The Place We're At Now: Valencia, Spain

It's beautiful, it's warm, and it's cheap! So why don't we want to settle down here?

For the audio version of this article, read by the author, go here.

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This is a regular feature about where we currently are in the world: how we ended up there, what it costs, and exactly what we think.

Brent and I are currently spending six weeks in Valencia, Spain.

Remember when we said that Penang curry isn’t actually from Penang, Malaysia? It turns out Valencia oranges aren’t from Valencia either.

These oranges actually originated in California — then part of Mexico, in the 19th century — when an enterprising agronomist created an orange hybrid that he named after the famously sweet oranges of Valencia, Spain. Later, the patent was sold to ranchers, which led them to rename their local town “Valencia.”

Of course, they still grow a different but delicious kind of orange here in the original Valencia.

There’s plenty else to recommend this Valencia, which is Spain’s third largest city. The city is home to just under 800,000 people, while the entire metro area has 1.6 million residents.

Valencia sits on the Mediterranean coast, at almost the exact midpoint of Spain’s eastern seaboard. Barcelona is 350 km to the north, while Madrid lays almost exactly the same distance to the northwest.

Romans first settled the area, establishing a colony in the 2nd century BCE. Due to its strategic location, the city quickly became an important trading port, dealing in wine, olive oil, and wheat. In the 8th century CE, Valencia fell under Islamic Rule, which lasted until 1238 CE.

Valencia’s golden age occurred during the 15th and 16th centuries — also Spain’s golden age — when the city grew rich from trading silk, spices, and other luxury goods. For a time, it was one of the largest and most influential cities in Europe.

La Lonja de la Seda de Valencia, also known as the Silk Exchange, helped make 16th century Valencia rich through trade.

Today, Valencia isn’t nearly as well known — or as much of a tourist destination — as Madrid or Barcelona. But there is still plenty to see and do — as we will document in upcoming newsletters.

How Did We End up Here?

Brent and I have always said that as we travel the world as nomads, we’re keeping our eyes open for the perfect place where we might want to eventually settle down.

Outside of Barcelona, we’ve never spent much time in Spain, so we figured we should finally explore the country. After asking our fellow travelers for their suggestions and reading up on Spain’s best places to live, we settled on Valencia.

It has good air and rail connections to the rest of Europe and beyond; the cost of living is low, relatively speaking; and like all of Spain, it’s very LGBTQ-friendly.

It also doesn’t hurt that it gets 300 days of sunshine per year.

Enjoying the sun in Túria Park with our friend Marianne.

We thought six weeks would give us a pretty good sense of the place.

So far, we have discovered: