After the Maratón del Santo Grial: Valencia
The Route: Navajas → Valencia → Valencia Airport Logistics: Car or local train to Valencia, then on foot, by bike and by metro. Metro to the airport. Marathon Month: May Duration: 2 nights
Navajas ──(about 45 mins by car, A-23)──> Valencia ──(about 25 mins Metrovalencia)──> Valencia Airport (VLC)
The Maratón del Santo Grial is named after a pilgrimage route that follows the traditional journey of a chalice to Valencia. The race ends in Navajas; the story ends in Valencia Cathedral, 45 minutes away. For most runners it is also the city they flew into.
May in Valencia is warm, usually in the mid-twenties by afternoon, with long days and the beaches starting their season. The sea is still cool for swimming but fine for a paddle.
By car, Valencia is about 45 minutes from Navajas down the A-23; return a hire car in the city or at the airport. The Cercanías line from Caudiel runs through Navajas to Valencia by way of Segorbe and Sagunto, but services are few, so check times first.
Nights One and Two: Valencia
Valencia Cathedral stands at the heart of the old city. In the Chapel of the Holy Chalice, a Gothic side chapel, a stone cup in a jewelled gold mount is displayed as the Santo Cáliz, which tradition identifies as the cup of the Last Supper, brought to Spain and kept in monasteries of Aragon before reaching Valencia in the fifteenth century. The claim is contested by historians; the cup itself is an agate vessel dated to the centuries around the start of the Christian era. The cathedral visit is level and indoors. The Miguelete bell tower beside it has more than 200 steps and should wait for another trip.
The Jardín del Turia is the recovery route. After a flood in 1957 the river was diverted and its bed became a park running about 9 km around the city centre, flat, shaded in stretches and crossed by old bridges. Walk a section, or hire a bike and ride it at an easy pace to the City of Arts and Sciences at its eastern end, where Santiago Calatrava's white buildings, including the science museum and the Oceanogràfic aquarium, stand in shallow pools.
The Mercado Central, a large modernist market hall near the cathedral, is at its best in the morning, with stalls of fruit, ham and seafood and a few counters for breakfast.
Where to stay. Hotel Caro is in the old town near the cathedral, in a restored palace with Roman and Moorish remains exposed inside. Hotel Palau de la Mar is in a pair of nineteenth-century mansions near the Turia gardens, a short walk from the old centre.
Where to eat. Paella comes from the Valencia region, and the city takes it seriously: it is a lunch dish, cooked to order and eaten from the pan. La Pepica, on the beach promenade at Las Arenas, has served it since the nineteenth century. Casa Montaña in the old fishing district of El Cabanyal is a tavern dating from 1836, with barrels on the walls and a long list of small plates and wines.
Getting to Valencia Airport
Valencia Airport (VLC) is about 25 minutes from the city centre on Metrovalencia lines 3 and 5, which run frequently from central stations including Xàtiva and Colón. A taxi takes about 20 minutes. Check the metro timetable at metrovalencia.es for early flights.