Valencia 2017

I went to Valencia in Spain for an INTED conference. March is the end of winter, so people still wear winter clothes, even though it was not so cold. It was a beautiful city, well suited for exploring outside conference hours, with fantastic restaurants and cafes in the old part of town.

Saturday 4 March

I arrived in the afternoon and got the subway to near the B&B I had booked. It only took a few minutes to find, unfortunately, as I had to wait nearly 2 and a half hours for the lunch break to finish! It was quite cool, and I had a bit of a cold, so just hung out at a nearby cafe. There was some festival, and lots of people were walking past. I went to bed at 4:30 and slept until the next morning!

Sunday 5 March

I woke up early and went for a walk through the city. After taking some photos, I had breakfast (espresso and apple pie) at a little bakery then went back to my room to do some work. In the evening I met with Peter and Andy for some tapas and a drink.

Sunrise at the end of the street

A beautiful fascade near the B&B

The Bank of Valencia

Very Spanish streetscape

People gathering for the festival

In the middle of the "sustained explosion" festival

Returning, not fleeing!

Tapas and beer makes planning presentations easier!

Here is a short (unedited) video of the end of the “sustained explosion” part of the festival, it was quite bizarre.

Monday 6 March

There were over 650 attendees at the conference, which was held at a hotel a few kms from the old part of town. It was very efficient, with 8 sessions held concurrently and only 12 minutes per presentation. The ones I saw were generally of a pretty good standard, though. In the evening I ate some amazing tapas at a restaurant near my B&B, but no photos unfortunately.

A pretty impressive range of choices for lunch

Lunch

Peter presenting

Andy presenting

Tuesday 7 March

All day conference. After our presentation, Andy and I had a little break for lunch before returning in the afternoon. After the conference dinner I walked back through the old part of town to the B&B with only a vague idea of the direction to go, but it turned out OK. It was a fascinating walk.

The opera house

Barefoot walking on grass!

The new science museum

Wednesday 8 March

The last day of the conference, which concluded with a short bus and walking tour of the city. We went to the old cathedral, walked up to the belltower then saw the Holy Grail, though the room in which it was held was far more interesting. In the evening we caught up at a cafe (which took me ages to find!) then had dinner in the southern part of the old town, which was preparing for the Fallas festival.