Valencia to-day, as befits the capital of a rich, prosperous province, is a handsome, modern progressive city. There is little or nothing about to remind one of its erstwhile masters, the Moors, and it has not retained more monuments of its past than most other cities. Interesting it is not from the sightseer's point of view, nor convenient from a stranger's, since indications of the names of the streets are few and far between. New avenues are being formed, and in these magnificent houses are arising, all happily in different styles, original and individual, forming a contrast to the dull uniformity of most Continental town perspectives. At two points the town is entered by massive gates of the castellated type--the Torres de Serranos and de Cuarte. The former date from the fourteenth century, and have two octagonal towers with heavy machicolations at two-thirds of their height; the machicolation is continued across the connecting storey, which is richly panelled above the narrow archway. The Torres de Cuarte are drum towers, similarly flanking a gateway; in this case the parapet is itself borne on corbels and machicolated. The work dates from the fifteenth century. These towers add much to the picturesqueness of their respective quarters. The Citadel, in another part of the town, replaces the old temple built in 1238 by the Knights Templars on the spot where the Aragonese planted their cross on entering Valencia. It contains the chapel where St. Vicente Ferrer, "the Angel of the Judgment," took the habit of St. Dominic. [Illustration: MALAGA--A PICADOR] A glance at the Cathedral and the Lonja, and we shall have "done" Valencia in the tourist's sense. The former building was founded in the year 1262 on the site of the principal mosque. In it the Kings of Aragon took the oath as Kings of Valencia. Repeatedly restored, and "modernized" in 1750, it presents a dreadful jumble of styles, and is far behind the cathedrals of Andalusia in beauty and interest. The Micalet Tower, however, rising at the end of the Calle de Zaragoza, presents a striking appearance. It is the great landmark of the district, and the Valencians refer to exile as "losing sight of the Micalet." The view from the summit is very fine. The main entrance to the Cathedral is poor, but the north door, called the Puerta de los Apostoles, richly sculptured and delicately moulded, exhibits the skill and imagery of the fourteenth century at its best. Above the interesting semicircular Puerta del Palau are seen on medallions the heads of seven men and seven women--these representing the seven knights of the Conquest and the seven ladies (some say of Valencia, and others of Lerida) whom they married. From these alliances sprang the nobility of the province. This doorway was evidently constructed by the architect who designed the Puerta dels Infants at Lerida.