Shopping in Valencia is a real pleasure for both men and women, though everybody will agree that women are especially fond of shopping if to compare with men. Shopping can be different in Valencia. You may buy a bottle of wine in a supermarket or you can buy it in a small village in the centre of a wine-producing region. In any case most of the tourists prefer doing shopping in the capitals of three provinces: Alicante, Castellon and Valencia.
Certainly the best shopping is in the capital of the community. The shops of Valencia are the best, the biggest and the most interesting. While doing shopping in Valencia people usually visit at least three of them: the gigantic shopping centres Nuevo centro, El Saler and El Corte Ingles. El Corte Ingles, as the natives of Valencia and the tourists think, is not worse than the famous Galerie Lafaiet in Paris. You may buy everything in these centres from a pin till a designer’s bikini, from a bottle of collection wine till a refrigerator.
But the real spirit of the shopping in Valencia you may feel only at a market, for example, the famous Mercado Central. All the citizens of Valencia come there to buy fresh vegetables, fruit and fish. The market was built in 1928 and nowadays it is one of the places of interest in Valencia.
The best souvenir in Valencia is considered to be the things made of ceramics produced at Lladro factory. The shop at the factory operates as a museum as well. You can see there lots of unique presents produced at Lladro factory for the outstanding leaders of different countries of the world.
The province of Alicante is famous for at least two shopping centres in the capital of Alicante and in the resort of Benidorm. In Alicante just the same as in Valencia there is a great shop of El Corte Ingles. But it is considered to be rather expensive, that is why it is better to choose malls for shopping which are situated near the seacoast. One of them is Panoramis from which there is a great view of the sea. The centre of the city (between the streets La Rambla and Avenida de Federica Soto) is considered to be a good place for shopping.
There are a lot of clothing shops in the centre of Benidorm which is the best resort of Costa Blanca. There are also shops full of goods of famous brands like Zara and Lacoste in the main street of the resort. There are a lot of specialized shops there as well. There is a small shop, for example, where only Flying Teddies are sold or a specialized shop of the uniform and the symbols of FC Barcelona.
Shopping in the province of Castellon will be interesting for those people who appreciate real, unique and hand-made things. Castellon is not an industrial part of the country, that is why many unique things are made there by hand at small family workshops. You can buy the objects of family life made of ceramics, different lamps, candle-sticks and stands in many small shops of Costa Azahar.
