Valencia, Spain

We went on a Mediterranean Cruise in March of 2025 and one of the stops on our cruise was Valencia, Spain.  We happened to arrive on March 15th, which is the first day of Las Fallas, a festival held each year in honor of Saint Joseph, the husband of Mary.  The festival lasts 5 days from March 15 to March 19 and includes parades and huge crowds of people.  Many paper mache sculptures are on display in the streets and are burned as part of the closing of the celebration on March 19th.  I have never been in such a large crowd of people as I was that day in Valencia!

We rode the shuttle from the ship to the old city center.  We were dropped off at Calle Guadalaviar no. 5.  We crossed a bridge and began our tour at the Towers of Serranos.  The towers were completed in 1398 and are part of the original medieval walls of the city.  It costs 2 euro to visit and they open at 10 am.  They originally were part of the defense system of the city, but have been used for a variety of purposes since then, including a museum.  My fear of heights got the better of me on these towers, although I was able to make it to the top.  On the second-to-top level of the towers there is a thin walk-way that you can cross from one tower to the other rather than going down the stairs and back up.  My daughter went across the walkway twice, and that was enough for her.  I opted to go down the stairs and back up the other side.  Climbing the stairs is more difficult than in other towers I have climbed, because there is not a handrail all the way up, or the handrail is very short and hard to hold onto while climbing the stairs.  The view from the towers is magnificent, however.  You can find more information about the towers at this website:  Towers of Serranos

They're located at Plaza de los Flores, s/n; 46003, Valencia.

Towers of Serranos

Next we headed for the Valencia Cathedral, or Catedral de Valencia in the middle of the old town.  The Cathedral opens at 10:30 am and we arrived only minutes after it opened.  It cost 9 euro to visit the Cathedral, which houses what they claim to be the Holy Grail, or Holy Chalice.  That was the main reason I wanted to visit the Cathedral.  

Similar to visiting the Vatican Museums with the intention of seeing the Sistine Chapel, you have to go on the entire tour before seeing the Holy Grail at the very end of the tour.  If you know ahead of time, however, once you enter the Cathedral, just turn to your right and you can go see the Holy Grail in its Chapel right at the beginning of your visit.  We went on the entire tour, with all 29 stops.  

The Chapel of the Holy Grail is at the end of the tour, and the Holy Grail is the focal point of the room.  It is encased in glass and lit up.  Only the top of the grail (the cup part) is the original relic, the rest has been added to the cup throughout time.  This BBC article does a good job of describing the cup's voyage to finally end up in the Valencia Cathedral: BBC: Is This the Home of the Holy Grail?

I don't have any idea if this is indeed the cup that Christ drank from at the Last Supper.  But, as I sat in the chapel admiring it, I realized that if it indeed is the Holy Grail, it is probably going to be the closest I'll ever come to anything that Christ touched.  

The Holy Chalice located in the Chapel at the right of the entrance to the Cathedral

Another unique thing about the Valencia Cathedral is that it houses the left arm of Saint Vincent in a glass case.  It is an actual human arm on display in the cathedral. He was martyred in Valencia in 304, so it is a very old arm.  It is known as the Incorrupt Arm.

Near the back of the Cathedral is a statue entitled "Virgin of the Choir."  It is tradition among Catholics that pregnant women come and pray before the Virgin and then walk around the church 9 times to represent the 9 months that Mary carried Jesus.  

The official website for the Cathedral is here:  Valencia Cathedral

Virgin of the Choir located at the back of the Cathedral

As part of your visit to the Cathedral, you can climb the bell tower for 2.50 euro.  It is nearly 300 steps, and we opted not to do it after the scary experience we'd had in the Serranos Towers earlier that morning. Our friends climbed the tower, however, and said that it was not scary because there was a grate above the rock wall at the top of the tower, so the fear of falling off was abated.

After leaving the Cathedral we headed next door to the Basilica of our Lady of the Forsaken, or Basilica de la Virgen de los Desamparados.  There was a program going on inside the Basilica and it was full of people. A beautiful youth choir was singing and a religions program was underway when we entered.  In front of the basilica was a huge wooden structure representing the Virgen.  This was placed there for Fallas and would be burned at the end of the celebration on March 19th.  The Plaza De La Virgen was completely packed with people.

Basilica of our Lady of the Forsaken

Parades were happening in the streets, so we sat at an outdoor restaurant and enjoyed watching them go by as we ate lunch.  As the many bands would walk through the streets, people would follow them and join in the parade.  After eating, we walked to Plaza Redonda.  This is a unique "square" because it is round like a colosseum.  

Redonda

We walked from the Redonda to the Central Market, which was packed with booths selling food, souvenirs, and many other things.  We did a bit of shopping at both the Redonda and the Market.

Central Market

We walked some beautiful streets and especially admired all of the paper mache structures for Fallas that would be burned in a few days.  We eventually made our way back to the shuttle and rode back to the ship.  Despite being the most crowded place that I have ever been, I still really loved visiting Valencia, and if anything, it probably made the visit even better for me to have such a large crowd.  I wish we had still been there on March 19th to watch the burning of the Fallas structures.  This is called the Crema, and perhaps someday I will be there to see it.