Cabecera Park

This guide to Cabecera Park in Valencia opens with a puzzle: why does a barrier arm guard the entrance to a park that costs nothing to enter? It traces the park's 2004 opening along the old bed of the river Turia, and the arrival next door of Bioparc Valencia, a naturalistic zoo that opened in 2008 at roughly three times its planned budget. You will hear how the private company running the zoo ended up carrying tens of millions in mortgage debt, forcing the city council into a long refinancing plan just to keep its gates open. Follow the path down to the artificial lake, where a small dock still rents out rowboats by the hour.