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This place is super nice! Finally we got to wash our clothes in Spain!

Nice, relaxed laundromat with good computers and good internet connection! Friendly staff. Check it out! And they are open every day, all day.

Calle BAJA, 17, Valencia, El Carmen
963.913.528
thelaundrystop@yahoo.es

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They have some great bikes with big comfortable seats. I was really impressed. When I returned the bikes they sent me and my wife to a great restaurant and they were right, the cheesecake was definitely made by the hands of God!

C/Murillo 22 bjo dcha just up from the central market
0034 963916324

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Not long returned from a great week in Valencia. Rented a lovely penthouse apartment with a large outdoor terrace, next to the Port Americas Cup and near the beach. There were four of us so was very good value for money. Good location. Can recommend them.

Avenida del Puerto, Valencia.
Nearest Metro: Fransisco Cubells ( 300m)
www.valenciaapartment.co.uk

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One of best things about Valencia is the empty riverbed of the Turia, which has been turned into an 8km-long, twisting park through the middle of the city, with a lagoon, gardens and playing fields plus the amazing City of Arts and Sciences, an architectural wonderland.

You can cycle from the old town and through cycle paths in the park and on to the revamped port, seeing everything in half a day. Hire bikes (including tandems) at Cycletour, next to the fab Gulliver’s playground in the park, or in town at the excellent Orange bikes.

Orange Bikes Santa Teresa 8, Valencia (0034 96 391 7551, orangebikes.net).

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The festival of La Tomatina in Spain gives new meaning to the expression 'playing with your food'. For most of the year, Buñol is a ho-hum industrial town, about 40km (25m) from Valencia, quietly going about its own business. But come the last Wednesday of August, the town's streets turn into a salsa riot, with over 20,000 revellers pelting each other with large, red, squishy tomatoes.

There are lots of theories on how the festival started; one is that it began in 1945 with anti-Franco protests, although any link between Franco and tomatoes remains ambigous. Another theory is that it started when two friends had a stand-up knock-down argument while sharing a meal. The argument quickly reached food-throwing proportions, infected acquaintances and nearby diners, moved out into the street, spread through the suburbs, progressed to neighbouring towns and eventually wound up as an annual event that attracted 'mata throwers from all corners of the the world.

The most likely explanation is that it started as a juvenile class war between bare-footed Troskyist macarras and el-ivy leaguers staying at Papa's summer house, the latter passing the former in a provocative way - that is to say, within tomato-throwing range. Like gangs of adolescents anywhere, it soon became a point of honour and a mark of tribal loyalty to make a stand at the tomato-stained barriers. As the event turned into a national event it lost its hostile political edge and became, instead, an unbridled Dionysian riot of flesh-baring bodies covered head to toe in tomato goo.

The standard uniform is an old T-shirt, old shorts and eye goggles. T-shirts with bullseyes printed on them are not recommended. Nearly 140 tonnes of tomatoes are trucked in from around the countryside and the argy-bargy begins with the firing of a rocket. An hour later the end of the festival is announced with the firing of another rocket and the clean up of the tomato-slimed streets begin.

La Tomatina takes place in Buñol, a small town about 40km (about 25 miles) west of Valencia and well connected by train and bus.
On the last Wednesday of August, at the peak of tomato season, between 10 am and 1 pm. Everybody enjoys and the streets turn into rivers of tomato juice.
www.latomatina.org/

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I spent a few days in Valencia in March. If you haven't been to "las Fallas de Valencia" you don't know what a party is!! They burn huge monuments made of wood and cardboard in the middle of the streets. There are thousands of "Fallas", firecrackers, and festivals everywhere!!

My friends and i stayed in Red Hostel and saved a lot of money for going out. The hostel staff told us where to go, how to get to parties and even a handsome receptionist went out with us to the beach!!

They have internet, air conditioning, kitchen, shared and private rooms... It's open 24/7 and waiting for us after party. Our rooms were coloured painted and we saw the river of Valencia by the window!! Best holidays ever had in a lovely hostel!!

Plz/Tetuan,5 46003 Valencia Spain
www.purplenesthostel.com
www.nesthostelsvalencia.com
Tel: +34 963 532 561

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It's a bike rental in the centre of town. We tried some other companies, with bad bicycles and service. It's clear how much they care about the service, the bikes are fantastic and the people in the shop are very nice with us all the time. They prepare the bikes and give us advice about routes. Probably the best bicycle rental in Valencia so far.

Santa Teresa, 8 Valencia 46001
Tel: 0034 963917551
www.orangebikes.net
info@orangebikes.net
near Plaza Ayuntamiento and Mercado Central

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Paella takeaway just off the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. Heretical though it may be to eat paella on the hoof, the above place came in very handy when we were about to leave for the airport and still hadn't sampled Paella Valenciana.

Calle Padilla, 1
Tel 00 34 96 394 44 16

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Museum of Valencia History reminds me a bit of the Museum of London, one of my favourite UK museums.

50 display areas taking visitors chronologically through 22 centuries of Valencia history.

However, beware the school groups, there were three in while I was there, which made it hard to concentrate.

C/ Valencia, 42 (next to Parque de Cabecera)
Tel: 0034 96 370 11 05 / 96 370 11 78
email: mhv@valencia.es
www.valencia.es/mhv
Metro line 3, 9 de Octubre station

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Excellent two-star hostel on Plaza del Ayuntamiento. Surpisngly quiet for one so central. Beware that it gets incredibly booked up which is probably a reflection of the value it offers.

Plaza del Ayuntamiento
Entrance by Calle En Llop, 5)
46002 VALENCIA
tel 0034 96 352 42 67
www.hotelvenecia.com

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This is Valencia's main food market and it's a fabulous place to spend the morning wandering around.

It's a colourful and vibrant market with all kinds of wonderful fresh foods on display. Like many places, seeing this market in operation gives a special insight into the ordinary lives of the people of Valencia.

It's a fine building too and the ceiling is very ornate.

www.mercadocentralvalencia.es/

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