Vegan Valencia


If you know me well then you will know how much I enjoyed the city of Valencia last year. 
July 2017 I took my Husband to Valencia for his 30th Birthday, I wanted to choose somewhere sunny & hot, a country not too far away and also a place which had plenty to do and more importantly plenty of vegan food to eat! 

Pretty sea shells from the beach and lots of business cards from yummy restaurants :) 

We stayed there for 5 days and It was a beautifully vibrant place. Apart from Craig being pretty sick for the first couple of days we had a great trip! This did however give me a whole day on my own, so of course I wondered around taking photo after photo, quite possibly looking like a mad English tourist (we actually didn't spot many tourists, I think this made the city even more awesome and unique). I felt really awful for Craig, he really was not well! But hey, there is always some kind of silver lining? A day to myself in a fab place, being able to stop and snap away without having to run and catch up again and again, bliss!

I strolled around little streets full of cafes and shops, then onto the park which leads you to the city of Arts and Sciences. On the evening I went in search for some takeaway food as I had done a hell of a lot of walking! I was headed to "The Vurger" as I wanted something very unhealthy! "The Vurger" restaurant/takeaway is in one of the more lively parts of the city with a good handful of bars and restaurants, yet even coming up to 11pm it felt a very safe place to be, not once did I feel uncomfortable or worried. Of course you need to be sensible wherever you go, but Valencia did feel very safe even well into the evening which was great for me as the daytime was very very hot! So going out later on made a nice change as it was a little cooler. 

Night time in Valencia, this street was just off one of the main roads where we stayed. We stopped at a place called Hotel Dimar, it was a really nice, clean and friendly hotel in a great location. 

Whilst researching where to take the Hubby I used Happy Cow to see what kind of vegan choices were available. It seemed there were roughly four or five totally Vegan places quite central to Valencia, plus there were many vegetarian places too which had Vegan options. As we were only going for five days I thought this would be plenty enough to keep us entertained. However, the deciding factor for me was the variety of the city, as it has a beach (10 minute taxi ride or 45 min walk, of course depending on where about you are staying), lots of shops, many historic buildings to explore, art museums, parks, and of course the ciutat des arts.
The City of Arts and Sciences did appeal to me, especially the science part as I thought if we had a rainy day it would be somewhere interesting for Craig to visit. It is a cultural entertainment complex of sorts. It was actually built partly because of past issues with the River Turia flooding. I personally love architecture and I especially love places which have both old and modern buildings, I really enjoy seeing the two harmonizing together in the same city. The Ciutat des arts is made up of six buildings/areas and each is a huge piece of art.

In order of their placement:
First up is the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, which is a gorgeous Opera house.
Next is the Hemisferic containing an Impressive IMAX theatre.
Then the Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe which is a huge science museum.
The Umbracle is actually a structure covering a mundane car park, but with a pretty garden ontop.
After that is the Agora which is a building used for events such as tennis matches or music gigs.
Last up is the Oceanografic a kind of aquarium/marine centre.

As the park walk finishes you are greeted by this incredible view of the Opera House. In the background you can just make out the Assut de l'Or Bridge and behind it the Agora. The Agora was empty when we visited and had scaffolding on the one side, so I didn't take many images of it

To the left of the image is the Opera House, it has a restaurant on the under side of the building, we had some good cocktails there and looked out at the views. The curves and shapes of the whole complex are just amazing. 

The Hemisferic is so stunning, especially with the sunlight shinning upon it. We watched a 3D movie about Dinosaurs in the Hemisferic IMAX, it was really cool inside...yes, we are geeks.  

Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe - We visited the Science Museum and really enjoyed it, there was a dinosaur exhibition on at the time which was great. There were quite a few cool interactive pieces in the gallery and a lot more that we didn't even have time to look at. 

In this image the Science Museum is on the right, and opposite it is The Umbracle. Straight ahead you can just make out the Hemisferic and the Opera House. There are also sculptures in the water as they often have artists work on display, the sculptures were amazing and you could make a vote as to which piece was to be kept in Valencia permanently. 

The Umbracle is without a doubt the fanciest cover up for a car park in the history of ever! The gardens inside are gorgeous and on the balcony they have various art works on display. 

So, if you had not guessed by now, I am in love with this place. Valencia itself is gorgeous, with the beautiful old buildings, great shops, chilled atmosphere, masses of green park space,  amazing weather and friendly people. Though for me this quirky, unique, alien like composition of awesomeness just makes it. It is as breathtaking at night time when it is all lit up too!

I thought I would insert a little google map shot of Valencia, just so you can get an idea of the cool layout. Roughly in the middle of the screen shot is the Hotel Dimar where we stayed. The red oval south of the hotel is the City of Arts and Science complex. As you can see the Beach is not too far away and the green El jardin del Turia is where the River Turia used to be, becoming the largest park in the city by far, the shape of it makes it a perfect place for running and cycling. I can't say I have ever been to a city like this. Valencia suffered a devastating flood in 1957 so they decided to re-direct the river...a strange but very interesting story! Maybe this adds to it's uniqueness.



Anyhow, back to the FOOD! :)
99% of the food images are taken with my phone, lets be honest I like to eat!
Click on the Restaurant names for the website links.

Our first proper taste of Valencia's vegan goodness was a hefty burger and extras from
Aloha Vegan Delights
We both had burger and fries with a smoothie. It was very good! The place is tiny, you can't really eat in-side (aside from a tiny table where you can wait for food), so that is it's only downfall. However, I liked the intimacy of it, plus you could see the food being prepared and it was hot and fresh! Thankfully the weather was gorgeous so eating outside was not a problem.




Almalibre Acai Bar 
I thought I had taken some photos of the pretty food bowls we had here, but I can't seem to find them anywhere! They do serve hot food such as wraps and burgers, though they are best know for their awesome Acai bowls. Ours was lovely, it was bright purple, decorated with different fruits, plus granola and other yummy ingredients. I did find one photo from in-side the Acai Bar, see below the amazing art work/poem they have on their wall.

The writing roughly translates to this - Choose from those well-known ports. Explore, sound, discover, experience as if it were the first. Your destiny is not a place your destiny is a way of life - Free Soul

On our travels we visited  Zumm Salads  a couple of times and it was tasty, healthy and pretty refreshing in the heat. The lay out was really good as you could chose salads, fruit pots, drinks, pasta and other things from the fridges and then you could order other items such as hot drinks at the counter.  Plus you can add additional sauces and salad items at the counter to make your food more exciting. 



I must admit that this quirky little place called NOMIT was probably the best cooked meal we had...wishing I could cook like this! Also I don't have fizzy drinks too often but this "cola" was the most gorgeous cola drink I have ever had....end of.
The food had Moroccan and Greek influences. We had a starter of home made hummus accompanied with different nuts. Our in-between dish was little vegan cheese and bacon tarts or quiches? Tasted friggin brilliant whatever they were!
The main dish was a vegan style moussaka and it was simply divine. 




Nomit restaurant was only a few minutes walk from our hotel which was amazing, although it was not open every day and sometimes seemed to be open at weird times but the staff were really friendly and it had a fab atmosphere. The prices were a little higher than other places, though I think it was certainly justified as it wasn't junk food and it was very well made and very unique.
See below a snap I took of the main wall...I have tried to translate it best I can below. I love it.

Why do we not use ingredients of animal origin?
Because we love and respect animals
Because we want them alive
Because animals also feel
Because we love to eat healthy and balanced
Because we are concerned about the environment
Because we like to take care of the planet and we want it to remain green
Because we want a world of peace
Because we dream of a fair distribution of food and resources
Because it costs you nothing and costs them their lives ...


If there is only one place you visit whilst in Valencia then let it be The Vurger
I cannot imagine anyone not liking this place, it is not going to do your waist line any good but when it tastes like this and you are on holiday, who cares! It is like a vegan animal friendly awesomely cool Burger King, but with a laid back Hawaiian style. The interior has cute little illustrations of various animals and funky flower pots with flamingos and fairy lights, what is not to love?  






I visited The Vurger twice and both times it was just so so so tasty! There are a few styles of burgers to try with different cheeses or toppings, I tried a "chicken" and a "beef" type and both were really good. They also sold wraps and salads but I couldn't resists the burgers and chips. Sadly their ice cream machine was Out of Order whilst we were there, so instead we had a forest gateau cake and waffles with chocolate, we were not disappointed. It is incredible to visit a place like this which is 100% vegan, no wonder they had queues out the door and down the road both times!


If you head towards the beach you will find this hidden gem...
Nehuen Tasca Vegana
This place is very cool, well in my opinion anyhow! It is a kind of bar/pub/food place. I think they have bands or events on some evenings and the majority of the people in there had tattoos and most likely prefer loud music, oh yes.
Craig had a stupidly huge pizza which looked and tasted really good. I had an amazing carb experience with a seitan sandwich, it was to die for. The food was like the best vegan pub grub you could get and was it was so fresh. I think it would be somewhere really interesting to visit on a night out, especially if you liked a drink or two.






See below some links to a few other places we visited:

Ecorganic - Handy shop similar to Holland & Barretts

L'espresso - Nice little bar serving good coffee and an awesome vegan salad and pesto baguette

The Nature Restaurant - Buffet style restaurant which is all chinese and vegan!

The Loving Hut - Chinese originated Take away or eat in, buffet style with various foods such as salads, pastas, burgers, rice, noodles, cakes and more


If you like alcohol then you are in luck as a lot of the cocktails come with coconut milk, or you can ask for it to be switched to coconut milk. Check out this nifty link for checking vegan alcohol - http://www.barnivore.com/ 

Overall if you are vegan then Valencia will certainly have enough food places to satisfy you! I highly recommend going as it is just laid back and has hidden gems around every sunny corner!

Lastly, Valencia was covered in amazing graffiti and there were a ton of art galleries very much to my delight. I plan to do a quick and fun blog post with graffiti shots from Valencia and Bosnia soon :)






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