Las Fallas — Suzi Schatz

So I was hoping this post would be all pictures but I'm still waiting for Ashley to send them to me as my phone / camera died pretty early in the night.

Let's start with Ashley who I met via the Spanish classes. She's a much higher level in Spanish than I am as she's been doing the intensive course for 3 months and I only did it for 3 weeks. I think she's B2 and I'm only A1, the lowest. The highest again is C2 before Proficiency. Ashley is only 17 years old and has traveled to more countries than most people I know combined. She is incredibly mature and we got along perfectly. She also gave me so many travel tips that will be incredibly helpful. When we were leaving Valencia she headed off to Barcelona for a few days before going to Hong Kong (she lived there for a year) to be with her boyfriend for a few weeks and then she was to head home to finish high school. Yup - she really is an amazing person.

Anyway, we left Madrid after we both graduated from our intensive Spanish courses and took a blablacar (an app similar to Uber but for people already going to a destination and posting to see if anyone else needs a ride). It was a great way to go and SUPER cheap. Round trip was only about €30. When we got there, we took a train to Rafelguaraf. Where Luis picked us up. Rafelguaraf is a Puebla about 40 kilometers outside Valencia. We got to his house - which was amazing and he immediately offered is a beer (love Spain).

Luis's kitchen, dining room and some of the living room — Luis's kitchen, dining room and some of the living room

We were starving so Luis recommended a place for us to eat. Then we were going to head to the next town to go to a club but towards the end of dinner Luis invited us to the fiesta for his pueblos Fallas. Apparently, each of the surrounding pueblos has its own celebrations and they burn their own Fallas. We got to the party and this woman started yelling at us. We told her that Luis invited us and she let us in. It was such a ghetto party in an abandoned space with this foam door and brick walls. They were such amazing people. So warm and welcoming and they had an open bar and kept offering us drinks. Needless to say, I took full advantage. Then of course we got lost going back to Luis's house.

The next day we slept a little late and got into Valencia for the 2:00 firework display. It's amazing how many fireworks they set off all at once. Watch your volume if you play the audio.

The significance of the fireworks are as follows: Every day at 2pm firecrackers rip through the Plaza del Ayuntamiento in an noisy event called la Mascleta. This concert of gunpowder is very popular and involves different neighborhood groups competing for the most impressive volley, ending with the terremoto, (literally means "earthquake") as hundreds of masclets exploding simultaneously. While this may not be for the frail or faint-fainthearted, you understand how hearted, the Valencians got their valiant name (to read more go to http://www.valencia-cityguide.com/tourist-information/leisure/festivals/the-fallas.html). Then we walked through the city and saw some Fallas on our way to see the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of the Arts and Sciences), which is a futuristic complex housing that you see when you google Valencia.

Another Falla (and keep in mind - all these were set on fire later that night)

Then we wondered back to the downtown and stopped for some tapas. While we were eating we saw them build a mini structure out of old palettes with a small beautiful Fallas on top. They of course they burned it. I still have no clue why. Then we were trying to get to the main plaza for the burning of some of the Fallas but we got stuck in a square where we found ourselves against the barrier in front of the first place winner of the Fallas contest. It was still about 2.5 hours before they were going to burn it and we were thinking about leaving but then I said a were here in the front row and if we leave we may not see anything. At least where we were we'd be front row. Ashley agreed so we stayed. By this time my phone was dead so Ashley got all the great pics. When she sends them I'll post them. She also got a video with her GoPro camera so hopefully that came out well.

When that ended, we started to make our way back to the train station. We figured if we got back earlier we could be up earlier the next day to see some more sights. On the way, we got Bunyols the traditional pastry of Valencia. We caught the train and walked the 40 kilometers back to Luis house. Yes, the station had no taxi's.

The next day, we did get up early, walked the 40 kilometers back to the train station and headed back to Valencia. The plan was to see the Fallas museum. Every year they choose the best Fallas and save it from being burned. They keep all the winners in the museum. We never made it there though because we found out about the bullfight that was going on. Tickets were cheap so we said what the heck. Ashley left about 40 mins into it to catch her bus to Barcelona and I stayed another hour and left to catch my car. Yes, this time I missed the end. In case you don't know, at the end they kill the bull. I really don't want to see that but I may have to.

Then I caught my BlaBlaCar back home to Madrid. I'm pretty sure I got about 7 hours of sleep that weekend but boy was it worth it!!! I can't wait to see the pics.

Blog - My Spanish Sojourn