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Valencia, with a population of 750,000 and capital of the autonomous region of the same name is Spain's third largest city. It is situated in the centre of the Spanish Mediterranean coastline.
It overlooks the spacious Gulf of Valencia and is skirted at the back by a group of medium-high mountains and rolling plains leading to the lands of Aragon and Castile-La Mancha.
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It is opposite the Balearic islands and equidistant from the country's two major decision-making centres: Madrid and Barcelona. Valencia is identified with the Mediterranean Sea because the culture deriving from the old Mare Nostrum is manifested in its patterns of social behaviour. Valencia is the administrative capital of the province. It is the most densely populated town in the Valencian community and is encircled by a wide belt of medium-sized municipal districts which form an unbroken built-up area with an average density of 1,600 inhabitants per square kilometre.
Sightseeing around the city begins in the old quarter. Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was defended by a wall, which can be toured while riding the inner route of the number five bus.
Still standing as proof are the graceful Torres de Serranos, the spacious Torres de Quart and some remains of the apron wall in the basement of the Valencia institute of Modern Arts. The most outstanding artistic heritage can be found in the districts of Seu and Xerea, where the marks left by the Romans lie hidden beneath Arab ruins and modern churches and palaces.
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The Mercat district took shape around the commercial life of the city's inhabitants. Accordingly, its two most emblematic buildings are used for trading purposes. Outside the destroyed wall grew the Valencia of the bourgeoisie, with its wide pavements, broad landscaped thoroughfares and countless examples of modernist architecture.
On the other side of the Turia's old riverbed lie the nursery gardens, along with the Fine Arts Museum and the ultramodern part of the city which, on account of its size, serves as a nexus between the coastal townships and the old quarter.
The futuristic face of the city is mirrored on the old riverbed through the Gulliver Children's park and the leisure and culture complex, Ciutat de les Arts i de les Ciencies. Life in the city spreads down to the seafront with the harbour and the beaches of Las Arenas and La Malvarrosa.
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