La Seu, my New Neighbourhood
As I mentioned in the last post, I have new digs in a cool new neighbourhood. Of course this is a lie. This neighbourhood is far from new, but it is mostly new to me. Yes, I have wandered the streets around here a bit, but other than stumbling on to some cool points of interests, I really have not managed to figure out the area much yet. This is about to change.
Ciutat Vella is the heart of Valencia, surrounded by Riu Turia to the north and northeast, Carrer de Colón to the southeast, and Carrer de Guillem de Castro to the south and west. This area is home to probably 80% of all the most important historical monuments in the city (by my reckoning only) and I keep trying to make mental notes of places I need to return to. On my first Monday, I decided to first go to the Mercat Central and get some food, of course, but later it was time for a longer walk, mainly because it was a lovely warm evening, and I was going a bit stir-crazy. You see, my host is away and I’m not sure for how long, so I have the whole place (well, my room, the bathroom, and the kitchen) all to myself and I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be this alone. See? Stir-crazy.
One of my favourite things to do here is just to follow my feet so as I crossed the Plaza de la Virgen, I noticed a new lane and followed it. The building across that little plaza looked intriguing, rather modern, and with a cool pond in front. Seeing the doors open (on a Monday!) I ventured inside only to be surprised by 1) free entrance and 2) absolutely nobody else inside except for a couple of museum employees and a security guide, all huddled together and chatting. I’m pretty used to having few other people in most places of culture here in Spain, but this was the emptiest yet.
Centre Arqueològic de l’Almoina (Archeological Centre Almoina) was built in 2007 to house an excavation the Valencia government undertook a number of years earlier. It seems someone was trying to develop an area in the Old Town and discovered a bunch of ancient ruins below ground. The city then took over and the result is this amazing museum, below ground and hiding numerous treasures. At street level there is a bronze maquette of the exhibit which gives you a preview of what is below; stairs then take you to two more levels where the ancient walls of the Roman city of Valentia Edetanorum, founded in 138BCE, lie. It really is awe-inspiring to walk down the same paths people walked over two thousand years ago except I did that suspended in the air, in a manner of speaking. The walkways throughout the whole museum are a maze made of glass through which you can see (but not touch) the old Roman roads. I have to confess the first few steps I took on this glass path were a tad more disconcerting than expected, my newly-discovered fear of heights working way overtime, especially since I was maybe a couple of actual feet off the ground. The mind is a strange thing. I did overcome this irrational fear quickly, however, and went on to enjoy having 2000 years of history all to myself. I must have spent about an hour wandering around, some of it in the dark (the place isn’t exactly lit up like a Walmart), trying to imagine what it must have been like here so long ago. I may sound like a broken record at this point, but the link to history is really difficult to ignore. Maybe because I’ve spent so long in a place where buildings or objects from a 100 years ago are considered very old, I have forgotten what it’s like to live among much more ancient echoes of the past. To be honest, I hope I never lose this sense of wonder though it makes me sad so many people do (or simply don’t have) and the rest of us have to fight so hard to keep the reminders alive. I do applaud the Ayuntamiento de València (city government) for taking such good care of theirs.
After saying goodbye to the rather confused guardians of this museum who, I’m sure, were wondering what the heck I was doing there so long, I headed outside to the warm air of an autumn evening. It got dark while I was below ground and now the buildings around me took a warm glow of the street lights. There weren’t as many people out as on the weekend (it was a Monday, after all); they were all probably getting home from work at this point, at least those who work in offices. The shops that close at 2pm reopen at 4pm but many restaurants stay closed until at least 7pm so the area felt quite peaceful. I walked around the back of the cathedral, and then crossed to the Plaza de la Reina, a large plaza with many restaurants lining its sides. As I walked by the one offering ridiculously large croissants filled with chocolate, cream, or dulce de leche, I saw a walkway through a building which lead to a tiny little plaza behind it. To my amazement, this tiny plaza, Plaça del Miracle del Mocadoret, held within what I can only call “heaven” … an old bookshop that looked straight out of a fairytale. I have no idea what the Miracle of Mocadoret is/was, but to me, finding this place was a minor miracle for sure. With a stupid grin thankfully hidden by my mask, I entered Librería La Guarida de las Maravillas, bid hello to the older gentleman minding it together with his adorable Fox Terrier-ish doggo (sorry, no photo of the little dude, I lost my mind for a moment), and then spend a inordinate amount of time just looking at everything in the store. As expected, the books–old and new–were piled high, but there were also many interesting objects, antique and otherwise, making the place a treasure-trove of memorabilia. I took a bunch of pictures (after asking permission to do so, of course), but they don’t do justice to the awesomeness of this place. You can find some in the Gallery. Like I said, I have found my little “heaven.”
It was difficult to leave, to be honest, but I vowed to return. It also turned out this bookstore is so close to my new place, I end up walking by it almost daily, albeit on its third side, the one facing a street and not the plaza. All in all, I think my first nightly expedition proved to be a smashing success, and I promised myself to do many more such evening walks. This was something I had been missing in my stay in Spain until now. Walking around the neighbourhood in Barcelona or in the port area would not have been nearly as interesting (and perhaps safe) … here I feel at home — so at home, as a matter of fact, it may be difficult for me to leave.
