Mar 15: Our European tour: Valencia - Mar 13 - 15

Friday 13 March

Another journey on the toll roads - mainly for speed but also because it was getting hotter and we didn't want to be in the car for longer than we needed and sometimes the distance showed 4.5 hours on the toll roads or 7.5 hours on ordinary roads - for the sake of a few euros it was a no brainer!

... which was fine until we got to Barcelona in the rush hour!!  But it wasn't too bad and at least the traffic kept moving and thinned out once we left the city.

So - to Valencia!  This is where the sat nav really comes into its own as we were staying right in the centre near to the old part of town.  Dora did us proud and directed us to the address with very little stress and hassle.  Only one thing - wrong address!...

So we parked up and rang Susana who said she'd come down to meet us.  As the car was parked a little way from the address Mike stayed with the car while I stood outside the address and waited, and waited...

Several missed/cut off phone calls later Susana arrived - on foot, from the flat which luckily was only a few minutes away.  For some reason I had the address of her BANK as the flat address.  It must have been something to do with paying the deposit...

As lots of the roads were closed due to the Fallas we had to take the car on a long circuitous route to get back round the corner.  I moved stuff to get in the back so that Susana could get in the front.  She looked most puzzled and asked if we wanted her to drive - she hadn't spotted it was a British car!

So we got to the flat and arrived at the top floor by a complicated system of keys.  There then followed a bit of a farce as she wanted to show us how to get back down to the parking spot which could only be accessed with a key via the lift.  She managed to set off on her own in the lift (Mike was in a panic as he thought that she was doing a runner - but as I told him - we were in the flat!!) but came back up.  The second time she managed to throw the keys out of the lift before disappearing again but the third time we did it all properly.

It was very funny.

So we unpacked a bit and then set off for a short walk - which turned out to be a long walk...

Valencia is preparing to celebrate St Joseph's Day.  The fiestas start on 15 March and finish on 19 March.  Actually they start in February  with the official invitation to take part but the 'biggie' is 15 to 19.  It is thought that the tradition started with carpenters many years ago who made figures out of left over bits of wood at the end of winter before burning them to herald the spring.  And they made them in honour of the greatest carpenter - Jesus' dad Joseph! 

Today every neighbour hood has its own 'falla' - big effigy/figure/giant sculpture which stands at either a crossroads or in a square and is made of flammable materials such as wood, cardboard etc.  they are all surrounded at the base by smaller figures or 'ninots'.  The ones we have seen so far are much more sophisticated than those I saw nearly 40 years ago!!  The neighbourhood spends most of the year building these (and probably several months beforehand deciding what to do) - they are there for a few days - and then they burn them!!

This one was based on 'the Origin of Species' and will light up.  It even had a small model showing how it was developed.  We intended to go back to see it when it was finished but we never saws it again...

The figures are all based on things such as fairy tales (for the children's falla which is judged before the main one), or topical events, celebrities - or a lot of political ones.  

A lot of the fallas were based on political corruption this year we were told!!  

As we didn't have the info on them we just wandered around and enjoyed looking at them.

Some of them were absolutely huge!...

It was really interesting as many of them were still being built so we could see the wood inside them.    There are huge cranes everywhere with lots of people shouting directions. This was one of the figures being added to the construction - the man lifting it had to make sure that he cleared the telephone wires as an extra obstacle!  

When it was eventually slotted in place a bit more spray paint was added (even though it is high up in the air and you can't see that bit!) and it was buffed up before they come down to start on the next bit.  Often they get a round of applause for each bit they do!...

So they do all this - the big ones cost thousands of euros - the lion in the Town Hall square cost about 100,000 euros!! (about £70,000) And at midnight on 19 March they are all burned!  All except for one small figure (ninot) from one of them which is kept in the Fallas museum.

We stopped for a meal at a little bar next to a tent belting out live music. 

Between the music, the firecrackers (more of those later), the drums and the screams and chatter it's all very good natured and NOISY!

We tried the Valencian special - can't remember the name but it was something with peppers and salted cod fish- quite nice but we won't have it again.  

But Mike was quite happy as he found battered baby squid on the menu - his favourite!...

And as we ate another small band appeared out of a nearby tent and drummed and trumpeted of into the next street.  

Followed by lots of people dancing - and for some reason a man dressed in a Spanish dress...

So - we decided to set off back.  We had a small map with us and had carefully followed the walkway along the (now dry!) Turia river bed to reach the the old part of town.

We had tried to stay in one corner in that area but had obviously wandered off course after being distracted by all the sights and sounds.

So we were lost.  

We asked several times and set off several times.  

We walked most of the way down the Gran Via - the wrong way.  

We walked back again - and eventually found our way but we reckon we did at least 4 or 5 miles - so much for our short stroll.

Saturday 14 March 

Bit of rain!  But only for an hour so we set off on another short (?!*?!) walk around the area.  We found the metro (for future reference) and made our way back towards where we were staying.  They were putting up another of the children's fallas nearby so we settled down on some bar stools outside in the sunshine with a coffee and some toast with oil and tomato (we've gone native!) to watch them.

The man who owned the bar chatted to us and gave us a book about the Fallas - and a flag!  Nice man.  Apparently the girl from their neighbourhood had won the prize for best young Valencian fallera - sort of best dressed local costume - and it may have also been something to do with a poem - not sure about that.  But he was very pleased as it's a big deal to win with entrants from all over the city - and her picture was in the book!

We watched as they tried to put the trapeze artist up on top of the other figure.  It took them ages as they couldn't get it to slot in - but it was quite funny to watch him dangling about in the air.  But they did it eventually - they must all be so finely balanced!...

Think we have adopted this bar as our local - and they are making paella there tomorrow, and there's dancing and live music - but most importantly it's just around the corner so we know where we are!!

Oh the firecrackers!  Well - they are everywhere.  Big noisy ones, little quiet ones, bangers, some like bits of old rope (these are the lighters), some you stamp on like our bangers.  They are EVERYWHERE.  And they are all being set off by kids!!  'Elf and safety' would never allow it back in Blighty.  It would be a man in a safety jacket setting light to them with a long pole behind a 50 yard barrier whilst the kids watched.  But not here.  Their parents buy them - all sorts of weird and wonderful names (like our fireworks) but they are for the kids and it's a large part of the tradition.

And just to make it a bit more interesting every day over the fiestas at 2pm they set off firecrackers, fireworks and bangers in the Town Hall square.  It is some sort of competition to see which neighbourhood can make the most noise!  I suppose it's so the adults don't feel left out...

We were outside a bar having a beer - probably about 2 miles from the centre and we could still hear them!

Each area has its name in lights!...

We set off in the afternoon to walk into the old part (again!) - by a different route this time.  After a short while we passed a supermarket selling fresh milk - we'd spent ages in the morning looking for one but hadn't seen anything.  So we went in, bought a few bits and pieces and carried them back to the flat - makes you realise how lucky we are having Tesco and a car at home!!

So we set off again and more by luck then judgement ended up in the centre.  Lots of activity - they are still putting final touches and pieces to lots of the figurines and we saw lots of new ones as well as some we'd seen previously.  It was nice just to wander...

That was as far as we got with culture, guide books etc - back to the Fallas... We reckon we have seen maybe 30 or 40 of them - there are about 350 all around the city - most of them with an adult and a child tableau...

Still waiting for two wheels this one...

A dove had been added to the lion's head... 

I love this granny with her warty chin and wrinkles (think I can empathise - say nothing Callum!!) - must remember to ask what the things sticking out of her hair signify...

Robin even has his own shop here!...

And everywhere you go there are bands and music...

Sunday 15 March

More sunshine - even though it had not been forecast - but we were not complaining!

We went round to our local with the idea of having paella for lunch as we knew they would be cooking it for the fiesta.

As we were early we decided to sit down and have a beer. 'Sol o sombra?' our host asked.  'Sol' we said.  As there was only space in the shade he just picked a table up from inside his bar and plopped it down on the street outside.  A couple of chairs and we were sorted and people just walked round us!

They had put bouncy castles and a climbing wall up for the children so it was quite nice just to sit and watch them all playing (accompanied by the usual pops, bangs and booms of the fireworks of course!)  We asked for some tapas so first of all we had olives and peanuts with our drinks.  Then he bought us a plate of freshly fried squid rings with a spicy garlic mayonnaise... and then patatas bravas... and then a plate of pan fried cuttlefish - Mike's favourite - he loves his squid!... and then a hot from the pan, freshly made tortilla!

So much for the paella!!  We couldn't even finish all that lot.  But he cheerfully put the half tortilla we'd left in a little bag for us as a takeaway and we asked him to save some paella for us for later so that we didn't miss out.

We could quite cheerfully have gone for a snooze after that lot but decided instead to make the most of the sunshine and go back to the old part of town to see things in daylight!  But not walking - on the metro - much easier.  So... more Fallas pictures...

Such detail on some of these - even down to little pearls on the sleeves and cuticles on the nails...

 We hadn't realised the significance of the wooden framed Virgin but we found out later... And yes, that was Mr Bean walking around with his teddy!...

So back on the metro - to find the lift was broken - and we are on the 6th floor!  More walking.  Oh joy...

And just as a little aside.  It was Mother's day (I'd forgotten) and Mike gave me a card from Ema which he had squirreled away somewhere in his luggage.  That was a nice surprise. Then Luisa asked if I'd found her card which had been hidden in the bag of onesies (more about them later in Tondos!) - which I hadn't as that bag hadn't been taken from the boot as it wasn't needed until the Cuenca leg of our journey.

So off we went to find our car in the subterranean depths of this block of flats - and after much rummaging about with a torch in the dark I found the card!  Thank you Luisa!

So - back for the paella - very nice too...




















And then we watched the adult Fallera queen (sort of May Queen for the Fallas) go up in the crane to place the final piece on the falla - a plume of feathers on the head of the lady on the horse.

This was a picture from the newspaper showing the town Hall square with the lion in it (and the area up and down from it) filled with people for the 'mascleta' - all 90,000 of them!

The mascleta is a short ceremony held there every day at 2pm where they left off tonnes (literally!) of fireworks, firecrackers and bangers to make as big a noise as possible!  The huge plume of smoke is from that.

We haven't managed to be in the square at that time but it can still be heard for miles anyway!  The noise of just one or two of the bigger ones as they land nearby and go off when you are walking about is quite enough for me!...

One or two other facts we have been told - the cost of the lion in the square was actually nearer to 180,000 euros rather than 100,000 - so about £130,000 rather than the £70,000 we were first told.

The smaller circus horse and trapeze act in our adopted 'barrio' cost about 20,000 euros to build - about £15,000 - and remember that this is only an area of a few streets - and there are over 300 of these scattered around the city.  Big money!!