Valenica, Spain

Valencia is Spain's third-largest city, with roughly 800,000 residents along the Mediterranean coast in eastern Spain. Founded by the Romans in 138 BC, the city centers on the 13th-century Valencia Cathedral, which houses a chalice identified as the Holy Grail and offers city views from its 1425 Miguelete bell tower. Following a severe flood in 1957, the Turia River was rerouted, converting its dry bed into the nine-kilometer Turia Gardens running across the urban center. At the park's eastern end sits the City of Arts and Sciences, a futuristic cultural complex designed by Santiago Calatrava. Surrounding rice fields near the Albufera freshwater lagoon mark the historic origin of authentic Valencian paella.