Valencia Tips from the Hosts
Valencia Tips is our City Garden blog. In it we will share with you the insiders’ scoop on Valencia. We adore our city and love sharing it with our guests and all those who visit. Our interests are varied and our perspective is a local’s, so we will be covering all kinds of live-like-a-local topics, such as:
Valencia Tips – Places to Eat
We are crazy about food in general and unconditional fans of Valencia’s fine Mediterranean cuisine in particular. We will be covering everything from Michelin star fine dining, to cheerful terrace cafés, to convenient take-aways. We will place special emphasis on traditional Valencian cooking with its fresh, high-quality, locally sourced ingredients, prepared to create dishes that are at the same time simple and superb. We will also provide tips on Valencia’s many new, innovative restaurants that offer a creative twist to classic favourites.
Valencia Tips – Arts and Entertainment
Valencia has a vibrant arts and music scene. Aside from all the well-advertised events provided by the major venues, there is a constant offering of smaller more intimate performances and exhibitions that should not be overlooked. Valencia Tips will inform you of the unique experiences that can be discovered off the beaten track, including: free concerts in historic buildings, guided tours on specific topics, archaeological ruins in unexpected places, and intimate wine tastings in local shops, just to name a few.
Valencia Tips – Ruzafa Neighbourhood
Ruzafa is the most hip and trendy neighbourhood in Valencia. Here you will find: streets lined with sunny cafés, unique restaurants, lively pubs, vintage clothing shops, art galleries, and a typical fresh food market–one of the best in the city. In addition, it is a very diverse neighbourhood where you can mix with the locals. You will see very few tourists. This is the home of City Garden–and our home, and it gives us great pleasure to be your local source to all this neighbourhood has to offer.
Your Valencia Guide Takes you to Avenida del Reino de Valencia
As your personal Valencia Guide to experiencing the city like a local, I must fill you in on one of my favourite places to take a leisurely stroll, have a coffee or beer at a street café, or enjoy a meal on a terrace -- Avenida Reino de Valencia. This avenue, which is a main artery in the city centre, connecting the Gran Via Marques de Turia with the Turia Riverbed park, is…
Spanish Cuisine – Regional Specialties
Only outside of Spain do people talk about a generic Spanish cuisine. Spaniards themselves are much more apt to refer to the country’s traditional dishes by their region of origin, such as cocido Madrileño, fabada Asturiana and crema Catalana. Spain is not known for its strong sense of nationalism in general, and this goes for its cuisine as well. Spanish cuisine is regional The reality is that Spanish cuisine…
The Perfect Knitting Holiday – Valencia, Spain
A knitting holiday in Valencia, Spain offers the perfect combination of an authentic knitting tradition in a joyful Mediterranean setting. Even before the recent revival of knitting in cities all over the world, Valencia had a rich knitting culture all its own. When I first came to live here in the 1980's, I was enamoured by the city's many typical, old-fashioned yarn shops, where the women who owned the shops spent much of…
Visit Valencia Like a Local – The Homemade Honey Shop
When you visit Valencia you can’t miss this local treasure. Stepping into the J. Regal Honey Shop at Calle Puerto Rico, 6 in the popular Ruzafa neighbourhood is a genuine blast from the past. This tiny, shoe box of a store is just about as authentic as you can get, offering its artisan products directly to the public exactly as it has been doing since it…