Valencia Spain. Walking Avenida de Blasco Ibáñez to Mestalla Stadium

This boulevard was supposed to reach the sea, and it never did. In 1888, architect Casimiro Meseguer proposed a grand promenade, 100 metres wide, running from the city straight to the Mediterranean. People called it the Paseo de Valencia al Mar. Over the next century the plan came back again and again under different names. In 1931 José Pedrós drew a version that went around the old fishermen's quarter of Cabanyal instead of through it. The street also changed names along the way. During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) it was briefly the Avenida de la Unión Soviética. The Franco regime dropped that name, and in 1977 the city council voted unanimously to name it after the Valencian writer Vicente Blasco Ibáñez. The 1986 urban plan revived the idea of pushing the avenue through to the sea, which would have meant demolishing part of Cabanyal. Today the avenue still stops short of the beach. On this walk you'll pass the Facultats–Manuel Broseta metro station. It sits opposite the University of Valencia's faculties of psychology and of geography and history, and next to the Hospital Clínico. This is the student side of the city, with tree-lined lanes, cafés and a steady flow of bikes. Just off the avenue is Mestalla, home of Valencia CF since 1923 and one of the oldest stadiums in Spanish top-flight football. It's famous for its steep stands that rise almost straight up over the pitch. Even on a day with no match, it's hard to walk past without looking up. No narration. Just the sounds of the street.