The beauty of La Lonja de La Seda, Valencia
Since ancient times, Valencia was a major center for trade and business as the city is located on the southeastern coast of Spain. A walk through the historic part of the city will give you a glimpse of how the market thrived with success during the Golden Era. Even though we weren’t so keen on including this city in our Spain itinerary initially as we thought Tomatina Festival is the only highlight of this place. But a plate of delicious paella relished midst the beautiful surroundings of ancient Valencia was just about enough to change our mind and we are so glad we visited this city.
Related post: From the streets of Valencia
With 2 days in hand to spend here, we decided to make the most of it and visit some of the must-visit places in the city. One among them is the La Lonja de la Seda de Valencia (originally a Silk Exchange), which a commercial building built in the 15th century when the city was booming with its economic expansion. Hoping to avoid the crowd, we started off early morning to visit the place and luckily enough we were one of the first visitors for the day.
The external façade of the building has gargoyles protruding out of the walls and this got us confused for a second if we are indeed at the right place (hard to imagine a modern-day trade building having a gothic themed structure right?). Anyways, after confirming at the reception that this is the Silk Exchange we started off our tour with the handy audio guides. Built between 1482 and 1548, the building is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture and symbolizes the power and wealth of the city during the 15th and 16th century. The exchange was built as a meeting point for merchants and financiers to conduct trade in a fair way.
The first section of the tour takes you through the Patio de los Naranjos, small yet beautiful orange garden with luscious citrus fruit hanging temptingly. Next comes the main Trading Hall (Sala de Contraction), which is the highlight of the Exchange. Tall spiraling pillars adorn the rooms with the ceiling a fascinating interlude of ribs and columns giving it a treelike illusion. This room is also famously called as the Hall of columns and the interesting thing about the hall is the inscription etched in golden letters around the four walls depicting the importance of honesty among the tradesmen. The details of the hall totally got us hooked and we just couldn’t help but wonder how this place was on its busiest days.
Apart from the hall, there is a Chapel of Immaculate Conception, which has Gothic style interiors. On the first floor of the building is the Tribunal del Mar room, yet another magnificent room in Renaissance style that was once the Pavilion of the Consulate and has beautiful carvings on the ceiling. The tour also takes you around the building gives you interesting tidbits about the external architecture. Overall the place is a work of marvel with vivid details on walls, ceilings, windows and doors and honestly one could spend whole admiring the unique masterwork.
La Lonja de La Seda was declared as the UNESCO Heritage Site in the year 1993. Tickets can be purchased on the spot and cost about 2 Euros and entry is free of cost on Sundays and Public Holidays.
After finishing the tour of the Silk Exchange we decided to hit the food market that was right next to the building to appease our hunger. The Central Market/ Mercat Central is another famous attraction in the city as it is one of Europe’s oldest running food market and a perfect example of Valencia’s Modernist architecture. Almost 400 vendors sell fresh produce like fruits vegetables, meat, fish and other local delicacies.
The market is a real heaven for food lovers and to be honest we were in a bit of a fix on what to eat as every stall had a mouth-watering display of food items. We finally settled on desserts and some fresh strawberries washing them down with the homemade horchatas, we then moved on to explore rest of the old town.
Hope you guys enjoyed our post, do leave us a comment on your thoughts about the place.
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Beautiful pics 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Lovely place and pics:)
Thank you Rashmi 🙂
Both of you look so fresh in your travel pics I have noticed. I end up as a bhoot after and during travels. 😛 🙂
Love the monuments captures! Amazed at its sheer size.
Thanks for the love Indrani 🙂 We are sure you look gorgeous as well :*
Architecture and food are generally the focus of my trips. Looks like you both appreciate the same! I saw such lovely things in Spain, but missed out on this gem. Guess it’s time to go back!
Yes you must, we are sure you will love this place :).
I love the intricate details of the market’s architecture. I’d want to go shopping there all the time! Your outfits are super cute and the photos are equally as lovely!
Thank you Laura. The market was favourite too, the ambience, food everything is just perfect there.
Your dress also looks so pretty! The architecture is amazing!
Thank you Mridula 🙂
Such a nice guide to this fabulous city. Loved the market photos – so colorful. You managed to see a lot in only two days. Nice post.
Thank you Christine. Valencia had so many amazing things to offer, we couldn’t resist making the most of our 2 days here.
A friend of mine if from Valencia and she has been all praises about this place . I can now see why because it is indeed very beautiful. I particularly like the interiors and the sculptures. They look beautiful and magnificent.
Yes Valencia is lesser known tourist city but it is beautiful!
You both look so beautiful and relaxed. Great shots and architecture.
Have been to Spain thrice but Valencia has eluded me till now. It is also famous for the mask festival. 🙂
Thank you for the love Nisha 🙂 Yes the Masks carnival is quite famous, you will get to see some gorgeous display of colourful masks in many stores around the city. Do try and visit Valencia, we are sure you will love it 🙂
Valencia is such a romantic name with such lovely historic attractions and grand architecture. I seem to recall there’s a modern side to the city too. Did you get to see much of that?
We did try and explore a bit of the modern side, especially the City of Arts and Scineces. But our heart was hooked to the ancient town 🙂
Those tree like columns are absolutely fascinating!! That would be awesome to have something like that in a home. I’ve been dying to go to Spain, always been high up on my list. Once I head back over to Europe I will definitely be checking this place out!
Yes please do :). Totally agree with you, the tree like columns will look spectacular if designed for a house.
My initial thought when I hear Valencia is the architecture. I would love to visit if given the chance as I don’t know much about the city. I love visiting markets so that would be a definite stop. The dome is spectacular.
Also, the gothic style and the high columns give the first building a very spacious feeling and lots of light inside!
Yes the market is a must visit but then evry structure in this city has its unique beauty.
Awesome post.
Thank you.