Valencia: the City of Arts and Sciences
The main reason to visit Valencia was mainly because of this complex. I have been intrigued by the modern designs of the City of Arts and Sciences complex. The complex has seven modern design buildings with different functionality but mainly for entertainment, cultural and science. The buildings and overall concepts of the complex were designed by notable Spanish architects Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela.
City of Arts and Sciences
I love taking the pictures of the buildings in this complex. The complex itself is very huge. We spent a whole day touring around the complex.
L’Hemisfèric. My favorite building. Unfortunately I was unable to visit inside of this building, it was closed during our visit. But enjoying its architecture was a delight. I could not stop admiring it. The building is aimed for IMAX theater and planetarium. On my previous post, I have shown a picture of L’Hemisferic as The Eye of Knowledge. Calatrava and Candela were brilliantly designing the building that its reflection on the water would turn to lookalike an eye.
Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe. It has a long name, basically it is a science museum and we managed to look around this museum to see its collection. It has a lot of interesting displays and maybe it is best to visit this place with children. I am sure they will enjoy it.
Assut de l’Or Bridge. It is a bridge that connected the south part of the city and Minorca street. The design reminds me of Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam, a mini Erasmus Bridge.
L’Oceanogràfic. It is a smaller complex of open-air oceanographic park. The design of the building was inspired by the form of water lily. It has several number of large aquariums that each representing aquatic environments in the world, birds area, and area for dolphins show. It also has Mola-Mola fish in its aquarium. I wanted to see Mola-Mola when I was diving in Bali and there he was, unexpectedly seen in Valencia.
Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. Opera house and cultural center in Valencia. It has four auditoriums for each can be used for musical and theater performances. It has a nice restaurant with open terrace and serve snacks. The roof was bit rusty though, hopefully it will be renovated. Amazing design and I hope it will last for the the next generations.
L’Umbracle. It is a garden full of indigenous plants to Valencia. There is a long path where people can walk inside to enjoy the beauty of the garden and also sculptures.
L’Àgora. This building has capacity for 6000 people and it is usually used for exhibitions and sports tournaments. Lovely building with nice surrounding. It is located next to the Oceanographic park.
Official website of the City of Arts and Sciences
Its location is not a walking distance from the city center and it is not closed by to metro-subway station either. If you stay at the city center of Valencia, it is better to take buses than subway to the City of Arts and Sciences.
The complex around the complex is quite nice for walking activity, and if you walk further, you can reach BioParc, a zoological park! I checked in the google maps and the route is around 7 kilometers through the park.
You can buy the ticket online but if you visit Valencia on low season, I suggest to buy the tickets on the City of Arts and Sciences directly. Except on Saturday and Sunday, during the weekdays the complex was not too crowded.
indahs: dive, travel & photography 
Wow! These buildings are truly fantastic, and all in one place! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Great post! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much!
I love photographs of architecture, Indah and you’ve done a fantastic job of capturing these amazing looking buildings! Will have to add Valencia on my to-do list, just for these 🙂
Thank you so much Kan! Hope you will visit Valencia someday 🙂 the food is very nice and delicious!!
looks like a fantastic complex – whew – and cool that there is a zoological park nearby – sounds win-win 🙂 ❤
Indeed! Yup, it is closed by and if you want to walk for 7 KM 🙂 Have a great week!!
Fabulous architecture! Great captures, Indah!
Thank you so much Amy!
it has always been very difficult for me to shoot architecture… you do it so well, among other things 🙂 gorgeous shots…
😉 Many many thanks!! You are so sweet 🙂
my favourite Spanish city… simply splendid, olé! 🙂
Thank you so much Mélanie 🙂 Valencia is truly special and I remember from your post that in March the city has great celebration, Las Fallas. Maybe I should return to see it!
Wow Indah, for you that loves Architecture, I guess you reaaally had a blast in Valencia! It looks all amazing… and how cool that they have a mola mola fish in their aquarium!! I hope to dive with one next year 😀
Valencia is a special city and yes, I like the city very much 🙂 Ahh, you have to go to Bali for mola-mola, but I have heard mola-mola is also regular visitor in Malta and Tenerife – but I am not as sure as the ones in Bali. In Bali, mola-mola is a regular visitor and many scuba divers have seen the mola-mola there. Anyway, we are thinking to dive in EU zone next year, just for a change and short period – maybe we are lucky to see the mola-mola there or maybe not :D.