This was the only other port that we booked a trip on. We decided to do the new tour that P&O introduced which was a drive around/walk around Valencia and then a trip to the San Jose caves, as it was the first time that it had been done a couple of people from the excursions team tagged along too. The guide we had was brilliant, firstly you are driven around a circuit twice to enable you to get some great photos of the major sites in Valencia. We then left the coach and had a very short stroll to the silk exchange for a very informative talk from the guide. This was followed by another short easy stroll to the beautiful market place where following another talk about the history of the amazing building we were allowed 15 minutes to mooch about the market to take in the huge variety of foods available. - as there are no toilets on the coaches this was also our toilet stop - warning you will need 50 c to have a wee! Following our trip to the market it was a much longer walk through various squares to the bull ring and the station where once again our guide gave an extremely informative talk about the two buildings. It was from here that we got back on the coach for the 40 minute drive to the San Jose Caves. On our arrival we were given 20 minutes to look around the shops - get a coffee etc before entering the caves. To tour the caves you have a very short walk on even ground to then alight a boat to be rowed through the caves. Each boat takes 14 people and 1 oarsman, getting on and off the boat is interesting to say the least! There is an order in which it has to be done and unfortunately we were with someone who was just so impatient to do things her way our boat almost capsized - but after a stern telling off in Spanish from our oarsman (son speaks Spanish and translated for us - he wasn't being complimentary - and best left at that
) we then set off through these beautiful caves, the river goes from depths of 1 to 12 metres and the water is an amazing colour, there was some lighting strategically placed to emphasise certain areas and the whole serenity and beauty of the place was just stunning. We all loved it there are lots of amazing stalagmites and stalagtites and the ceiling in places is very low and you will have to duck a lot. After about 30 minutes you get off the boat and take a walk through another part of the caves before returning to the boat and back the way you came in. When we left the caves one of the excursion two who had travelled with people on another boat chatted to us and asked what we thought - our honest opinion - we loved it but places of natural beauty like these caves we find just amazing. However, and personally I think this beggars belief - some people who were on the boat with the crew member said that the owners of the cave should saw through some of the stalagtites and do something to raise the roof of the tunnels so they didn't have to duck down or run the risk of banging their heads and to also put a lot more lighting in - really??
- unbelievable. In closing we all thoroughly enjoyed this tour.
