The Las Fallas festival is a highly recommended spectacle, spreading the middle week of March, local and not so local artists contribute papier mache creations to the streets of Valencia creating an outdoor gallery that stimulates an unparalleled liveliness. The Las Fallas festival comes to a lightening end on March 19th when all the citys temporary adornments are burnt la nit del foc.

If you are not able to make it to Valencia in March, dont worry. Valencias permanent attractions are enough to keep the culture and architecture loving tourist amused for weeks. A must do stop for all is the City of Art and Science. Santiago Calatrava, a Valencian native was the mastermind behind the design of the complex, quite literally a city within a city which has successfully bought the imagination of 21st century architecture to the reality of 21st century Spain. Both the architect and the city dreamt of an inspirational place where all may be touched by its beauty irrelevant of budget, and this is precisely what the City of Art and Science provides in its 7 km of walkways.

The first part of the City of Art and Science, completed in 1998 was the eyeball of the structure a huge glistening ball resting on a glimmering water base fully equipped with a retractable eyelid. It is the eye of the City that houses the now world famous IMAX planetarium with its quod-lingual 3 dimensional presentation of our universe. 2 years after the opening of the eye came the heart of the City of Art and Science; the museum. The inspiration for the museum building has never been revealed but plenty of suggestions have been made with some claiming it to be based on a prehistoric animal, whilst others claim an Industrial Revolution motivation; maybe its both. Housed in the colossal structure one will find a new type of science museum that will have both kids and adults wanting to return over and over. The approach of the City of Art and Science is a hands on one whereby all should get involved and become inspired; dont touch doesnt appear in the philosophy.

The third of the four main parts of the City of Art and Science is the Ocean grafic, or aquarium, featuring hundreds of sea species with each ocean represented. Unlike the rest of the complex, the aquarium was designed by Felix Candela, and the subtle architectural and design differences are interesting to note and add yet another dimension of interest to the site. Finally, the opera house with its adjacent halls provide not just a venue for Valencias opera loving residence and visitors but aspires to provide a stage on which young people can develop a love for music and the performing arts.