Eco Terrorism in Valencia

Having been to an impressive Jardin Del Turia, a day earlier I was even more impressed to hear this inspiring story during the Walking Tour Of Valencia (A must-do guided tour by Johny from Liverpool).

Valencia has been an inspiring town with ancient and sound irrigation system since 1000AD and encircling river Turia used to act as a river protecting Valencia against the enemies. But, during the recent past since nobody was scared about an enemy invasion, the establishment in Valencia decided to turn around the riverbed to benefit the irrigation to the other parts of Spain and intended to build a huge motor way at the site of river bed. But, the residents of Valencia were against the motorway as they wanted to turn the riverbed into garden or anything equivalent leading to the development of a lot of clashes between the establishment and the residents.

Not paying heed to the residents, the establishment decided to move ahead with the plan and started the construction of the motorway. Bewildered residents were appalled but did not know how to protest against the establishment for a while. The momentum soon gathered pace and the residents used Eco Terrorism (may be a term coined by Johny) as a tool to stage their demands. What residents did was truly inspiring. They started coming to the river bed site in large numbers and kept on planting trees. The establishment resisted vehemently by uprooting the trees for a long while but the residents did not give up. Voluntarily they used to arrive at the site, sometimes during the wee hours during the night to plant trees and vanish. Residents were simply irresistible and soon the establishment was led to no option but to give up.

Today, the establishment not only proudly maintains the garden but also has extended it for the amusement of residents and tourists alike. The garden boasts a lot of football courts, athletic stadium, jogging tracks along with botanical garden on one end and an all time great City of Arts and Science on the other. Certainly all these are must visit places in Valencia...

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'll upload photos later; upon reaching Leuven.