After transitting the creeping urbanised and light-industrial, strip-malled ugliness surrounding Barelona and Valencia the old city is a delight. Bisected by a park that was once a river (the Turia), now diverted around the city after catastrophic floods in 1957, it is an attractive example of how well the Spanish have managed their old built environments in contrast to the tat of modern highrise blight along the Mediterranean coast. As with each of the other towns and cities visited, Valencia is a tidy, well maintained trip through layers of history. It's a living city that at its core has maintaned its charm and it's mostly unspoiled by power lines, rampant signage or soul-less emporiums of mindless consumerism.
A touch of tasteful modernism can be found at the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias and adjacent L'Oceanogràfic aquarium.
The Catalonia Excelsior was a well-situated hotel for on-foot rambles around the centre of the city.