Valencia: The City of Arts and Sciences by Calatrava

On Assut d'Or, a bridge by Calatrava

The main attraction in Valencia, besides the city streets, is the collection of buildings designed by Santiago Calatrava, known as The City of Arts and Sciences. There is an aquarium, an underwater restaurant, a science museum, an IMAX dome theater, and an opera house. 

We took a tour of the Opera House, a grand building that looks like a helmet or some kind of an insect from the outside. The views are sweeping and the spaces are open. Calatrava, who is also an engineer, designed the spaces so that even if the walls were faced with indigo-colored ceramic tiles, the acoustics still worked beautifully. The structure of the building was visible and celebrated, accenting and complimenting the spaces. 

El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia: The Opera House

Inside the Opera House lobby/event space

Inside the Opera House: main auditorium

There were a few other auditoriums but the main one was the most beautiful. 

The controversial Agora

The Agora was the most recent building to be opened. The project was so huge in scale and costs that politicians and the Valencian community thought it was a waste of money. With the current state of the world economy, not to mention Spain's economic plights, it's no surprise that there was controversy over the construction of the Agora. New buildings that are complex in structure and designed by a famous architect are guaranteed to be expensive.

It was beautiful to see Calatrava's architecture.

P.S. -- We had paella in the city where paella was invented! Thanks to Alex for the wonderful experience. We had one with chicken and seafood, one with just seafood, and the negro paella with squid ink. My favorite was the squid ink paella! See the photos below: