Aquarium Valencia

3 days in Valencia, Spain -12/11/18 - 12/14/2018

The city of Arts and Sciences is a cultural and architectural complex in the city of Valencia and about a 40 minutes bus drive from the old city. In 1956 serious flooding damaged much of Valencia’s historic old town. Consequently the river Turia was diverted and the dry riverbed transformed into a park with cycle ways, footpaths and football pitches as well as the amazing white City of Arts and Sciences, Europe’s largest cultural complex.

The 6 buildings located in the City of Arts and Sciences are designed by Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela. The buildings are a the perfect blend of futuristic architecture and modern entertainment. Covering around two kilometers of the former riverbed, the scientific and cultural leisure complex is a city within the city, worth of a trip on its own. Straight ahead is the L'umbracle.

L'Umbracle is part of the City of Arts and Sciences complex with a sculpture garden and landscaped walk with plant species indigenous to Valencia.

On the right is part of L'Umbracle, and straight ahead is the Hemispheric (the building with a dome at the end), an IMAX Cinema, planetarium and laserium. The building is meant to resemble a giant eye, and has an approximate surface of 13,000 m².

The Hemispheric, also known as the planetarium or the "eye of knowledge", is the centerpiece of the City of Arts and Sciences.

The Assut de l'Or Bridge (Puente de la Presa del Oro) is a white single-pylon cable-stayed bridge designed by Valencian architect and civil engineer Santiago Calatrava and completed in December 2008.

The name l'Assut de l'Or is Valencian for the Dam of the Gold and refers to a dam that was located nearby, although locally it is referred to as El Jamonero (The Ham Holder) or Puente del Arpa (The Harp Bridge).

Behind the bridge is the Agora, the most recently building with the deep blue facade. The versatile venue hosting a wide variety of events is not usually open to the public and cannot be visited.

The white cable-stayed bridge crossing the dry Turia riverbed was opened in 2008. There are several lanes for traffic in both directions and there is a pedestrian bridge in the center connecting the two banks of the Turia Gardens between the Science Museum and the Agora (deep blue building). The tower of the bridge is 125 meters high making it the highest point in the city.

Map of the City or Arts and Sciences. Here your can see the layout of the 6 buildings.

We are headed to the Oceanographic (the building on the left). On the right is a gigantic Aviary for birds.

The Oceanographic is Europe’s biggest aquarium It was built in 2003 in the shape of a water lily and is the work of architect Félix Candela. The aquarium is home to over 500 different species including dolphins, belugas, sawfish, jellyfish, starfish, walruses, sea lions, seals, penguins, turtles and sharks.

The dolphinarium is made up of a main large pool with the best conditions for study and observation of the dolphins.

The grandstand has a capacity of holding over 1,500 people. In the summer, it is packed with people.

Good thing we are here is the winter as there are definitely less people so we can sit pretty much where we want to.

We can observe the magnificent dolphins display their ability and intelligence during a stunning exhibition.

The dolphinarium contains some 23 million liters of water and the pools hold mules dolphins, specie belonging to the group of the cetacean with teeth or odontocete cetaceans.

We are now underground in the Artic building where the Walruses and Belugas are housed.