I have some friends that live in Valencia, Spain and I had the opportunity to visit them which I could not pass up. I highly recommend the city as a place to visit, with a wonderful center, and a spectacular park that surrounds half the city called the Jardín del Turia. This park is 8.5 km long (soon expanding to 10km) and is full of sports fields, people running, and both serious and casual cyclists. Probably the best park system I have ever visited. It also includes some amazing museums (and architecture) like the Queen Sofia Palace of Arts.
Well during this visit I did my usual search for local mazes and labyrinths to visit and I found 2 ! Here is my experience visiting the mazes ! You may remember that I have previously written about visiting mazes/labyrinths in :
Visiting a Labyrinth and some Mazes in Singapore
Visiting Labyrinths in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Visiting a Garden Maze in Taipei
Visit #1 - Laberinto Gran Vía
Location:
Gran Via de Ferran el Catòlic, 75, Extramurs, 46008 Valencia, Espana
Location notes:
This hedge maze is located in the park that lines the center of the main street. If you are going to walk down the street, you may as well use the greenery ! This location is to the West of the city and easily walkable for anyone visiting.
The hedge of the maze are low cut and most children could see over them. The overall rectangular shape has entrances/exits at each end and uses a large tree (pine?) in the center as the goal. The maze is easy and can be completed quickly. Here are some photos:
Trip #2 - Laberint, Jardín del Turia
Location:
Located in the Jardín del Turia , use this Google Maps pin to find it; 46035, Valencia, Espana
How to get there:
This is a 13 minute walk into the Jardín del Turia from our first maze. Very pleasant.
This particular hedge maze includes some sculptures and an elevated platform to view both the maze and the park. The hedges are even shorter than our first stop and there are entrances on 2 sides of the maze near the stairs. The goal….is possibly the stairway, or maybe to get from one side to the other. Either way it is easy. The center of the maze includes a large concrete structure covered in vines that you use as doors on the brick covered ground floor and act as windows at higher levels. (God luck walking through higher levels !). Check on some pictures:
So that was my quick trip to visit 2 hedge mazes in Valencia, Spain. If you are interested in mazes you might enjoy these visits. I’m sure you will love your time in the city either way !
BONUS VIDEO:
If you understand Spanish (or even if you don’t) check out this video about the park:
MORE MAZES:
And then, when this blog post was done, I was walking down the street and found a building with maze panels painted on it. Here is the address and map location:
C/ del Pare d'Orfens, 8, Ciutat Vella, 46003 València, Valencia
They painted over some graffiti and eventually it seems some of the graffiti has returned. There is a small park across the street you can stop and rest in. The first photo shows the front of the building with 2 maze panels, while the second photo shows the side of the building from the adjoining plaza.
And just when I thought I was done with mazes in the city I was in the Plaça de la Reina, a square with cafes, seating and the Metropolitan Cathedral–Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady of Valencia (take a breath) and I found another maze ! In the NE corner of the plaza near the cathedral is a series of games that includes a tabletop maze ! You rotate the tabletop around to move the yellow ball inside thru the maze. And I had to show you the view of the Cathedral from the game !
