City of Arts and Sciences

The futuristic City of Arts and Sciences, designed by the Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava is made up of the Palace of Arts, the Hemeisferic, the Oceanographic, and the Museum of Sciences, each loacted in incredible buildings.

The Palace of Arts: an impressive building houses the main hall, an auditorium, the Martin Theater, and the the Soler. The palace was created with the purpose of recognizing, supporting, and promoting music and performing arts.

The Hemisferic: Because of it’s peculiar design, it’s known as the “eye of wisdom”. Inside there’s a planetarium, and Imax theater, and the laser theater, all created to surprise visitors with fantastic displays of new technology.

It is divided into 5 parts: L'Hemisfèric (IMAX film screenings, as well as Planetarium and Laserium), Museo de las Ciencias Principe Felipe (Interactive Science Museum), L'Umbracle, L'Oceanogràfic (the largest aquarium Europe) and the Palacio de las Artes Reina Sofía (dedicated to music and just the Performing Arts).

The complex was founded in 1998, but the last part of it, the Palais des Artes Reina Sofía (Queen Sofia Palace of the Arts) was inaugurated in the year 2005.

All parts of the complex are equipped with an impressive structure; you cannot visit Valencia without seeing this unique work of art.

The most famous location in Valencia, with its trademark white buildings of Calatrava, is a collection of museums and buildings that promote culture. To visit the whole complex we must be ready to do a lot of walking, as not only is it quite large it is also very spacious, in addition to sometimes having to make unnecessary turns to get onto the street by the lagoon.

The off peak season schedule, which includes June, to me is very short, with museums closing at 19:00, when in peak season they close at 21:00.

Seeing it in pictures is much nicer than seeing it in person, being that the building are so large and monstrous that they almost hurt to look at, as well as that the photos are not affected by humidity and the damage that is generated over time.

One of the city’s most modern and emblematic monuments, located along the old Turia River. It’s known for its white mosaic style. It’s surrounded by water and is lit up at night, making it even more spectacular. Right next door are other equally striking monuments, created from the same material and designed by the same architect (Santiago Calatrava Vals), recognized worldwide for his works.

It’s not just a monument, but there’s also many parks, gardens, restaurants, zoos, recreation areas, and a lake, among other things, in the surrounding areas. Truthfully, it’s hard for me to explain