Valencia is one of those cities that make me love travelling in Europe. Whilst I really enjoy visiting the big cities Paris, London, Rome etc. it is the dense cluster of smaller cities that make travelling around the continent really rewarding and also account for the huge concentration of World Heritage Sites in this small part of the world.

La Lonja de la Seda is a pretty impressive monument to Mediterranean mercantile trade, and as outlined by David below has some fine gothic architectural detailing, and I am in full agreement that the one truly exceptional part of this are the spiral pillars of the main trading hall (picture). The courtyard garden and ceiling in the upper chapel are also very nice. On the whole though la Lonja is nice but nothing that I would really say was exceptional.

One quibble I have with the site is that aside from two signs displaying the WHS symbol there is absolutely no information on why this is an important/ exceptional building, there were free tours every hour or so, but unfortunately my Spanish is terrible so I couldn’t take advantage of this. It would be nice just to have an explanatory board or leaflet/ guidebook available, I had to rely on the advisory body report on the UNESCO website to put this place in some sort of context.

Anyway this was far from an unrewarding ‘city break’. La Lonja sits in a nice part of the old town with a wonderful ‘Modernisme’ market directly opposite, great for picking up fresh produce for lunch. There are also plenty of restaurants and bars around, we had a great evening eating at the unique Bacca D.O.C just behind La Lonja before bar hopping until the small hours in Barrio del Carmen.

The rest of Valencia’s historic centre was nice, though I wouldn’t say it was of World Heritage standard it does have plenty of worthy monuments and plenty of bars to sit and watch the world float by. It is also handy that the weather was fantastic when we visited and there is a tram direct to the beach.

However Valencia has a huge ace up its sleeve. In the 1960’s the river Turia was diverted to help control flooding, this has been turned into a sweep of parkland, which is a real joy to wander around. However about 1 mile south of the city centre there is a remarkable venture taking shape. Valencia born architect Santiago Calatrava is creating something astounding in the shape of the City of Arts and Sciences (see my profile picture). The already completed projects are exceptional and warrant at least a half-day of exploration. The Palau des Artes Renia Soifa (Opera House) has to rank as one of the finest buildings I have ever visited. Even if you are not a modern architecture aficionado these are instantly accessible and joyous buildings and I wouldn’t hesitate in supporting them as a future World Heritage Site. There is also a link to la Lonja as Calatrava was greatly influenced by the pillars of the main hall, this relationship can easily be seen when looking at the pillars around the Science Museum and l’Umbracle.

All in all Valencia was a fine place to spend a few lazy days, and whilst la Lonja may not be the most exceptional of WHS you will be able to see something of outstanding universal value actually being created. Highly recommended!