History & Culture

The autonomous region of Valencia is comprised of three provinces: Castellón, Valencia and Alicante, and it occupies the central portion of Spain's eastern coastline. Wide fine sand beaches, year round gentle climate, endless sunshine and the sparkling Mediterranean makes this a region exceptionally popular with tourists. Valencia is a prosperous region, a patchwork of orchards, rice paddies and vineyards. Some farm land, however, has given way to industry since the 1960's, for Valencia is a key manufacturing center for textiles, toys, and footwear.

The Valencia of today owes much to the early Moors, who occupied the region. They introduced the complex irrigation systems that insure Valencia's fertility and also began the cultivation of oranges and rice that has remained the mainstay of the region's agriculture. Today orange groves blanket the northern province of Castellón, while pancake-flat rice fields dominate the province of Valencia close to the coast. To the west mountains loom, and it is in these higher elevations that wine is produced. It was also during Moorish times that a silk industry grew up, paper manufacturing began in the Xátiva area, and distinctive ceramics began to be fashioned at Manises.

 

In Valencia you can eat wonderfully fresh Mediterranean seafood, but the region's glory is paella, a rice dish that comes in endless varieties and has traveled the world. Rice is a staple of the Valencian diet and nowhere else will you find paella so exquisitely prepared.

Attractions

Valencia has a well developed culture of its own that can be traced back to prehistoric cave paintings and to the ancient Iberian civilization that flourished here and produced such extraordinary sculptural works as the Dama de Elche (Lady of Elche). The Romans left their mark, notably in Sagunto, where a well preserved Roman theater still survives. The Arabs bequeathed their castles and their architecture to Valencia, and to this day the mock battles between Moors and Christians are a much-loved fiesta throughout the region. Valencia's other fiestas are equally colorful, for Valencians love music and fireworks. When it comes to celebrating, the people of this region are joyful and showy to the point of ostentation (witness the famous Las Fallas festival in the city of Valencia) and might explain why Baroque architecture struck such strong roots in the area.

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