Jetsettersblog

1909 Exposition Is Commemorated with Music & Exhibitions

Valencia, SPAIN – The Valencianos of 1909 would hardly recognize their sparkling Mediterranean city today. Back then, the city fathers staged a regional exposition where the locals saw the telephone and the phonograph for the first time.

One hundred years later, Americans will see a futuristic City of Arts and Sciences, a new state-of-the art immersion zoo and a welcoming waterfront with restaurants, bars and clubs when Delta launches non-stop service on June 5.

Another good reason for Americans to visit: the city will host a Grand Prix of Europe race on August 23, with practice rounds set for August 21 and 22.

The Regional Exposition of 1909 marked Valencia’s first step onto the global stage – a time when the city was in full Modernist flower – and to commemorate its 100th anniversary, a series of events, exhibitions and concerts will run through February 2010.

Bringing to life early 20th century Valencia and Europe, the Palace of the Exposition will present “Valencia 1909.”

At the University of Valencia, “Trénor: A Great Bourgeois Family” will be on view. Tómas Trénor, the head of a mercantile dynasty, was instrumental in organizing the original fair. “Valencia 1900-1936; Collections of ABC” will be at MuVIM, Valencia’s Museum of Illustration and Modernity.

In July, bands will stroll the streets from the Palau de la Música to the Plaza de Toros.

Valencia has more to interest visitors. Last year, the Bioparc, Europe’s most advanced zoo, debuted with 4,000 animals from 250 species.

Visitors can watch antelope, zebras and gazelle gallop while gorillas and leopards roam through the 25-acre park. The City of Arts & Sciences designed by Santiago Calatrava, began rising in 1998 and includes an aquarium, science museum, concert hall and planetarium. Europe’s largest aquarium, the Oceanographic provides a hi-tech tour of the marine habitats of the world’s oceans. The dramatic eye-shaped planetarium, the Hemispheric, is the fourth most visited building in Spain thanks to its computerized astronomic projection system and its IMAX theatre. Inside the Prince Felipe Museum of the Sciences there are soaring platforms with lasers, holograms, interactive displays and exhibits about DNA and the geology of earth. In 2007, the city’s waterfront was completely redesigned for the America’s Cup. More cruise ships have been calling and the mega-yacht marina can accommodate 400 sailing vessels.
The picturesque cast-iron Mercado Central opened five years after the exposition and Valencianos still buy their local vegetables and fresh fish there. Visitors can sample delicious local specialties at the market’s numerous stalls, including the region’s signature paella.

For the second year in a row, race cars will roar alongside the old river bed of the Turia and the city’s waterfront at speeds up to 200 miles per hour. More than half a million watched last year’s race when about $40 million (26 million euros) was spent to transform Valencia’s city streets into a Formula One “track.” Famed motor racing course designer, Hermann Tilke, was the architect behind the 3.4-mile-long circuit’s design, which includes 25 curves snaking along the city’s new harbor.

New General Admission tickets will permit fans access to the Valencia Street Circuit without buying a seat (about $42, or 30 euros on Friday, $70, or 50 euros on Saturday and $142, or 100 euros for the Grand Prix on Sunday.) Grandstand tickets are on sale now and range in price from around $212 to $680 (150 to 480 euros). Sailors can moor their yachts and view the race from the water and the marina also has a special grandstand.

To learn more about the Grand Prix of Europe, go to www.valenciastreetcircuit.com/index_eng.html

For information about Valencia, go to www.turisvalencia.es

For further information about Spain, contact the Tourist Office of Spain in New York (212-265-8822); Miami (305-358-1992); Chicago (312-642-1992) or Los Angeles (323-658-7195) or go to www.spain.info