VALENCIA

My two-times experience tells me Valencia definitely deserves a visit and by this I mean more than just two or three hours of strolling around the historical center.
If you go for futurism pay a visit to Santiago Calatrava's multi-fonctional City of Arts and Sciences and cross the bridge over the dry river to walk on the gardens.
If you go for ancient streets and lots of people during business hours try Barrio del Carmen for churches, including the cathedral, medieval towers and comtemporary restaurants and taverns with plenty of fish to be eaten and paid.
If you are, as is my case, more addict to World Heritage sites go first to the Llotja de la Seda, a XV/XVI architectonic masterpiece in rich late Gothic style where silk has been traded for long. A disappeared earlier building nearby was the oil (olive oil) exchange. This means, I assume, that at a certain point in time economic evolution, or development as our state of mind prefer nowadays, led to silk becoming more wealthier than oil and showing it in stone and prestige.
The picture shows the huge Sala de Contractació with its twisted columns in a rather dark mood (silk is not traded there anymore, just visitors go forth and back, so there is no need to carefully read the contracts).