Our Journey: 2015

Now that we are moving north along the East coast of Spain it is getting more  difficult to find  reasonably priced marina's. The fact that we are in the high season is the main explanation.  Valencia ( the third largest city in Spain) is an exception and the prices are very reasonable, even  in the high season. We stayed a week in Valencia because we were waiting for a spare part for the  engine, but also to take the time to explore the city. We visited various places such as the  market, the Logia with impressive columns,  but were particularly impressed by the museum of  Ceramics. The museum is located in a mansion that was formerly owned by the Marquis de Campo.  The external walls of the mansion are  richly decorated but inside the furniture and the paintings  are really interesting. This museum contains a rich collection of ceramics and Picasso, who once  visited it, donated a few ceramic dishes he created.Today they are integrated in the museum and  on the back you can see Picasso' signature.    The Roman style Cathedral is also beautiful but most people visit it to see the Holy Chalice. This  Chalice is, according to the history,   the one used by Jesus Christ on Holy Thursday during the  last supper. If you like modern Architecture, Valencia has many interesting buildings. Amongst  them we visited the museum of science. This building from the outside is enormous and seems to  capture the surrounding environment.    As sailors, you also need to know that Valencia was the place selected by the Swiss team of Alingi  to organise the 32nd America's cup race in 2007. Alingi, the Swiss team tried to keep their title  but failed. Today the city is left with a huge marina for boats but there are unfortunately a lot of  empty spaces. This is a real pity because the facilities are truly exceptional and the marina people  very helpful. I sincerely hope that in the future more boats will occupy this Marina.