Map of Valencia

The centre of Valencia is its largest square, the Plaça de l'Ajuntament, covered by the 'e' and 'n' of 'Valencia on the map. North of this stretches its historic centre, the Ciutat Vella, delimited to the north and east by the curve of the river-bed park which occupies the former course of the River Turia. The historic centre is not homogeneous, but in turn divides up into a number of districts: the Seu, cathedral and around; the Mercat, market and around, and so on. Most of these barrios, districts, are so small you cross them without really realising it, though, the only quarter most visitors easily identify in the Ciutat Vella being El Carme or the Barrio del Carmen. This is the northernmost of the historic centre's districts and is named after the church and convent of the same name, the latter visible towards the top of the map as a white patch in the crook of the Turia park. The Barrio del Carmen is a maze of narrow streets, at the same time the most historic and traditional of Valencia's quarters and its most chic, beloved of students, bohemians and hippies on the one hand and trendy restaurant-goers on the other.

North and, especially south of the boulevard which is the Gran Ví­a del Marqués del Turia, you can see how the city blocks are much more geometrically laid out. This is the nineteenth and early twentieth-century area of bourgeois expansion, L'Eixample. It is a lively nightlife area (in a city where nightlife is sacred) , if you can bear to leave the historic centre.

If you shriink the overview in the bottom right of the map, you will see the word 'Autopista' indicating the highway leading south to the town of El Saler, though here we are interested in the enormous complex you can see to the right of the road if you drag the map up and to the left a little. This is Valencia's Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias, of which the city is understandably enormously proud. It includes a terrific science museum, a huge oceanarium, a concert hall and more.

This streetmap of Valencia comes courtesy of those nice young people over at Google, bless their little cotton socks. It will centre where you double click, you can pan over it using the arrows (or dragging the rectangle in the overview map in the corner), and you can zoom in and out using the '+' and '-' buttons. Neat, ain't it? I have pre-selected the "Hybrid" view, just because I happen to like the look of it — if you would rather see the street map without the aerial photographs, just click "Map" (or "Mapa" or whatever it says in your language). Or select the "Satellite" view to remove the street names and other map elements.

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