What 1933 DialAFlight clients thought of Spain

We have always dealt with Tara, who is not only excellent but also so charming and helpful.

As always great service from DAF

Perfect as always

Excellent service as usual

A huge thank you to Sean Furnival for booking us in to such a lovely hotel. We will certainly consider booking holidays in the future with you.

Excellent service as always.

Lost and found: We left a Kindle in the seat pocket of BA flight, but got it back from Iberia Lost and found at Tenerife Airport when we left. An additional service you might consider would be to provide instructions to pax on how and to whom one can seek help when something is left on an aircraft.

I love it that you answer the phone straight away

Thanks to Cameron for being so helpful and patient with us in trying to sort out our pre pandemic booking

Everything went as planned. Thank you Gareth.

Excellent service. Wondeful to speak to someone on the phone.

An excellent service - in particular Teddy for his professionalism and courtesy

Superb service from Paul and his colleague at DialAFlight. He sorted out the flights and a brilliant hotel for a short stay in Barcelona, gave us good advice about getting from airport to hotel. Have been recommending the company to all my friends. That's the best endorsement I can give them!

Fantastic as usual - particularly when BA cancelled flight.

No stress at all

Thank you for sorting out BA's mess so seamlessly.

Thanks to Sebastian for the efficient service that he always provides

Great service - thank you Calvin and colleagues

Fantastic as always

Brilliant service that takes the stress out of booking flights and hotel - all went like clockwork.

Thomas was very patient!

The plane was delayed and when we arrived for car hire it was closed. At 4am in the morning we were driving round in a taxi looking for a hotel!

I have every confidence in you.

Everything ran very smoothly. Adam arranged everything for us, it was faultless

Shelley extremely helpful and professional

Difficult to beat the professional and personal attention that a client receives from the dedicated staff.

So refreshing to be able to speak to a knowledgeable real person and have your call answered almost immediately

As always excellent service from Elizabeth and Co

London City Airport is how an airport should be. Amazing

Liam did a great job. He was incredibly helpful and his recommendations were spot on.

Vibrant Valencia

Valencia claims V for Victory

Is this cultural treasure house by the Med Spain's finest seaside city? Michael Hodges gives his verdict...

The Mediterranean city of Valencia has an astounding cathedral, brilliant beaches, renaissance churches, some of the most striking modern architecture in Europe, fabulous seafood and gutsy red wine.

The locals are intensely proud of their city, culture and language, a form of Catalan called Valencian.

They might not shout about it as loudly as the Barcelonians, but perhaps that's because some might say their city is - whisper it - even better than Barcelona.

Who needs the whorls of Gaudi's Sagrada Familia when you've got the spiralled columns of the city's gothic Silk Exchange? Even paella was invented here.

After the River Turia flooded disastrously in 1957, the government diverted its waters. Now the wide green riverbed snakes through the city, providing 9km of parkland and a home for the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, an eruption of futuristic pavilions, lakes, an Imax cinema, aquarium and botanic gardens.

All of this is overlooked by the tallest opera house in the world, Santiago Calatrava's steel and concrete Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, an ancient Greek helmet-shaped building.

Musicians from Berklee College of Music at the Cuidad de las Artes y las Ciencias

Take a glass of wine on the breeze-cooled palm terrace before the opera or come back on Friday evening when music students from the nearby Berklee College of Music, the first international campus of the Boston-based college, give free concerts from April to October on a floating stage in the lake.

Valencia cathedral and the Micalet bell tower are must-sees, but be sure to look up when you are inside the cathedral.

The windows are filled with inch-thin alabaster instead of glass. This makes for a spectral interior rendered even more eerie by the presence of Francisco Goya's 1788 painting St Francis Borgia At The Deathbed Of An Impenitent, where a figure of Christ on the crucifix spurts blood on to a sinner.

Step into the cathedral's Holy Grail chapel, home to a revered silver chalice which, as it dates to the 1st century AD, might just be the real thing.

You'll find modern art at the Institut Valencia d'Art Modern (El Ivam) and El Greco paintings at the El Patriarca museum.

The famous decorated doorway of the baroque palazzo housing the National Museum of Ceramics

The city is famous for its ceramics and tiles, a tradition that dates back to the long years of Moorish rule. But you'll also find Picasso's work at The National Museum of Ceramics in Ciutat Vella, housed in a baroque palazzo with the most famous decorated doorway in Spain.

Go to the marvellous antiguedades shop on Corretgeria street, where there are tiles in geometric patterns, or line drawings of doves from the 19th century and earlier.

After taking in the Napoleonic-era shell marks in the ancient masonry of the Ciutat Vella's Porta de Serrans, have a restorative pitcher of Agua de Valencia. The madly baroque Cafe de las Horas, in Comte d'Almodovar street, serves this super-charged drink with cava and spirits. There are also non-alcoholic cocktails. And cake!

Like Barcelona, Valencia has a famous city shoreline, but you'll find fewer people on Malvarrosa Beach, a 15-minute bus or tram ride from the city centre.

Toni Novo, the grandson of Tio Toni and Rialla, founders of Casa Carmela

Casa Carmela, set back from the Malvarrosa Beach, is the place for paella. Locals favour the rabbit offal, snails and chicken paella cooked on open fire pits.

Take a morning cafe solo in the Estacion Del Norte, one of Europe's best-preserved art nouveau railway stations, and marvel at the ceramic fruits hanging from columns and tile murals.

Just over 100 years old, Estacion Del Norte stands like a north African fort beside the city's brick bullring.

There has been a resurgence in local cuisine, with new takes on staples such as hake and pork.

The Mercat de Colon is a gastronomic destination with restaurants including Habitual, run by Michelin-starred chef Ricard Camarena.

In the Ruzafa quarter, the enthusiastic staff of 2 Estaciones serve tuna with peanuts, muscatel, lime and watermelon - and Valencian wine to make it zing.

First published in the Daily Mail - April 2019

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