Palau Reflecting Pool and the Turia Gardens Esplanade
Why is it significant?
Walk along the polished limestone coping of the Palau's lower reflecting pool and enjoy the refreshing, cooling microclimate created by the vast, tranquil sheet of crystal-clear water mirroring the sky.
Key Facts
| Place | Palau Reflecting Pool and the Turia Gardens Esplanade |
|---|---|
| Address | Passeig de l'Albereda, s/n, 46023 València, Spain |
| Geo Coordinates | 39.46600, -0.35620 |
| Part of Walk | Valencia City of Arts and Sciences: Santiago Calatrava's Futuristic Vision |
| Generated | Generated |
Walk along the polished limestone coping of the Palau's lower reflecting pool and enjoy the refreshing, cooling microclimate created by the vast, tranquil sheet of crystal-clear water mirroring the sky. Following the catastrophic flood of October 1957 that inundated eighty percent of Valencia, the river was diverted around the southern suburbs via the Plan Sur canal. When urban developers in the 1970s proposed paving the empty riverbed with a multi-lane superhighway, brave civic groups organized mass protests under the banner The Riverbed Is Ours and We Want It Green, winning a historic victory for public space.
Renowned Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill formulated the master landscape plan in 1981, subdividing the nine-kilometer course into distinct thematic gardens that respect the river's sinuous topography. In this central section, Section Eleven, the design celebrates the element of water: sunken basins, stone channels, and cascading spillways recall the historic flow of the Turia, while providing cooling relief during sultry Mediterranean summer afternoons.
The esplanade is lined with orderly rows of date palms, flowering oleanders, and sweet-scented orange trees whose blossoms perfume the air each spring. Thousands of local runners, cyclists, and families pass by daily along the sunken 5K sports circuit, navigating paved trails that weave harmoniously through lawns that once lay beneath three meters of rushing floodwaters.
Look closely at the weathered stone embankments lining the northern and southern rims of the riverbed: the dark masonry retains heavily oxidized iron mooring rings dating back to the seventeenth century, when shallow-draft timber rafts and flat-bottomed agricultural barges were tethered directly beneath the city walls to unload timber floated down from the mountains of Cuenca.
Stroll leisurely south along the fragrant botanical trail toward Section Twelve, where the sprawling interactive figure of Gulliver Park awaits your discovery.