“For architecture, among all the arts, is the one that most boldly tries to reproduce in its rhythm the order of the universe”
This is the bridge across the former river – you can walk across for some cool viewsThere are about a dozen of these staircases.
We arrived in Valencia, and the first major site we came across was the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences). It’s a series of modern buildings constructed in a diverted riverbed. It includes the opera house, event space, gardens and an IMAX theater. The designs of each building complement one another – similar color schemes, design elements, echoes of water – and all of the buildings are set in shallow water to call back to the origin of the space (the river). Many of the elements also honor the modern designs of Gaudí: mosaics of smashed ceramic, swathes of white, organic shapes. The whole complex cost over €1 billion to build, and it is breathtaking. Each angle presents new shapes and perspectives of the space, and the overall impression is a clean, calm presentation.
Title quote: Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose
The Opera House is in the distanceThe plaza near the gardens has astronomical games you can play… or a giant moon you can pose with.This is the ground floor, below the gardensThese alcoves are meant to mimic wavesPanorama of the whole “city”Cars were randomly parked in the shallow pools outside the event spaceStaircase out of El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe and the L’Hemisfèric with the Opera House in the backgroundEl Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía or the Opera HouseInside L’Umbracle or the gardensView from the edge of the gardensEl Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe – the design of this building is based on the skeleton of a dinosaurAnother view from the Opera HouseCloseup of L’UmbracleL’Hemisfèric on the right and the L’Umbracle on the leftClose up of the Museu de les Ciències Príncipe FelipeThis was my view as I walked across the bridge – my hotel was on the opposite sideView from the edge of the gardensThe aquarium is down the road, just at the edge of the “city”The building behind me is event space.
Midwest Magellan 
Lovely!
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