Bird's eye view (Part II)

Valencia Sailing is not the only institution taking detailed pictures of Valencia and its surroundings. The American observation satellite EarthSat is also scanning the globe, providing some extraordinary footage of our planet. Obtaining such photos was only for the privileged few until Keyhole and Google made it possible to access these detailed photos with just a computer, an internet connection and a small program.

Offering its readers another world exclusive, Valencia Sailing now provides access to these spectacular snapshots of the world's sailing capital, Valencia, using Keyhole. We have set up a collection of important sites in and around Valencia, in various categories.

All you have to do is go to Keyhole's website (www.keyhole.com), download the program Keyhole 2LT and install it. You can have a 7-day free trial or buy one year's subscription at US$29.95. Believe us, these could be the best-spent 30 dollars for the next 2 years. You have the ability to zoom in on an area with a spectacular resolution, up to the point of recognizing the cars on the roads.

Once you have installed the program and opened it, you can literally fly to all locations using the links from the new section on the right-hand bar called "Valencia Satellite Views". Let's say you want to see where the Malvarossa beach is and what it looks like. Go to the "Beaches" section and save the link "Playa Malvarossa" on your disk. You can then open it through Keyhole and fly to Malvarossa beach at an altitude of 1,000 meters. Of course, you are then free to zoom in, looking for your cousin swiming there, or zoom out and locate the beach relative to the rest of the city.

Are you an avid golf player? Save the "Golf El Saler" link and see the course exactly as it is. You can verify that if you hit the ball hard you may reach the yachts training at El Saler.

Will you be staying at the "Neptuno" hotel? Save its coresponding file and see whether it is as close to the Darsena as you have been told.

We will be constantly adding locations in and around Valencia. If you are interested in a particular site just email us and we'll put the corresponding link.

Note: All pictures of Valencia's area were taken a year ago and as a result you will not be able to see the latest changes. Nevertheless, all Keyhole links are dynamic, meaning that when the satellite passes again over Valencia (or any other place on earth) and the image database is updated, you will be able to access the latest snapshot. This undoubtedly is much preferable to a static picture on our website.