The MuVIM, or Museu Valencià de la Il·lustració i la Modernitat, is located in the park where the city's first public hospital was built, in the 14th century. Today, the municipal library occupies the former hospital building.
From train and plane, to bus and bike, there are a number of ways to get to Valencia and travel around once there. The following is a quick rundown of what you need to know about transportation in Spain's third-biggest city.
Southeast of the historic center, Ruzafa has long been known as Valencia's multi-cultural mixing pot. And in recent years, it has indisputably become the city's hippest neighborhood, with an eclectic and ever-changing variety of popular clubs, retro bars, trendy restaurants, vintage shops and offbeat bookstores.
A thousand years ago, a formidable set of walls protected Valencia from marauders and invading armies, and anyone hoping to gain access to the city had to pass through one of its twelve monumental gates. Today, the medieval walls have disappeared, but two gates remain: the Torres de Serranos to the north, and the Torres de Quart to the west.
The neighborhood of El Carmen takes its name from the massive, ancient convent around which it was built. Today, the monks are long gone, but the Convento del Carmen has found a renewed purpose as one of the city's premiere cultural spaces.
Before cobbling together our concise history of the city, we decided to refresh our knowledge at the Valencian History Museum. Housed inside an old cistern, this museum takes visitors on a comprehensive tour from the days of the Romans to Francisco Franco.
Considering the sheer size of Fallas, and the length of time over which it extends, it's not too surprising that we snapped far more photographs of the festival than we could ever hope to publish. But here are some additional pictures which didn't quite fit into our other posts.
"Foc" is Valencian for "Fire," but you'll be forgiven for screaming out a similar-sounding English word while watching either the Cabalgata de Foc (Parade of Fire), or the Nit de Foc (Night of Fire). Because these events are foc-ing insane.
Throughout Fallas, the smell of smoke and gunpowder is unavoidable on the streets of Valencia, but another odor is almost as prominent: that of greasy, deep-fried goodness. On seemingly every other corner, there's a stand selling buñuelos. A sweet, delicious, artery-clogging nightmare, buñuelos are Valencia's favorite festival snack, and are even more sinful when dipped into cups of thick, rich, hot chocolate.
One of the most important events of Fallas is la Ofrenda, when tens of thousands of traditionally-clad falleros and falleras converge on Valencia, bearing flowers for the massive wooden figure of Our Lady of the Forsaken in the Plaza de la Virgen.
