This is the Valencia Cathedral, and this grand portal is called the Apostles' Gate. Every week, on Thursdays, just before noon, eight men in black smocks gather at this door, sit in a circle, and hold court. This is the Water Tribunal, and it is widely called the oldest functioning court of justice in the world. For more than a thousand years, these men have settled disputes between farmers over who takes how much water from the ancient irrigation channels that feed the fields. Remember, I mentioned this court while we were at Mercado Central. Now, look at the tower to your right. The city calls this octagonal bell tower El Micalet. If you climb about two hundred steps, you can get an unobstructed view across the whole old town and out to the sea. However, you need a ticket to enter. Now, let me draw your attention to the cathedral. If you wish to enter, you’ll have to pay a fee of about ten euros. Inside, in a chapel, sits a cup that a great many people believe is the Holy Grail, the very cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper. The Vatican has never officially declared this to be the true Grail. But two modern popes have celebrated Mass using this very cup, which is not something they do casually. The cup itself—or at least the ancient stone bowl at its center has been dated by scholars to the right place and time in history, making it a believable candidate for the original cup. So, of all the cups in the world claiming the title, this is the only one two popes have actually raised at the altar. Make of that what you will. How did it get to Valencia? According to legends, this sacred cup had already travelled for centuries, passed through Christian hands, hidden during times of danger, and protected through war and persecution. By the fifteenth century, it had come into the possession of the Crown of Aragon. Its guardian was King Alfonso the Fifth of Aragon, known as Alfonso the Magnanimous. Facing the enormous costs of war, he sent the chalice to Valencia as part of a royal financial pledge, a kind of collateral for debts. And he never came back for it. During the Spanish Civil War, when churches across the city were burning, this sacred cup had to be smuggled out of this building and hidden. The man responsible for it turned to the daughter of his landlady, a young woman named María Sabina Suey. She wrapped the cup in a sheet of newspaper, tucked it under her arm, and walked it out of the cathedral. She hid it for close to two years, moving it from one hiding place to another, always one step ahead of the next search. During one of the searches, a militia commander pulled open a drawer and saw the cup sitting right there. He looked at it, closed the drawer, and said nothing. And later, he quietly warned Sabina that her life was in danger. His silence saved both the relic and the woman protecting it. When the war finally ended, the cup came back. It was returned in a ceremony, and Valencia had its Grail again, because of a young woman, the second of the three heroes of our story, and an enemy who looked away. Now, follow the map to a place where you can see the very bones of the Roman city. However, you will have to buy a ticket to explore this. So, if you are not interested, stand here and listen to the next stop while looking at the images in the Photos Tab.