Xàtiva: a Castle in the Air
In April 2023 the Star Wars spin-off ‘Andor’ used Xàtiva castle to shoot some scenes for the second season. Valencia’s City of Arts and…
The First Hospital for the Mentally Ill in Europe?
In Valencia there is a street called Calle Hospital, although there isn’t one (a hospital I mean) and from there you can see a…
El Palleter
Sorrolla painted him, his statue stands beside Valencia’s cannonball pocketed Torres de Quart, a monument to the city’s resistance to Napoleon’s artillery, commanded by…
Valencia: Where the Streets have a Name: José Aguirre
José Aguirre was born in the port area of Valencia known as ‘El Grao’ in 1842. José’s father was Basque, and José was sent…
Bread on Wall Street
It’s not actually called Wall Street but Calle Roteros, and the bread is the kind you eat not the kind you make by selling…
Valencia’s Last Executioner
People complain a lot about work, or the absence of good, interesting posts available; and yet Saudi Arabia was looking for eight unskilled executioners…
The Valencian who Defied Napoleon.
A portrait of José Romeu y Parras hangs in the office of the Mayor of Sagunto, a town of Roman origin with an impressive…
554 Valencian “details” in Mauthausen
554 Valencians, exiles from the defeated Spanish Republic, entered the gates of Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. Only 217 took the return journey; and…
Who is that Man?
They say Valencia is different, and they are usually right. Plaza Manises is one of Valencia’s most significant squares; located in the historic centre…
What Became of La Bastida?
If you like conspiracy theories, or you just like speculating about unsolved mysteries, then La Bastida, just above Moixent, is the place for you.…
What’s the ‘Huerta’?
The English word ‘orchard’ was once spelt “hortyard”, and derives from the Latin “hortus”, meaning ‘garden’ and the old English “geard”, meaning ‘yard’. In…
Gregorio Mayans: an Enlightened Man of his Time
Gregorio Mayans y Siscar (1699–1781) was a historian, linguist and writer from Oliva during the Enlightenment. Born on 9 May 1699 his father fought…