Huelva, the back streets

Monday, March 29, 2010

Las Fallas: Valencia, Weekend the Fifth

The night before: out, having a good time our usual spot (The Buddah Bar), being very tranquilo, saying farewell to yet another friend and all is going to be well tomorrow.

07:30 - We get up, shower, eat, still very mellow, catch a cab to the train station, get there, go to the platform and say farewell to our train, this time, rolling out the station.
Swearing and stomping our feet, missing the train by a mere 2 minutes, we set off to buy another ticket to get to Cordoba, high speed, and change to our actual ride.

17:00 - Arrive in Valencia. As we steam through the city, we already sight some of the colourful, strange Fallas. Quick pitstop at the flat we were staying at and we meet up with a local friend (Miguel) that graciously took it upon himself to act as our tourguide.

Definition of the annual fiesta: Grand, obscene wooden structures, designed by various artists, painted and decorated to perfection and set aligght by the Fallarita Mayor (basically the richest girl in town, dressed in rich fabrics and jewelry, that ascts as the face of the festival for the week) to burn down with loud crackles of fire and crackers, each in it's turn.

Theme of Fallas 2010: Satire of various celebrities and political figures.

Duration: One week. Starting on the 15th until the 19th of March.

What to expect: lots of parties, Agua de Valencia (mixture of Cava, Vodka and orange juice), screaming, fireworks, bunelos (little fried cookies made of pumpkin, served with icing sugar), labyrinths of people, Fallaritas Minoras in traditional festive clothing parading around and overall madness.


After all the excitement and radical sighthings, the rest of the weekend was spent leisurely exploring the great city. We made a visit to well-known buildings, the spectacular old part of the city and an awesome Science Museum. There Cesare Pavese taught us that "the richness in life, lies in the memories we have forgotten."

Salud.

1 comment:

  1. Ola chica's!
    Dit lyk, en klink insanly lekker in Spain. Karla het vir my van julle awesome blog vertel toe ek bietjie gaan kuier het by die huis, dit rerig goed gedoen! Hoe is julle werk? Eet julle genoeg? Wanneer kom julle terug huistoe? (Gaan daar so dag wees?) Die foto's van julle is baie mooi, keep them coming. Marcelle gaan jy nog volgende jaar Grahmstown toe kom? O ja as jy terug kom SA toe, my bad oor die 80 miscalls op jou foon, wou net gese het geluk met jou verjaarsdag en julle moet julle trip geniet. Gotto go, het nou vlug. Geniet die dag. P.S het julle 'n vaste adress?
    Baie Liefde Michelle (lallie)

    ReplyDelete