Valencia

Well this trip was by no means what I had expected at all and in some ways was disappointing but it was salvageable. It bucketed down 90% of the time but we had one sunny afternoon where we got a city tour and I got to see some truly insane architecture.

This is their new Palau or art centre. I could write essays on this building. Essay upon essay upon essay, and actually enjoy it. The whole complex is simply insane and amazing and I was grinning like an idiot as I walked around it. My one regret is that I didn't go inside any of the buildings and didn't get up close and personal with the Palau. The arching item over the top is meant to be a feather and appears completely unsupported from almost every angle.

I'm easing you guys into this but you can start to see how this place has a very sci-fi feel. These buildings are fantastic mix between robotic/ alien/ and natural forms.
I'm sure this guy is a dormant autobot whose name would be Ladybug. Or maybe Beetle.

I cannot remember the name of the artist but this reminds me so much of black and white drawings that my Dad has in a book of sci-fi/futuristic architecture. I can't believe that someone did drawings as proposals for this design and people looked and it and went, "What the hey, let's do it!"
And this is where Futurama meets Gaudi.
Gaudi. Gaudi. Gaudi.*


This row of what looked to me like giant urinals was easily 20m long and they are easily 2 high and all mosaicked. Holy shattered tiles Batman, that's a lot of mosaic.
See? Urinal.


There wasn't much graffiti in Valencia, which surprised me given how much I'd seen in Barcelona but I found what I could.






These signs in a park made me laugh. I'm still trying to figure out what some of them mean....

This made me think that it should have been a door knocker in Labyrinth.
*But of course not really Gaudi.