THE WATERS OF VALENCIA
THE RIVERS AND SEA SURROUNDING SPAIN’S THIRD CITY HAVE COME TO DEFINE IT, FINDS ADAM WHITE
‘VALENCIANS won’t eat paella outside the city,’ Valencian writer Alberto Torres Blandina tells me.
Because the rice isn’t the same elsewhere, I wonder? The inferior saffron? The overcooked seafood? ‘Because of the water.’
Specifically, the high levels of calcium, which is said to keep rice al dente and flavourful: that’s what matters to the people of Valencia. I come to understand the difference during my first truly stunning paella at Casa Carmela in El Cabanyal, a quiet and colourful fisherman’s district that lies behind the city’s main beach.
The dish looks almost disappointing: a plain, thin, uniformly yellow layer of rice in a large metal pan, studded infrequently with a morsel or two of seafood. It tastes, however, phenomenal. A layered, textured dish that punches you with rich flavour. It’s been cooked over a wood fire, and the best bit remains right at the edges: the socarrat, the crispy, smoky bits of rice you scrape from the pan and into your mouth.
The water of Valencia has certainly done its job today, and it’s little surprise that it has. Spain’s third city – located on the eastern coast, less than two在華倫西亞Torres土生土長的作家Alberto
Blandina告訴我：「本地人在市外時，就不會吃西班牙海鮮飯。」
我猜想，原因在於這裡出產的米有別於其他地方？外地出產的番紅花品質低劣？又或是海鮮煮得過熟？「原因在於水質。」明確來說，當地的水含高鈣，據說可以令米飯更有「嚼勁」及更好吃，而這正是華倫西亞人非常著重的風味。當我來到前臨市內主要海灘、充滿色彩的寧靜漁民社區El Cabanyal，在Casa Carmela餐廳首嚐真正讓我讚歎不已的西班牙海鮮飯，我終於明白箇中的分別。
餐廳奉上的海鮮飯賣相有點不似預期：在大鐵鍋上，均勻地鋪上一層薄薄的、看似平平無奇的黃色米飯，摻雜著一兩塊小小的海鮮。然而，入口的味道卻非比尋常，多層次的口感刺激味蕾，讓你滿口豐郁的味道。海鮮飯以柴火烹煮，最美味的一口飯，是從鍋邊刮下的飯焦，入口那份鮮香、焦脆及煙熏味，讓人回味再三。
今時今日，華倫西亞的水顯然為居民的生活作出了重大貢獻，這也並不令人意外。這個西班牙第三大城市位於東岸，從馬德里坐火車不用兩小時便可到達，一直是
TWENTY YEARS AGO, NO ONE WAS SURE. BUT NOW WE’RE PROUD OF IT 20年前，沒有人能肯定錢是否用得其所，但現在我們對此非常自豪
hours by train from Madrid – has always been a city of water. Founded as a Roman city more than 2,000 years ago, its port has risen to become the largest in the Mediterranean. North of the port, the city’s beaches stretch along the coast, beautiful expanses of powdery sand.
And it’s not just the sea. Valencia is – or rather, was – also home to the Túria river, which threads its way from the northwest down to the city. The river is no babbling brook; rather it’s notorious for floods. Floods so bad that in 1957 the Túria spilled its banks and submerged a large part of the city: 81 people were killed; 3,500 families were left homeless. The people of Valencia took action: reshaping the river’s path to prevent it from causing harm. The one-time riverbed was transformed into a garden, with new landmarks sprouting up around it.
At the eastern end is the City of Arts and Sciences, a complex of museums, cinemas, performing arts centres and theatres that seem ripped from a sci-fi set. When the first building opened in 1998, it was seen as a white elephant. ‘It was very, very expensive. We’re not the richest part of Spain, and that was money that could have gone on roads or education,’ says David Moll, who works at the museum’s education department. ‘Twenty years ago, no one was sure. But now we’re proud of it. We’re earning more than we spent on it.’
Most of the complex was designed by hometown architect Santiago Calatrava. One of the most striking works is the science museum, which resembles an otherworldly skeleton of an enormous beached whale hovering in a pool of water – a reminder of the river that mankind forced out of the way, and the sea just metres beyond.
Another reminder lies in the complex’s L’Oceanogràfic, which at 110,000 sqm is Europe’s largest aquarium. Touring the vast park, spokesperson Maria Carmen Fuentes can’t hide her enthusiasm as she explains the aquarium has shifted from a tourist attraction to a centre for conservation and marine research in the last few years. She’s particularly proud of the park’s beluga whales, which are part of an international breeding and research programme.
There’s another man-made water that the city can call its own: Agua de Valencia, or Water of Valencia. The ingredients are vodka, gin, cava and orange juice, served in potent pitchers and drunk from champagne coupes. It is delicious. It is deadly.個離不開水的城市。自2,000多年前羅馬人在此建城後，當地崛起成為地中海最大的海港，港口以北的海灘沿海岸線延伸成廣闊的沙灘，漂亮的幼沙猶如粉末般綿幼。
華倫西亞不僅臨海，圖里雅河亦由西北方流經市內。然而這條河並非潺潺之溪，它曾經在1957年因氾濫成災而蒙上污名，當時河水溢出河岸，淹浸了市內大片土地，最終導致81人死亡，3,500個家庭失去家園。有見及此，華倫西亞人決心整治，把河流改道防止水災，昔日的乾涸河床則被改造成公園。新的地標建築隨之而在公園四周湧現。
藝術科學城位於城市東端，建築群由多個恍似科幻小說場景的博物館、電影院、演藝中心及劇院組成。然而，當首幢建築於1998年落成啟用時，被視為昂貴的大白象工程。任職於博物館教育部的David Moll向我說：「工程非常非常昂貴，我們又不是西班牙最富庶的地區，這筆開支可用於興建道路或教育經費。20年前，沒有人能肯定錢是否用得其所，但現在我們對此非常自豪。我們賺回來的錢，多於當年的投資。」
藝術科學城的大部分建築均由本地建築師Santiago Calatrava設計，當中最精采的作品首推天馬行空的科學館，外型看似一條擱淺的巨型鯨魚，遺下的骨架盤踞在水池之上，讓人聯想起人類把河流改道，而大海就在咫尺之外。
另一幢令人印象深刻的建築是歐洲最大型的水族館L’Oceanogràfic，廣達110,000平方米。在遊覽這個幅員廣闊的海洋公園時，發言人Maria Carmen Fuentes難掩激動心情，向我們講述水族館近年已由一個旅遊景點蛻變為保育及海洋研究中心。她對公園內的白鯨特別感到自豪，因為牠們是一項國際繁殖及研究計劃的成果。
華倫西亞引以為傲的創作，還有一種人工調配的水，就是被稱為「華倫西亞之水」的雞尾酒Agua de Valencia，成分包含伏特加酒、氈酒、cava氣泡酒和橙汁，奉客時盛在大型酒壺內，傾進寛口香檳杯飲用，滴滴甘香，令人迷醉。
The drink was invented in 1959, in a boho watering den named Café Madrid in the middle of town – the bar is still open today and fresh off a renovation. Head bartender Sergio Valls tells me the tale: ‘A group of Basque regulars always ordered “Agua de Bilbao” – cava. One day they asked: “Why isn’t there an Agua de Valencia?” So, the owner invented it.
‘The recipe is well known, but I always tell people that the greatest secret lies in the orange,’ says Valls, emphasising its ‘kilometre zero’ origins, all grown locally – and watered, of course, with Valencian water. ‘The quality of the produce is the most important part of this magnificent combination,’ he says.
For my next glass I head to the kitschy glam of Café de las Horas, where the décor is over-the-top and the drink will put you under the table. Next to us, a group of middle-aged señoras down a couple of large pitchers, getting increasingly boisterous and vitamin C’d.
But if there’s one thing that sums up the relationship that this city has with water in its myriad forms, then it’s the sleepy beachside district where I’m staying: El Cabanyal. ‘It’s an area with a lot of history. It was a fishing village and many people worked here in jobs related to the sea: at the port, fishing or with customs’, explains Marga Alcalá, who heads up tour company Paseando por los Poblados de la Mar and has been running neighbourhood tours for the past six years.
The area feels totally different from the rest of the city: low-rise terraced buildings that are distinctively tiled, offering variegated bursts of colour in the gridded streets. ‘All the houses here are a result of the old barracas – huts in the traditional style of Valencia,’ she explains. ‘They wanted to avoid the humidity, and it was less expensive to tile the house than to paint it every year. Most of the houses are tiled in blue, white or green. It’s related to the jobs
伏特加酒、氈酒、cava氣泡酒和橙汁，滴滴甘香，令人迷醉
這款飲料於1959年研創，誕生地點是城中一間瀰漫波希米亞風情、名為Café Madrid的小酒吧。酒吧至今仍在營業，並剛完成裝修。調酒師主管Sergio Valls向我講述雞尾酒的故事：「一群來自巴斯克的常客每次總是愛喝畢爾包之水，即cava氣泡酒。有一天他們問：『為何沒有華倫西亞之水？』酒吧東主於是發明了這款雞尾酒。」
Valls補充說：「雞尾酒的配方已是眾所周知，但我總會告訴別人，真正的秘密在於香橙。」他強調橙必須是百分百當地原產，全部在本土種植，並當然是用華倫西亞的水灌溉。他說：「橙的品質，是這個神奇配方的最重要一環。」
我的下一杯雞尾酒，是在媚俗華麗的Café de las Horas品嚐，那裡的裝潢極為誇張，但美酒卻令你不惜一醉。我們的鄰桌是一群中年太太，她們喝下數大瓶雞尾酒後，情緒愈來愈高漲，顯然維他命Ｃ在發揮效用。
然而，最能詮釋這個城市與水結下不解之緣的地方，就是我入住的寧靜海濱社區El Cabanyal。「這區擁有豐富的歷史，昔日是一條漁村，許多居民的工作都與大海息息相關：在港口工作、捕魚或在海關任職。」Marga Alcalá說。她經營旅行社Paseando por los Poblados de la Mar，最近六年更開辦社區觀光行程。
置身這裡，感覺與市內其他地區截然不同。低矮的排屋鋪上別具風格的瓷磚，為網格式設計的街道添上斑斕的色彩。她解釋：「這裡所有房子都源自華倫西亞傳統風格的古老小屋，五彩繽紛。居民想避免受潮濕天氣影響，並且為了省錢而鋪上瓷磚，這樣就不用每年為房子髹漆。
of those who live there: the colour of the sea or the colour of the boats – boats in Valencia were painted green and white.’
At one time, El Cabanyal had a reputation for being run-down, dangerous even – but now it’s on the rise. The community successfully fought off a government redevelopment project that would have seen some 1,500 homes knocked down, and is now seeing more money coming into the area, with more public services and more draws for tourists. Younger people are also moving in, drawn by the charm and the calm.
‘I always imagine that the sky here is bigger than in the rest of Valencia,’ Marga tells me. ‘It’s the calm. The geometry of the houses, the geometry of the streets, give me a sense of tranquillity.’
In the evening I walk along the gridded streets of El Cabanyal as it lives its social life on the street, its people sitting outside their tiled homes, drinking and chatting with neighbours in the slowly cooling air. It feels to me like the optimism of a neighbourhood reborn. A tide turning.
‘Everything’s related,’ as Marga tells me earlier in the day. ‘It’s the sea; it’s always the sea.’
Originally published in February 2020.
大部分房子鋪上藍色、白色或綠色瓷磚，這與居民的工作有關，代表著大海的顏色，或是船舶的色彩。華倫西亞的船隻都會髹上綠色及白色。」
曾經有一段時期，El Cabanyal被視為破落甚至是危險的社區，現在卻朝氣蓬勃，明亮吸引。社區居民成功抗爭，阻止政府推行市區重建計劃，避免了區內1,500間房屋被拆卸。現在愈來愈多人在此投資，提供更完善的公共服務，吸引大量遊客到訪。年輕人亦嚮往社區的魅力及寧靜環境，陸續搬到這裡居住。
Marga對我說：「我總是想像這區的天空較華倫西亞其他地方更廣闊。這裡的平靜氣氛，房子的幾何風格，街道的幾何佈局，讓我有與世無爭的感覺。」
黃昏時份，我在El Cabanyal的網格式街道上漫步，感受社區鄰里的社交生活。隨著氣溫漸轉清涼，街坊坐在鋪上瓷磚的家居門外飲酒，與鄰居閒話家常。對我來說，這恍若是理想社區的重生。潮起潮退，世事因此逆轉。
「所有事物都與大海息息相關，一切總是離不開海。」Marga剛才曾對我這樣說。