City Info
Spain | Valencia

According to the historian Titus Livius, the town of Valencia was founded in 138 B.C. by the Roman consul Junius Brutus. About one hundred years later, it was the first Hispanic town to become a Roman colony.

Valencia is located on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, 350 kilometres southwest of Barcelona.
Valencia’s climate is influenced by the Mediterranean. Its annual average temperature is 17.8° C and it varies between 11.5° C in January and 25.5° C in August. In winter, the temperatures hardly ever fall below 4° –8° C, going up to 18° to 25° C during the day.
The annual rainfall amounts to 454 millimetres. It mainly rains for a short time in autumn, sometimes up to 120 litres per hour.
As regards the climate, the most pleasant times are from April to June, and from the middle of September to the end of October.

Sports
Two football teams of the Spanish First Division, the CF and the Levante UD, are at home in Valencia.

Culinary specialties
Rice, local vegetables, and fish dominate the cuisine of the Levante region. Local people know numerous variations of the traditional rice dish ‘paella’, a sort of risotto that is prepared on an open fire:
‘ Paella Valenciana’ with chicken and rabbit
‘ Paella marinera’ with fish and seafood
‘ Pella de verduras’ with vegetables
The paella with chicken and seafood is not a traditional dish of the region; it comes from Catalonia and most Valencians disapprove of it

There is, of course, a ‘pasta paella’, which is called ‘fideuà’ and is based on fish. People also like to eat ‘arroz al horno’ (rice from the oven) or ‘arroz a la banda’ (rice from the pan).
The ‘horchata’ is also typical for Valencia, a drink made of ground almonds. With the horchata one eats fartons. Also typical is the cebada, a malt drink, which remains from Roman times. Besides these drinks, the ‘agua de Valencia’ is also highly praised. It is a mixed drink of cava (a Spanish champagne), orange juice and other ingredients.

In summer, people like to eat ‘leche merengada’, a sort of sorbet with a base of milk and meringue (‘merengue’), flavoured with lemon peel and cinnamon. Leche merengada with coffee sorbet is called ‘blanco y negro’