Old Town Valencia

The main place we wanted to see here was the  Saint Mary of Valencia Cathedral built in 1262 since they claim to have the Holy Grail.

Although my family didn't appear too interested, I was excited.  The church alone was beautiful.

Just a close-up of the main entrance to show the amazing detail.

In the lighted case in the center is the chalice the Catholic church claims was used by Jesus at the Last Supper and then used by Joseph of Arimathea to collect Jesus' blood as it dripped from the cross.

 Here is a close-up of "the Holy Chalice", supposedly taken by Saint Peter to Rome in the 1st century, and then to Huesca in Spain by Saint Lawrence in the 3rd century. According to legend, the monastery of San Juan de la Peña, located at the south-west of Jaca, in the province of Huesca, Spain, protected the chalice of the Last Supper from the Islamic invaders of the Iberian Peninsula. Archaeologists say the artifact is a 1st century Middle Eastern stone vessel, possibly from Antioch, Syria (now Turkey); its history can be traced to the 11th century, and it now rests atop an ornate stem and base, made in the Medieval era of alabaster, gold, and gemstones. It was the official papal chalice for many popes, and has been used by many others, most recently by Pope Benedict XVI, in 2006.

Also noteworthy is martyred Saint Vincent's mummified hand.

We had to share a close up of this.

A shot of downtown Valencia.

We stopped at Burger King on our way back to the hotel and even Burger King doesn't quite do things the same here. The kids are eating ice cream sundaes with "Pop Rocks" that came with the kids meals!