Back in 1950′s Ruzafa, a gruesome crime took place which has become known as the Murder of the Cine Oriente. The cinema on Calle Sueca no longer exists, but it captured the headlines of Valencia for an entire summer.

Photo credit: missmass

For days, the patrons of the cinema had been complaining about a terrible odor. The owner explained it as dead rats, owing to the poison he’d recently spread around. But the stench was truly atrocious and didn’t go away, even after the rat cadavers where cleaned up.

Meanwhile, a bag had been found at the nearby train tracks, holding the extremities of an adult human. The legs and arms were cleanly shaven, with freshly painted nails. Shocking, but not nearly as horrific as the decapitated, armless and legless body that soon appeared locked in trunk, in an empty lot on Calle Sueca.

With these discoveries, the rancid odor at the Cine Oriente took on a more ominous tinge. Despite thorough searches of the premises, the police could find nothing. They began interrogating the cinema’s employees… but the janitor was strangely nowhere to be found. He lived with his mistress, María López, who explained that urgent business had called him away to Barcelona. Her story, though, seemed a little suspect. The janitor may have been a useless drunk, but at least would have informed his boss about a sudden departure.

A more thorough search of the cinema was immediately undertaken and finally, battling through the overwhelming stink, behind the cinema screen inside a box of cookies filled with dirt and manure, they found the partly decomposed head of the janitor.

María López confessed immediately. The janitor had been drunk, and they had been fighting when he fell backwards down the stairs and smacked his head on the ground, dying immediately. Panicked, she decided to chop up his body and hide the pieces, using a handsaw and knives. She painted the nails and shaved the limbs to confuse police. After her original hiding place inside the cinema began to stink and draw suspicion, she started removing the pieces one by one to various locations, but ran out of time before she got to the head.

A good story, but a little difficult to believe in its entirety… there was no contusion in the back of the janitor’s skull, nor did this version explain the crowbar stained with blood and hair, which was found in her apartment.

María López would serve 6 years for homicide, and another 5 months for the mutilation of the corpse.

- Move Recommendation Search Engine

After leaving the Baños del Almirante somewhat disappointed, we decided to try our luck at the nearby Carcel de San Vicente Mártir, in the Plaza de la Almoina. And we found it a lot more interesting.

The building is near the cathedral, in one of the historical focal points of the city. Remains of civilizations stretching back to the Romans can be seen in this area, and the crypt contains an intact Visigoth chapel from the 6th Century. This basement is supposedly where San Vicente was held captive prior to being martyred in 304 AD. Although, when I pointed out to the guide that there’s another spot in Valencia that claims to be his jail, he readily admitted that no one really knows “for sure” where the jail was… but it certainly could have been here.

The basement ruins are interesting enough, but the best part of the experience is a very cool audio-visual guide that leads you through Valencia’s early history, from the Visigoths to the Moors, to the arrival of Christianity. It’s available in English and provides a fascinating glimpse into the city’s early days.

We loved this exhibit, and were shocked to be the only visitors at 18:30 on a Saturday evening in May. The entrance is free and well worth your time. You can probably get lucky with an English tour, like we did, but you might want to call ahead to make sure.

Archaeological Crypt of San Vicente Martír
+34 96 394 14 17
Location on our Valencia Map

- Vicente Mártir Procession

Right off Calle Palau, within 2 minutes of the Cathedral, lay the Baths of the Admiral — a bathhouse originally constructed in 1313.

Unlike the baths we visited while in Granada, these are of Christian origin, though with their arched doorways and star-shaped skylights, clearly owe a lot to Moorish aesthetic.

We’d been meaning to visit for more than a year, and finally did a couple weeks ago. Our visit began with a short video demonstrating how a 14th century lady might have bathed herself. Afterwards, we took a short guided tour of the building. The baños consist of three rooms — cold, warm and hot. Unlike the Arab baths, guests would only sponge themselves and sit in steam, and not fully emerge in water.

The architecture and history are neat, but this isn’t exactly Valencia’s most interesting cultural offering. The Baños have been fully restored, but have lost any sense of their antiquity. The introductory video was a little cheesy, bordering on distasteful, and our guide was unenthusiastic, bordering on comatose. But again it was all for free, so it’s difficult not to recommend a visit.

The doors open every half hour for the visit. Just wait outside until invited in.
Tue-Sat: 9:30 – 14:00 and 17:30 – 20:00
Sun & Holidays: 9:30 – 14:00
605.275.784
Location on our Valencia Map

- Bragains from Spain

Hotels in Granada – Hostels in Granada – Flights to Granada

“Viento del Sur, moreno, ardiente, llegas sobre mi carne, trayéndome semilla de brillantes miradas, empapado de azahares…” – Veleta (excerpt), Federico Garcia Lorca

Spain’s most famous poet and the favorite son of Granada, Federico Garcia Lorca was a seminal artistic figure, just as important in death as life. Musician, artist, radical, dramatist, patron of flamenco, Lorca had his hands in everything, but it was his poetry for which he’s most well-known. His poetry, and his ignoble execution at the hands of Franco’s army.

Lorca lived in Granada, and we visited his house-museum on the southern end of the city. When he occupied it, not really that long ago, the house was on the city’s outskirts, in a field. But Granada grew quickly, and the house is currently within a city park. It’s been perfectly upheld, with original furniture donated by the family and Lorca’s artwork decorating the walls. For a fan of either poetry or history, a visit to the house is obligatory.

It’s difficult to overstate how important Lorca’s influence has been to the people of Granada and Spain. He was one of the most early proponents of flamenco music… one of Camarón de la Isla’s best songs is Lorca’s poetry set to music. He was openly homosexual and leftist — traits that were dangerous for the volatile period in which he lived. Indeed, shortly after the Civil War broke out, he was arrested by the Popular Front and executed. Franco then banned his entire body of work.

Lorca’s remains have never been found, and the recovery of his body remains a highly-charged topic in Spain, which is still coming to terms with the havoc of the war which tore it in two.

More from Our Granada Trip

Buy Garcia Locrca’s poems here. Click if you are in the USA, UK, Germany or Spain

Some pictures of Garcia Lorca’s house and the park which is named after him:

This weekend we took our first trip to Xàtiva, a small city of almost thirty thousand about 50 minutes south of Valencia. I’m sure we’ll be going back — easy to reach with the C2 short distance train, Xàtiva has a ton to offer.

Natives have a couple different nicknames: setabenses (which stems from the Latin name for the city, Saetabis) and socarrats, which approximately means “the burnt”. This interesting moniker dates from the War of Spanish Succession when Xàtiva was destroyed and kept aflame for 8 days by King Felipe V. The marauding troops slaughtered the women and children seeking shelter in the church of San Augustín, and even renamed the city “The New Colony of San Felipe”, which is so dastardly, it’s almost comical. Nowadays, wherever you find a portrait of Felipe in Xàtiva, it’s likely to be upside down.

For years, Xàtiva had fame as the European birthplace of paper. The most famous family to come from the city — and probably the most infamous family in Valencian history — was the House of Borgia. Through any number of crimes, including rape, murder, adultery, bribery and theft, they rose to unspeakable heights of power and two family members even became pope: Alfonso & Rodrigo.

The touristic highlight of Xàtiva is the incredible castle which was built by ancient Iberians and populated by all of the city’s subsequent rulers, including the Borgias. We’ll be posting about that later, along with some photos of this fantastic little city.

From Valencia’s main train station, a round-trip ticket with Renfe Cercanías C2 to Xàtiva costs €6,90 (as of date of writing) and takes about 50 minutes. Trains run all the time, and you can check the schedule here.

- Stay in a Villa near Xativa for as low as 37 Euros a night

Rent a car to get to Xativa: