Plaza de la Virgen and Basilica of Our Lady of the Forsaken
Chapter 1/11 · València
Welcome to València, capital of the Valencian Community and the third most populous municipality in Spain: according to the INE municipal register, it had 840,792 inhabitants on 1 January 2025! We start in Plaza de la Virgen, next to the big fountain. This is a circular walk of about four kilometres through Ciutat Vella, the old town, and it is completely flat. We will finish right here.
You are standing in the oldest spot in the city. València was founded in 138 BC by Roman settlers, in the time of the consul Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus, under the name Valentia. This square is the heir to its forum, the centre of Roman public life. The Muslims arrived in 711, and on 9 October 1238 King James I of Aragon conquered the city.
The fountain in the middle shows the River Turia as a reclining man surrounded by eight female figures: they are the eight irrigation channels that share its water across the farmland, the Quart, Benàger i Faitanar, Tormos, Mislata, Mestalla, Favara, Rascanya and Rovella. It was sculpted by Silvestre de Edeta in 1976. Behind it stands the Basilica of Our Lady of the Forsaken, the city's patron, built between 1652 and 1666; a passage with an arch joins it to the cathedral.
Valencians affectionately call the statue of the Virgin «la Geperudeta», the little hunchback, because her head is tilted: it is said that it was made to lie on the coffins of executed prisoners and of the poor who died alone. During Fallas, on 17 and 18 March, thousands of falleros bring flowers in the Offering, and they are used to dress a huge cloak in this square. And every Thursday at noon, in front of the cathedral's Gothic door facing the square, the Water Tribunal meets; we will tell you about it when we come back.
Now we walk around the cathedral along Carrer del Micalet to Plaza de la Reina, at the foot of its bell tower.
Start · València