Grand designs: Valencia's futuristic cultural centre looks a little like a blue whale
but has become more of a white elephant
Posted on 09/29/2012 2:27:51 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Valencia's extravagant spending over the past few years epitomises all that has gone wrong with Spain
Grand designs: Valencia's futuristic cultural centre looks a little like a blue whale
but has become more of a white elephant
The gleaming metal-clad airport terminal has yet to have a single passenger pass through its doors. Weeds are poking up through the 3,000 yards of virgin runway and above it a shiny new air traffic control centre towers over fruit and olive groves.
This is Castellon Airport in Spain’s eastern Valencia region. Eighteen months after it was inaugurated with a price tag of 150 million euros and with no prospect of a commercial flight, it has come to epitomise the vast public overspend that has brought Spain to the brink of seeking a full bailout from Europe.
Over the past decade, the Mediterranean region of Valencia became the beacon of Spain’s new economic grandeur, gorging on cheap credit to embark on vastly extravagant projects. But as the central government announced on Thursday its fifth round of budget cuts and tax increases in just nine months, this region also symbolises all that has gone wrong in the country.
Everywhere you look, there are examples of these expensive white elephants that have left Valencia one of the most indebted regions in Spain and the first to go cap-in-hand to Madrid.
An hour south of Spain’s newest airport is the city of Valencia, the region’s capital, where protests have become almost daily occurrence. A Formula One racing circuit snakes through the streets. From 2008 to 2012, it hosted the European Grand Prix, for which F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone was paid 20 million euros annually from City Hall coffers. The grand prix has now been dropped from the 2013 season
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
It even has, OK don't believe me, but if you saw it you would believe, The Holy Grail!!!!! Laugh all you want until you see it. I LOVED Valencia....one of my favorite cities.
I have to agree. Wife and I were there in May. Valencia has to be seen to be appreciated. Three days is definitely not enough time to see everything. And DO NOT PASS UP Restaurant Riff.
I've seen that. It is also where they make Lladros.
And I suspect you would have loved it just as much even without the billions of dollars worth of unnecessary public building. Perhaps, you'd have loved it even more.
Politicians' aggrandizing themselves in the name of economic growth really p's me o.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2938078/posts
Europeans Protest Budget Cuts (fortified with satire)
I’m telling you it was FABULOUS!! I had NO idea of WHO paid for it, it was UNBELIEVABLE!! It was a vibrant city as far as I could see, but maybe it was just all TOURISTS!!
Wasn’t The Holy Grail just so ....words escape me. Not sure I like the base they built for it, but the Chapel where it is housed is extremely peaceful.
What is restaurant Riff?? We were only there for an afternoon on a cruise stop.
Here in northern NJ we have a brand-new mall (complete with indoor ski slope) that was finished a few years ago...and has never opened. It is right next to the new Giants stadium, and when you stand outside it is very eerie.
I remember a site called deadmalls.com where people posted pictures and histories of closed malls; I wonder if this qualifies?
“It was a vibrant city as far as I could see, but maybe it was just all TOURISTS!!”
Probably; Spain has among the lowest birthrates in Europe.
Oh, I'm sure it was. I never made it to Spain when I was in Europe let alone Valencia. My only point was all the taxpayer money wasted on what was probably already a gorgeous city.
Paul Krugman would say this airport helped the economy. I guess it takes an Ivy League genius to wrap your head around that.
I finally realize that Mel Brooks’s THE PRODUCERS is a satire of European socialist governments. The leaders are Bialystock. The rich old ladies are the taxpayers. Bloom is the university. Oona is the media. The leaders and the university realize that they can rob the taxpayers and just claim things didn’t work out. The leaders and the media are screwing each other. The European leaders are saying, “If you got it, flaunt it baby!” Eventually, the whole thing falls apart, and Brooks makes BLAZING SADDLES which is about Barney Frank.
I know the Xanadu project well. It is SINKING into the swamp. Real engineering disaster.
I met my husband in beautiful Valencia. We were both on a summer high school trip and spent 6 weeks there taking Spanish classes and seeing the sights. Ack - just did the math - it was nearly 40 years ago!
***that was finished a few years ago...and has never opened.***
Ever see the pyramid in Memphis, TN? What a a waste of money.
>>What is restaurant Riff?? We were only there for an afternoon on a cruise stop.<<
Riff is a dining experience not to be missed. From ringing the doorbell to gain entrance to an exquisite waiting area, no detail is overlooked. Bernd Knöller is chef, maitre ‘d and host. Your silverware never rests on the tablecloth, but on a rest made of china.
There was no salad on the menu, but we asked anyway. Mr. Knöller made us one that was fresh, tasty and unique. The meal was delicious. Our only regret was having to leave.
“Real engineering disaster.”
It was an economic disaster as well; they opened a brand new mall as north Jersey was losing so many jobs, and finally admitted that it was for NYC tourists (who don’t have the money they used to have). Now it just sits there...
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