Glamour and Glory: Architecture and Dinosaurs

First full day in Valencia! It is cooler than Madrid but very humid. We planned on going to the beach but between the sky being a little overcast and not being able to figure out the bus system we decided to leave that for tomorrow and take a walk instead. The plan was to walk through the historical part of town until we hit this long thin park and follow that to la Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias. Once again our plans went unrealized when we forgot our map and missed the entire historical district. We did make it to the park eventually. The park curves around the city and w once a river. The river caused some bad flooding in the 50s so it was diverted and about fifteen years ago they converted it into a park. The park itself was nice, with fountains and bridges over it but my favorite part was la Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciensias. This complex of buildings is a cultural center and includes an opera house and performing arts center, a science museum, and an aquarium. The architecture was beautiful, like something out of a movie, and there was this walkway full of sculptures and a dinosaur park with animatronic dinosaurs that made noises. We didn't want to pay to go into the dinosaur park, aquarium, or other features since they were all expensive but we had a great time wandering around the space. Turns out the two things you really need to become a huge tourist destination/the greatest place on earth is great architecture and dinosaurs.

We had some trouble getting back to the apartment due to our maplessness but we made it eventually, exhausted and with aching feet. Currently siestaing but soon we'll need to shower and go to the store to pick up some things for the beach. Hopefully we actually make it tomorrow!