ETR // Stage 53 // Tarragona - Valencia

41°07'08.5"N 1°14'44.0"E
41.119021, 1.245563
Tarragona - Valencia
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Distance

Tarragona - Valencia
Radius 100 km
331 km

Highlights

Fòrum Romà Tàrraco
Muralles Romanes
Circ Romà
Necropolis
Teatre Romà
Tabacalera de Tarragona
Passeig Arqueològic
Museu del Port de Tarragona

Magnificent morning in Tarragona

Before you leave Tarragona, you should take another walk, this ancient Roman city has to be experienced in slow-motion. Maybe catch a Balaeric sunrise at Balcó del Mediterrani, while you wake up!

Weave effortlessly through the alleys of the walled medieval Old Town and visit the Fòrum Romà (the Colonial forum of Tàrraco), Muralles Romanes de Tarragona (Roman Wall of Tarragona), Circ Romà (Roman Circus), the Necropolis containing Roman tombs. Grab a coffee at one of the nice cafés along the way.

Continue your walk to maintain your immersion in Romano culture and head over to Teatre Romà de Tarragona (Roman theatre of Tàrraco), Anfiteatro de Tarragona, Antiguo Teatro Romano, Tabacalera de Tarragona and eventually, Museu del Port de Tarragona. Follow the Passeig Arqueològic, a walkway along the ramparts with sweeping views of the walled city. After a morning like that, you're recharged and ready for some great hours on the road.

Paradores de Turismo de España

Paradores de Turismo is a Spanish state-owned chain of luxury hotels that are usually located in historic buildings or in nature areas with a special appeal, such as restored Castles, Monasteries, Convents, Fortresses, Manor Houses, Palaces as well as some exceptional modern properties. Paradors are located all around Spain, and have a presence in all its provinces except for the Balearic Islands, where a parador in Ibiza is under construction, and Biscay. Its very first parador was inaugurated on 9 October 1928 in Navarredonda de Gredos (Ávila). Every parador has its own restaurant offering the regional gastronomy of its area.

The Parador Network was created with the double objective of promoting tourism in areas that lacked adequate accommodations, and of putting unused large historic buildings to use, for the maintenance of the national heritage. Along its history, the establishments of its network have been branded as Parador, Parador Nacional, Parador de Turismo or Parador Nacional de Turismo in different times. As of 2022, it operates ninety-seven paradors in Spain and one in Portugal, with 5,988 rooms in total. Past motorcycle tours have been based on visiting as many Paradores as you can fit into an itinerary, and this makes for an interesting and deeply immersive tour concept, in itself.

Valencia City of Arts & Sciences

Valencia is a city of contrasts, with a charming old town next to some very futuristic buildings. The City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia (Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias) is one of the largest scientific and cultural complexes in Europe. It is made up of impressive buildings such as the Palau de les Arts (Queen Sofia Palace of Arts), Hemisfèric and Oceanogràfic, and stands out because of its avant-garde architecture, designed by renowned architects Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela.

Queen Sofia Palace of Arts

The Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía is a majestic building designed by the Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava. The innovative architecture and sculpted form of this 40.000 square metre building is highly symbolic. At 75 metres in height it accommodates four venues for opera, music, ballet and theatre. Platforms project at different levels with passage ways and Mediterranean gardens. Access to the different areas is provided by means of panoramic lifts and staircases situated inside the metal sides of the building.

Otherworldly architecture and a daring design

A masterpiece of engineering, only one point of support sustains the plume over the almond-shaped building, leaving the eastern end of the feather floating in mid-air, as if defying gravity. The contrast between the opaque sheet metal structure and the glass foyers produce ever-changing sensations when walking through the structure. Fine white concrete covers the large metal structural supports of the building, while broken mosaic tile (trencadís) has been used to decorate the outer shells, walls and reflecting pools of the Palau. The Palau is surrounded by more than 60.000 square metres of gardens, pathways, and 11.000 square metres of water in the reflecting pools below.

Photos

Dave O'Byrne
European Touring Route AS

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Highlights

Valencia Silk Exchange
Valencia Cathedral
Palau de la Música
Valencia Regional Government Palace
Valencia Institute of Modern Art
El Miguelete Tower
City of Arts and Sciences

Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe

Visit the Príncipe Felipe Science Museum (Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe), a bright, innovative science centre and modern science museum featuring a variety of interactive exhibits & workshops. It has three floors, each offering over 8,000 square metres of exhibition area. Through a range of workshops, activities and interactive panels, visitors can enjoy discovering the principles of science and technology, and how these contribute to improving quality of life.

Hemisfèric

The Hemisfèric was inaugurated in 1998 and was the first building in the City of Arts and Sciences to open its doors to the public. It is a spectacular construction designed by Santiago Calatrava, which represents a huge human eye, the eye of wisdom. This symbolises the observation of the world that visitors discover by means of surprising audiovisual projections. Hemisfèric has an ovoid roof over 100 metres long which contains a large sphere in its interior, containing the projection room. Digital format projections on the entire dome of the Hemisfèric, with a variety of spectacular digital content of very high quality and definition.

L'Oceanogràfic

Continue towards the Mediterranean and you'll find L'Oceanogràfic, Europes largest aquarium with over 500 marine species in versions of the world's main marine ecosystems. If gazing at trapped wildlife is not your thing there are many other key locations to visit, and a lot of culture, heritage and history to take in!

Explore Valencia Old Town

Head back into the Old Town and visit The Silk Exchange (La Lonja). The Lonja is an emblematic building of the city and one of the most famous civil gothic monuments in Europe. It was declared a National Historic and Artistic Monument in 1931 and became a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996. As a result of the prosperity in València at the end of the 13th century, the old Lonja could no longer keep up, and the first stone of the new Lonja was laid in 1492. The Torreón is the second section of the building while on the ground floor there is a small chapel dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. The two upper floors were used as a prison for those who couldn't pay their debts. Not like today.

An avalanche of festivals, culture, colour, diversity and entertainment

Some of the MANY other place to visit in Valencia are the Palau de la Música auditorium, the Institute of Modern Art (IVAM), Valencia Regional Government Palace and El Miguelete Tower, but this city is an El Dorado of cultural goldmines and experiences to be enjoyed. If you're lucky, you'll arrive to catch one or more of the MANY popular festivals from the religious to the profane, in a melting pot of rituals and rites, gunpowder and gardening. Experiences such as The Fallas of València, A UNESCO heritage festival combining tradition, satire and art, dedicated to the intangible Heritage of Humanity.

The Holy Grail in Cathedral of Valencia

Built on an ancient Roman temple that was later a mosque, the Cathedral of Valencia is a Gothic-style building, although it preserves many elements from different periods, from Romanesque to Baroque eras. Work on the current building began in the 13th century. The Cathedral shows both history and art, and is dedicated since the era of Jaume I to the Assumption of Santa Maria. Its walls and doors also protect valuable treasures such as the Holy Chalice. Documentation and archaeological studies lead us to think that the Holy Grail of Valencia is the one used by Jesus in the last supper. The Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI used this relic when celebrating the Eucharist on their visits to Valencia. It is a cup of polished agate of an oriental origin. Tradition says that, after the last supper, Saint Peter took it to Rome and the Popes who succeeded it kept it there until Saint Sixtus II, who then sent it to Huesca, and during Muslim invasion, the chalice was hidden in the Pyrenees. It was Alfonso the Magnanimous who brought it back to the palace of Valencia. Nowadays it can be seen in the Chapel of the Holy Chalice at the Cathedral.