Valencia has a river that is no longer a river. After a catastrophic flood in 1957, the Turia was diverted around the south of the city, and the old riverbed, which runs through the centre in a long curve, was turned into a park, a green ribbon of nearly nine kilometres filled with gardens, sports fields, bridges and playgrounds. It is one of the best urban parks in Europe, and it ends at the City of Arts and Sciences, the fantastic white complex of buildings and pools designed by the local architect Santiago Calatrava, which looks like a fleet of spaceships moored in a lake.
The old city has a very different character. The Lonja de la Seda, the silk exchange, is a Gothic hall of twisted columns built in the fifteenth century when Valencia was a rich trading port, and it is listed by UNESCO. Nearby, the covered Mercado Central, an iron and glass hall of the early twentieth century, is a riot of fruit, ham and fish, and the narrow lanes around it are full of cafes. Valencia is the home of paella, which began in the rice fields of the Albufera, a coastal lagoon south of the city, as a farm workers' lunch of rice, rabbit, chicken and beans. Order it at lunch, never at dinner, and order it from a place that cooks it over a wood fire.
The ride from Valencia is easy, though it takes a while to leave the flat coastal plain behind. The huerta, the irrigated market garden around the city, is a patchwork of orange groves and vegetables threaded with ancient canals, and the roads through it are narrow and busy. Inland, the hills begin to rise and the riding improves, with bends and views toward the sierra. In March, the Fallas festival fills the city with huge papier-mâché figures, fireworks and noise, and the streets are closed or crowded, so check dates if you plan to travel then.
Valencia has fuel stations everywhere, with Mislata and Tavernes Blanques on the edge, and the city is easy to enter and leave by ring road. Horchata, a sweet drink made from tiger nuts, with long fried pastries called fartons, is the classic snack. The air is mild and often smells of orange blossom in spring, and the light on the Mediterranean is particularly fine in the evening.