Sant Agustí – Pont de Fusta

We start our route in the Church of San Agustín, located in the square that takes its name. Built between the thirteenth and twentieth centuries, the Valencian Gothic style predominates. The church belonged to a convent of Augustinian friars that occupied an extensive area, demolished in the early twentieth century. To highlight the Byzantine icon of the Virgin of Grace that is in the church.

If we leave behind the Plaza de San Agustín and continue along Calle San Vicente Mártir in the direction of the city center, to later bend by Journalist Azzati we find theValencia City Council, a huge building built in the eighteenth century and completed in the twentieth century, facing four streets and occupying a total area of 6,173 square meters.

From Plaza del Ayuntamiento turn onto Calle de la Sang and Calle San Vicente and Avenida del Oeste to reach Calle del Hospital. In 5 minutes we will have arrived at the Public Library of Valencia, Old Hospital of the Poor Innocents, first asylum in Europe founded in 1409. This building provided sanitary services until 1960, the year in which its demolition began. However, in the end the nursing building was preserved, which is the one that has housed the Library since 1979.

Before arriving at the Library we will have passed the College of High Silk Art, which was responsible for regulating the production of silk fabrics in our city. The origins of the building also date back to the fifteenth century, although it was renovated according to Baroque canons three centuries later. Declared a historic-artistic monument in 1981, it houses the Silk Museum. We are in the neighborhood of Velluters (velvet weavers).

Behind the Llotja, skirting Plaza del Dr. Collado and continuing along Calle de los Derechos we arrive at Plaza Redona, a peculiar interior square with a circular floor plan. It is a small square, which at the time of its construction occupied exactly the geometric center of the city. Unforgettable for many Valencians its Sunday market, with pets and antiques for sale, and one of the most popular for children and not so children to change chromes.

A little more than 1 minute walk we find another of those monuments that is closely linked to the sentimental memory of the Valencians, the Church of Santa Catalina Màrtir. One of the first churches in the city, whose origin dates back to the thirteenth century, an example of Valencian Gothic that has a popular baroque tower product of a later reconstruction.

This section of our route interweaves an enormous wealth of heritage with a pronounced sentimental memory of the city. Leaving at Plaza de la Reina, we walk towards Valencia Cathedral, an excellent example of Valencian Gothic architecture that over the centuries has also been endowed with Romanesque, Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical elements. Inside the Cathedral there are several jewels of the painting of the Quattrocento that would justify a visit only by them. Mention apart for one of the indisputable symbols of our city: the bell tower of the Micalet, which can be visited climbing 51 meters high and the 207 steps that separate it from the street.

We return now on the sidewalk in front of Queen’s Square. Just in front of the Church of Santa Catalina opens the Street of Peace, one of the most stately streets of the city, place of residence of a good part of the Valencian bourgeoisie, and one of the great achievements of the urbanism of the nineteenth century. Today it has lost its residential character to house offices, offices and restaurants, although it still retains its great charm intact.

From Carrer de la Pau, you can reach the Palace of the Marqués de Dosaigües by bending down the street that receives the same name. This palace is a beautiful example of the Rococo style in our city and one of its most visited places. Inside you can enjoy since the mid-twentieth century the National Museum of Ceramics and Suntuary Arts González Martí, which presents a valuable collection of pieces, both old and more modern designs.

Walking along Carrer de la Pau towards the old riverbed we reach the Glorieta Gardens, popularly known by Valencians as La Glorieta. They are located in the Xerea neighborhood. Its construction began at the beginning of the nineteenth century and successive modifications were made in that same century and in the next. To highlight its immense ficus and its children’s play area.

If we return to Avda. from the West and we continue in the direction of the Barrio del Carmen, it will not take more than 4 minutes to reach the Central Market. Its construction began in 1910 and its works lasted until 1928. Valencian modernist style, it occupies a plot of more than 8,000 square meters. Shopping in this temple of commerce is quite an experience, due to its tradition on its shoulders and its architectural beauty that combines metal with ceramics and colorful stained glass, symbol of the wealth of the Valencian orchard.

We surround the Central Market to reach its main access located in the Market Square, a place always very popular with regular buyers and tourists, and a little further ahead we discover theSantos Juanes Church, a building that mixes the original Valencian Gothic of its construction with the Baroque of subsequent interventions. Inside you can admire the vault frescoed by the artist Antonio Palomino, chamber painter of King Carlos II.

Opposite, forming a unique architectural ensemble next to the market and the church, is the Silk Exchange or dels Mercaders, a true jewel of Valencian civil Gothic that attracts visitors from all over the world, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, and which symbolizes the commercial splendor of Valencia and the great political and cultural influence of its Golden Age.

Calle Caballeros connects Plaza de la Virgen with Calle Quart, in the heart of the Carmen neighborhood. Walking along this street is a pleasure, especially if you have some interest in architecture, since it is marked by beautiful palaces: Palau de la Generalitat, built in the fifteenth century that has undergone successive modifications and others such as the Palace of the Marquises of Malferit, (S.xv-XIX), located at numbers 20 and 22 of this street, the Palace of the Marquises of Mercader (S. XV-XVIII), at number 26; the Palace of the Counts of Alpont (S. XV-XVIII), on the 28th; the Palacio de los Centelles or Daia Nueva (XV century), in the 33rd, the Palace of the Fernández de Córdoba (S.XV-XIX), in the 36th, among others. In addition, in this street, at numbers 36-38, remains of the Old Islamic Wall of the city can be seen.

Plaza de la Virgen is the most popular pedestrian square in Valencia, as it occupies an important esplanade that serves for the most diverse activities (most notably the Flower Offering held during the Fallas) and concentrates around it one of the most outstanding enclaves of the city, with some of the most significant buildings in Valencia: the Cathedral, the Palau de la Generalitat and the Basilica of Our Lady of the Forsaken, patron saint of the city.

Construction of the Basilica began in 1652. It was the first new Baroque work to be erected in the city. It is highly recommended to visit the frescoes of the dome, by Antonio Palomino, the camarin of the virgin and its stained glass windows.

In the Plaza de la Virgen we find the Door of the Apostles of the Cathedral of Valencia, the western entrance of this important ecclesiastical monument of the thirteenth century, which the Valencians also popularly know as “La Seu”.

From the same square, if we take Calle Navellos, we soon find the Benicarló Palace or Borgia Palace, a Gothic and Renaissance style building, which currently serves as the headquarters of the Valencian Courts.

Nearby we find the Church of San Lorenzo, one of the founding churches of Valencia of the thirteenth century, rebuilt in the seventeenth century according to the architectural canons of the Baroque.

And less than 1 minute we have Palacio de los Catalán de Valeriola, built in the fifteenth century in civil Gothic style, which is currently used for different administrative functions of the autonomous government.

From Plaça de Nules we will go along Salvador Street to the Trinity Bridge, which crosses the old riverbed and whose origin dates back to the fifteenth century. The nearby Holy Trinity Monastery lends its name to him. It is a thirteenth century building founded as a hospital, of great architectural wealth.

Without leaving the banks of the old river we find another bridge of which was rebuilt in stone, as happened with the Trinity bridge. We are talking about the Serranos Bridge, from the sixteenth century, restored in the XXI century. It linked one of the main gates of the city with the region of Los Serranos.

In front of the bridge with the same name, stand the imposing Torres de Serranos, another of the most representative Valencian monuments, built in the fourteenth century. With those of Quart, one of the two gates of the medieval wall of the city that are preserved. Your visit and enjoy privileged views of Valencia from its highest area are highly recommended.