Valencia & the Costa Blanca - Discover Spain: Experience the Best of Spain - page 423

Sights

Western Valencia

BIOPARC
( www.bioparcvalencia.es ; Avenida Pio Baroja 3; adult/child €21/15.50; 10am-dusk)
'Zoo' is far too old-fashioned and inapt a term for this wonderful, innovative, eco-
friendly and gently educational space where wild animals apparently (fear not: only
apparently) roam free as you wander from savannah to Equatorial Africa and Mada-
gascar, where large-eyed lemurs gambol around your ankles.

Animal Park

MUSEO DE HISTORIA DE VALENCIA
( www.mhv.com.es , in Spanish; Calle Valencia 42; adult/child €2/1; 10am-2pm &
4.30-8.30pm Tue-Sat, 10am-3pm Sun) Above the riverbed Parque de Cabecera, the
Museo de Historia de Valencia plots more than 2000 years of the city's history.
Hands-on and with lots of film and video, it's great fun.
To get to the Bioparc and the Museo de Historia de Valencia, take bus 7, 81 or 95
or get off at the Nou d'Octubre metro stop.

Museum

CATEDRAL
Offline map Google map
(adult/child incl audioguide €4/2.70; 10am-5.30pm or 6.30pm Mon-Sat, 2-5.30pm
Sun) Valencia's cathedral is a microcosm of the city's architectural history: the
Puerta del Palau on the eastern side is pure Romanesque; the dome, tower and
Puerta de los Apóstoles on Plaza de la Virgen are Gothic; and the presbytery and
main entrance on Plaza de la Reina are baroque.
Don't miss the rich, recently revealed Italianate frescoes above the cathedral's
main altarpiece. In the flamboyant Gothic Capilla del Santo Cáliz, to the right of the
main entrance, is what's claimed to be the Holy Grail , the chalice from which
Christ is said to have sipped during the Last Supper.
Left of the main portal is the entrance to the Miguelete bell tower (adult/child
€2/1; 10am-7pm) . Climb the 207 steps of its spiral staircase for terrific
360-degree city and skyline views.

Cathedral