Las Atarazanas (location) of El Grao, close to the harbor, provide a fascinating look back on medieval Valencia. They served as shipyards, for the storage and and construction of boats, and date from the late 14th century, a time in which El Grao was its own fortified city, existing separately from Valencia. The building’s structure is typical of medieval Valencian architecture, consisting of a wooden roof atop 5 large arches. Inside, another series of perpendicularly-set arches allow movement throughout the building.

Las Atarazanas are a beautifully-perserved symbol of 14th century Valencia’s maritime prominence, and were built by the ruling Moors. Today, they have been restored and serve as an cultural center.

The current exhibition in Las Atarazanas is about classic sports cars. About 40 automobiles in perfect condition from the 1930s to the 60s are on display, with models from major companies like Ferrari to elite brands such as Bugatti. The show is a must for any racing fan — assuming that there are any left over in the city from the past weekend’s F1 race — and will run until September 14th. Check out some pictures:

Location of Las Atarazanas on our Valencia Map

Valencia’s modern art museum, the IVAM (location), has recently opened an exhibition on abstract art, which you can see until December 7th.

The exhibition of 58 pieces (48 paintings and 10 sculptures) includes work from 1913 to the end of the twentieth century, and serves as a great introduction to the history of abstract art. 50 important abstract artists are represented in this wide-ranging collection.

More information about the exhibition in particular, and the abstract movement in general can be found in this article at ArtDaily.org.

Location of the IVAM on our Valencia Map

Get ready for yet more open-air, original version cinema in Valencia, courtesy of l’IVAC-La Filmoteca and l’Aula de Cinema de la Universtat de Valencia. This time, the films are being shown at the Jardines del Palau de la Música (location)…

And the program is great! It’s like a master class in Cinema Classics… Godard, Lubitsch, Fellini, Wilder, Tarantino, Bergman. Every genre is covered, from animation (Ratatouille) to art house (Seventh Seal). In our day jobs, we run a popular film website and can verify that every movie in this program is worth seeing.

It runs from July 28th to September 7th. The films start at 11pm and entry is €3 (or you can get 10 entrances for €20).

Here’s the full lineup. I’ve listed the English names of the films, but keep in mind that everything is being shown in OV, with Spanish subtitles. Feel free to bookmark this page, for easy reference!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Jul 28	Jul 29	Jul 30	Jul 31	Aug 1	Aug 2	Aug 3
Amarcord France, 1973		Ninotchka USA, 1939		American Gangster USA, 2007
Aug 4	Aug 5	Aug 6	Aug 7	Aug 8	Aug 9	Aug 10
Breathless France, 1959		Sullivan’s Travels USA, 1941		The 400 Blows France, 1959
Aug 11	Aug 12	Aug 13	Aug 14	Aug 15	Aug 16	Aug 17
The Seventh Seal Sweden, 1956		La Soledad Spain, 2007		Be Kind, Rewind USA, 2008
Aug 18	Aug 19	Aug 20	Aug 21	Aug 22	Aug 23	Aug 24
XXY Argentina, 2007		Planet Terror USA, 2007		Death Proof USA, 2007
Aug 25	Aug 26	Aug 27	Aug 28	Aug 29	Aug 30	Aug 31
Querelle Germany, 1982		Arsenic and Old Lace USA, 1944		Ratatouille USA, 2007
Sep 1	Sep 2	Sep 3	Sep 4	Sep 5	Sep 6	Sep 7
La Notte Italy, 1961		Some Like It Hot USA, 1959		There Will Be Blood USA, 2007

The small triangular barraca is a sight which is quickly disappearing from the Valencian landscape. These homes, popularized in Blasco Ibáñez’s novel of the same name, have been popular with Valencia’s fishermen and farmers for centuries, but are now becoming endangered — another victim of modernity.

Barraca in El Palmar

Barracas are rectangular, about 9×5 meters, with a steep triangular roof to fend off rain. Traditionally, they’re made of clay, canes & reeds, and have a small top floor which might be used for the storage of silk worms. Entrances on either side allow air to circulate.

The best place to see barracas is in the communities of the Albufera, particularly El Palmar. There, you’ll even have the chance to go inside one — there’s a museum dedicated to them.

If you can’t be bothered to leave the city, there’s another option… but you’ll have to hurry. The last surviving barraca in the city center can be found in Carmen, but the city council is threatening to remove it in favor of a police station (all in the name of progress and modernity, of course!) The address is Calle San Miguel 22 (location).

The Last Barraca in Valencia City

Ballroom Dancing in Valencia from Valencia Blog on Vimeo.

Anyone who’s bored in Valencia is simply not trying. It seems like every night, there is something new and unexpected occurring, especially with the Feria de Julio going on.

This past Saturday, a ballroom dancing competition was held at the Plaza de la Virgen. It’s the first time the competition’s been held, but I think they’re making it an annual thing.

It was a lot of fun to watch. There were two levels of dancers. The first consisted of people seemingly plucked out of community Beginning Dance classes. Amateur, and not too impressive… but still better than me (hell, this thing is a better dancer than me).

But when the professionals came out, in the second group, the entertainment level went through the roof. The dancing was tight, but the outrageous outfits were really the highlight. There were at least 15 pairs, and they had to each perform 6 styles of dance, from jazz to paso doble.

My favorites went out early, which shows how little I know about dancing. We don’t know who won, because eventually we got tired of standing — ballroom dancing was more interesting than expected, but still not worth a sore back.

La Nau, the University of Valencia’s center of culture (location), is hosting a series of films in its open air courtyard, starting on the 15th (we’re a day late!)

There are two themes being featured during the series, which runs every day through the 26th: “Vacation Time”, and “Iraq: Images of War, War of Images”.

Here’s a quick run down of the films being screened on each day. If you can read Valencian, you can get more information here. All the films are shown in Original Version, with subtitles. I think the screenings are free, but I can’t find any definitive information on that. I’ll update the post once I know for sure.

Vacation Time

Tuesday, July 15th: Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (France, 1953) - Monsieur Hulot comes to a beachside hotel for a vacation, where he accidentally (but good-naturedly) causes havoc.

Thursday, July 17th: Who Can Kill a Child? (Spain, 1976) - A couple of English tourists arrive on an island where all the children have gone crazy and are murdering the adults.

Saturday, July 19th: Kikujiro (Japan, 1999) - It’s summer and nine-year old Masao (Sekiguchi) has no one to play with. He decides to go in search of the mother he has never met. Kikujiro (Takeshi), a brash, loudmouthed and irresponsible adult, agrees to accompany him on his quest. Ultimately, the two of them end up at a destination that neither of them could have imagined.

Sunday, July 20th: August Days (Spain/Catalan, 2006) - Confused after months of work searching for material to write about a time in history that a journalist had often spoken about, Marc calls his brother David and they set off on a short vacation. But Marc cannot switch off and David takes him further south, to a place where they have heard people come to from far a field in pursuit of a fish with cat-like whiskers…

Tuesday, July 22nd: The Seven Year Itch (USA, 1955) - When his family goes away for the summer, a so far faithful husband is tempted by a beautiful neighbor (Marilyn Monroe).

Thursday, July 24th: Bonjour Tristesse (USA, 1958) - In the French Riviera, the spoiled and futile seventeen years old girl Cecile (Jean Seberg) is spending the summer vacation with her father, the widow playboy and bon-vivant Raymond (David Niven), and his girlfriend Elsa (Mylène Demongeot). Cecile has a serious Complex of Oedipus with her father, and they have a quite incestuous relationship.

Saturday, July 26th: Pauline at the Beach (France, 1982) - Fifteen year old Pauline and her older cousin, model-shaped Marion, go to the emtying Atlantic coast for an autumn holiday . Marion ignores the approaches of a surfer and falls for Henri, a hedonist who is only interested in a sexual adventure and drops her soon. Pauline’s little romance with a young man (Sylvain) is also spoiled by Henri.

Iraq: Images of War, War of Images

Wednesday, July 16th: Full Battle Rattle (USA, 2008) - A film about life inside the US Army’s Iraq simulation in California’s Mojave Desert

Friday, July 18th: The War Tapes (USA, 2006) - In March 2004, just as the insurgent movement strengthened, several members of one National Guard unit arrived in Iraq, carrying digital video cameras. The War Tapes is the movie they made with Director Deborah Scranton and a team of award-winning filmmakers. It’s the first war movie filmed by soldiers themselves on the front lines in Iraq.

Monday, July 21st: Gunner Palace (USA, 2004) - American soldiers of the 2/3 Field Artillery, a group known as the “Gunners,” tell of their experiences in Baghdad during the Iraq War. Holed up in a bombed out pleasure palace built by Sadaam Hussein, the soldiers endured hostile situations some four months after President George W. Bush declared the end of major combat operations in the country

Wednesday, July 23rd: Apuntarse a un bombardeo (Spain, 2003) - Documentary about Spanish troops inside Baghdad during the siege.

Friday, July 25th: Voices of Iraq (Iraq, 2004) - Filmed and directed by the Iraqis themselves — thousands of them, from all walks of life, all over their country. The producers, who distributed more than 150 digital video cameras across the country, condensed more than 400 hours of footage into an unprecedented, and startling, look at life in a war zone. It’s a new genre of filmmaking.

Source: AIA.org

Surfing around this morning, I came across a great profile piece on Valencia’s architectural golden boy, Santiago Calatrava in The Independent, a British paper:

I’m just sitting down with Helga Schmidt when the news breaks that Santiago Calatrava is in the building. The arrival of the great architect generates excitement and apprehension in equal measure… Valencia: New Horizons

 
Sources: Pure Contemporary & Curbed.com

There’s no doubt that Calatrava is making some of the most exciting buildings in the world. Do any of you have a favorite? Mine is probably L’Hemiferic.

La Lonja, the Silk Exchange, is one of Valencia’s best known buildings, and an absolute must-see attraction for a visit to the city. UNESCO has even declared it a World Heritage Site:

Built between 1482 and 1533, this group of buildings was originally used for trading in silk (hence its name, the Silk Exchange) and it has always been a centre for commerce. It is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture. The grandiose Sala de Contratación (Contract or Trading Hall), in particular, illustrates the power and wealth of a major Mediterranean mercantile city in the 15th and 16th centuries. (UNESCO)

Located directly across from the Mercado Central, the building is large and impossible to miss (location). The contract hall, which serves as the entrance, is alone worth the visit. 8 massive, spiraling columns give support to this spacious and beautiful room. Take special note of how the columns bloom up into the ceiling — they’re meant to evoke Valencia’s palm trees.

Adjoining the contract hall is a lush orange garden. Doing business hundreds of years ago must have been a pleasure (sometimes).

Once you’ve gone across the garden and up the stairs, you’ll enter into la Lonja’s most impressive space, the Consolat de Mar. Look up or down, either way you’ll be amazed. The floor has an incredibly dizzying pattern, and the 15th-century golden roof is crazy.

But my favorite feature of La Lonja is not the stately rooms nor the soothing orange garden, but the dirty, perverted gargoyles. Although ubiquitous on the grounds, they’re easy to overlook, so keep your eyes peeled. I’m not sure why the architects chose to incorporate sculptures of beastiality, molestation and sexual depravity… anyone know? One theory I’ve heard is that they wanted to emphasize that La Lonja was in no way a religious building (if so, mission accomplished!)

Considering that La Lonja is free to visit, there’s no excuse to skip it.

Opening Hours
Tues-Sat: 10 - 14, 16:30 - 20:30
Sun: 10-15
Mondays Closed
Location on our Valencia Map

More Information at Wikipedia

Note: This is another in a series of posts about The Real Colegio del Patriarca — a building we intend to explore in depth. If interested, read our earlier posts about it:
Colegio del Patriarca - Introduction & History
Colegio del Patriarca - Facade & Atrium
Colegio del Patriarca Video - Bell Tower in Action

The Colegio del Patriarca’s oldest inhabitant lives in the atrium, sleeping on the wall above the holy water. Meet the infamous “Dragon of the Patriarch”.

Legend holds that in the first half of the 13th century, when Valencia was still small and encased within its Moorish walls, a dangerous dragon kept its lair in the bed of the river Turia, attacking foolish passers-by with insatiable voracity. Nothing was able to stop the beast, not the sharpest arrows, the best lances, not even exorcisms.

One day, a foreign, vagabond Jew who had been condemned to death for his grievous crimes pleaded with the city to spare his life. In exchange, he would slay the dragon. Not believing him capable, and bound to die anyway in the attempt, the city granted his request. For weeks, the Jew locked himself in his house working in secrecy on his grand weapon, until one bright and sunny day, he emerged clothed in a brown robe with a hood covering his head. Through disbelieving onlookers, he made his way to the riverbed and the mouth of the reptile’s lair. The dragon, sensing another easy kill, wasted no time in attacking the valiant Jew, who threw off his cape and hood at the last minute. Revealed underneath was an armor made entirely of mirrors which caught and reflected the bright rays of sun, so blinding and dazzling the dragon that it opened its jaws in instinctive defense. The Jew then produced a lance and struck the beast in its jowl once, twice, thrice… Seeing their invincible foe thusly handled, the rest of the citizenry leaped upon the dragon, putting a final end to the nightmare of Valencia.

Blasco Ibáñez

This is the legend, popularized by the famous Valencian author Blasco Ibáñez in one of his many stories about the city. In truth, though, the stuffed, giant crocodile is one of two brought back to Spain in 1606 from Peru by the Marquis of Monterrey, and placed on the wall of the chapel to symbolize silence.

Go check out the Dragon of the Patriarch yourself!

Real Colegio y Museo del Patriarca
Visiting Hours: Daily, from 11:00 to 13:30h
Museum: €1.50
Location on our Valencia Map

Related:
Colegio del Patriarca - Introduction & History
Colegio del Patriarca - Facade & Atrium
Colegio del Patriarca Video - Bell Tower in Action

Hey there, Hippie! Where are you headed to, on your wacky Hippiebike?

Of course, the Hippie festival! That makes sense.

This past weekend, scarves, dreadlocks, nose rings, body odor, and the people who love such things convened in the Turia riverbed for Valencia’s 21st Alternative Festival. We ventured down, and were happy to discover a really fun collection of stands, products and entertainment.

Organic chocolates, beers, breads… Valencian tomatoes… clothing, bags, jewelry… anything your inner alternative child could possibly want. We met a German bread-maker who had traveled to Valencia to sell her baked goods, and sampled some of the organic beer on hand.

It was a lot of fun — more for the people-watching than anything else. A note, though, to the dreadlocked white dude wearing a Jamaican stocking cap and practicing capoeira from Brazil — keep your cultures straight! Does simply embracing the stereotypical symbols of well-known countries make a person “alternative”? Would a Spanish woman dressed in a sari, doing a Polka dance be as cool & hip as the capoeira Jamaica dude?

And a note to the girl who yelled at us for taking a picture of her stand… Fine! No mention on HolaValencia.net for your stupid clothes. Who’s crying now?!

Link to the Festival’s Official Page

Location on our Valencia Map