Valencia, a coastal city with plenty to offer in terms of educational visits for schools. It´s laidback atmosphere, views of the sea and plethora of museums all help to put this Spanish city on the map.
The Holy Grail
Valencia has an unusual claim. It is believed to hold the Holy Grail, the cup that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper. It is kept inside the Gothic Valencia Cathedral (www.catedralvalencia.es) The tale behind the Grail and it´s arrival in Valencia is fascinating and has the perfect balance of drama, suspense and mystery for any school group. It is kept in a chapel to the side of the cathedral and indeed, it´s history travels through the history of Spain, travelling through it´s Roman and Moorish roots. After that, students can climb the Miguelete bell tower which has a breath-taking panorama of the city. The cathedral also contains two Goya paintings in the San Francisco chapel, which highlights the artistic heritage of the city and Spain.
Turia River Bed
A wide river conce split Valencia in two but after a storm, the river burst it´s banks and flooded the centre of the city. Henceforth, the river was diverted and the end result was that the previous route of the river is now a beautiful park. This is great to walk through and has several sports facilities, perfect for school groups to take a well-earned break, lay in the sunshine and share a snack. There is a huge variety of trees and plants, plus the Botanical Gardens, which make for a great educational segue from the main park. You can also see bridges that used to connect the two parts of the city, most of them being hundreds of years old. Students can also visit Gulliver, a giant replica which has slides and space for groups to let their hair down. The park is also a great way to enter into The City of Arts and Sciences.
The City of Arts and Sciences
This comes highly recommended in many tourist guides and is essential for any school visit to Valencia. (www.cac.es)
There are 6 different zones to visit. L´Hemisferic has a large 3D cinema and looks like a human eye, Prince Philip Sciene Museum has a rotation of exhibits and has plenty of hands-on activities, L´Umbracle has a landscaped park filled with sculptures, L´Agora which contains a sports venue, El Palau de Arts Reina Sofia which has an opera house and theatre, and last but not least, L´Oceanografic. This is a fantastic visit for school groups as it houses a large aquarium, with dolphin displays and has the largest glass water tunnel in Europe, which houses many varieties of fish and even sharks. Ideally, the City should take one day to visit but groups can of course split up or choose to only visit one area of the park, which is like a mini city.
Bioparc Valencia
If there is time, school groups can also visit the zoo in the city (www.bioparcvalencia.es) The zoo has a wide variety of animals and has educational exhibits which run throughout the year. Students can see animals in their recreated habitats, across Africa including jungle, savannah and the forest. Each habitat has original vegetation and students can see zebra, giraffe, lions and elephants up close. There are of course places to eat and drink, as well as movie shows, live performances and an opportunity to feed some animals. It is well worth taking school groups to see animals which they might have only seen in books, opening their eyes to the world.