Let me say something about my second experience with Intervac.
I had a miles-bonus with a minor airline company, and decided to invest it in a last-minute not-too-short vacation in Valencia. Why Valencia? Well, I was amazed by the City of Science and Arts, by Santiago Calatrava (but I discovered there much more than this, there).
I love Spain, already travelled to Barcelona, Madrid and Tarragona. The problem was I had to stay on a budget, and find an accommodation accordingly. After looking on some B&B platform, I tried to solve the issue on Intervac.
We already had our first exchange (yes, I’m brand new on Intervac), me and my two sons, in Wien, this same July, and it was a success story, so why not to repeat the same way?
Then I looked for a possible partner, a very last minute one (a week before take off): and a small miracle happened. Paula – long term Intervac-er – accepted a non-simultaneous exchange, and made available to me her downtown house, a beautiful four room flat exactly midway between the metro station and the City of Science and Arts.
She was really kind and available, and also offered to me a bus travel card, to help me discover the city. I accepted it, but right after decided not to use it, forgetting it somewhere (apologies, Paula). I decided to explore on foot, initially with some help from a friend of mine (AKA: Google Maps).
Of course, I could tell you about beautiful monuments and museums and churches, but for these you can find elsewhere all the details you need. Let me tell you something different, instead, something that official city guides could miss, some details that more than others characterize the city.
The first thing one notices when walking nose up is this crazy thing of power cables running from building to building on rooftops (instead of underground, as in Italy), and this is something quite widespread, even across the squares, not just between strictly adjacent buildings: lattice pylons sprout on the roofs, along the overhead lines encrusted with muffles…
The second thing that is noticeable (as it gives the impression of a more liveable city than, for example, Barcelona) is the fact that practically every house has a balcony, even a small one, almost always tiny. Then maybe at the top there is the penthouse, the floor painted in terracotta red resin, which you can see from the top of the Miquelet Tower.
But in every case and in every house there is a balcony, even a tiny one with a few tens of centimetres of overhang. And then there are the “barbicans”, those sort of closed verandas that jut out with perhaps a middle ground between a veranda and a bay window, often made of wood. When and where restored, they are very harmoniously inserted into the façades, they are not extraneous bodies. Something like this was also seen in Barcelona’s downtown, but they were much more conspicuous.
The third characteristic element noticeable on the façades is a kind of canopy, and they often close the window hard by the slab of the balcony above.
In fourth place are the colors of the façades: gentle, pastel, often with very delicate shades of sage green or sugar blue.
Valencia’s fifth commandment goes like this:
‘Thou shalt have no balcony but a wrought-iron railing’. At least for ‘historic’ buildings and/or restored as such.
The designs are simple, recurring: swirls, foliage, flowers: however reassuring, it is refreshing to see the desire for common aesthetics concrete.
Then there is no lack of ‘cages’ in both public buildings and private cades: these are, literally, grating cages (again in wrought iron) that protrude from balconies and windows, on low floors, to give outlook and ‘elbow room’ without sacrificing security.
The sixth and final characteristic element of the façades are the balcony slabs underneath. Often but not always, even relatively modern buildings are decorated with small, 10 × 10 tiles with very simple floral designs, sometimes monochrome, light blue on white or four-colored, with green-orange-light blue-ochre.
The neighborhood I like best is Barrio del Carmen: partly because it is much less frequented by tourists, partly because it is more ‘village’: small houses two-three storeys above ground, fairly winding streets that open surprisingly onto quiet, semi-deserted squares and courtyards.
As you see, all those hours (and kilometers) spent walking here and there left some very specific impressions on me: also thanks to the warm hospitality I got by Paula, the feeling of a warm, friendly and amicable city, one I hope to re-visit soon.
