Day 22 - City of Arts and Sciences

I was originally going to give the aquarium a miss in order to save myself some money but I decided at the last moment I decided I didn't want to miss out so got myself a ticket too.

The walk to the L'Oceanografic (Aquarium) is almost part of the experience as you walk along past the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences) on your way. No amount of photos or tv viewings of the buildings prior to visiting can actually prepare you for their impressiveness when you're seeing them in the flesh. We were lucky enough to see them on a day when they'd just cleaned the pools surrounding them making the bright blue pools picture perfect against the stark white fish shaped El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (Queen Sofia Palace of the Arts), the L'Hemisferic— Imax Cinema and finally the El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe (the Museum of Sciences). The 'city' was designed by Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava with the help of Felix Candela. Construction began in July 1996 and is now a great example of contemporary architecture.

I ended up being very pleased with my decision to go along to the L'Oceanografic as the complex was extremely impressive being divided into 10 different areas, each reflecting different habitats and the water species that live within these habitats. The highlight for me would have to be the Beluga Whale, its stark whiteness looking so unnatural for a living creature. I could have stood watching its famously expressive face for hours. The other highlight was the dolphin show where they did the usual amazing tricks, throwing their instructors about the pool all the while keeping their smiles permanently plastered across their adorable faces. It is astounding to watch them able to perform such tricks and we kept wondering just how on earth they manage to learn such intricate displays. They are certainly another creature that I could watch for hours on end.

The aquarium took it out of us a bit, especially since it had been ANOTHER roasting hot day so we opted for a lazy night in at the hostel making the most of the generously sized kitchen and dining area while looking back through our photos of the day out.