 |
| Fallas crowd |
Hola from Valencia. Home of Las Fallas, Valencia's largest and craziest festival. It is all built around neighborhoods making and then burning down gigantic effigies. It starts next week, but apparently we are in "pre-Fallas". We had heard from our landlord that at 2:00 every day this week there is a "mascletas" fireworks display, which is really just lots and lots of NOISE, like Ariel bombs, that go for 5 minutes down at city hall. Yesterday we heard them from the apartment, today we went down there. CRAZY. There are literally thousands and thousands of people.
 |
We stood by a woman from Valencia who spoke good English. She warned us not to
cover our ears but to keep our mouths open so as not to burst your eardrums. At exactly 2:00
the Ariel bombs went off for a full 5 minutes. Incredible! The earth shook. |
 |
| big traffic jam afterward. |
Honestly, it was thrilling and stupid at the same time. At the end the people waved and clapped. I didn't get it.
Then we walked out of this mass of humanity and went t the bullfighting ring which is right by the train station.
We had a Valencia Pass that got us in for only 1 euro. Fun to see, but again, bullfighting is not my sort of thing.
 |
| Train station, beautiful |
 |
| Board where you see where your train will leave from |
 |
| beautiful mosaics in the station |
 |
| Bull ring--getting ready for Fallas |
We went into the bull ring. It is all ready for the big Fallas week.
Then we went into the Bullfighting museum, which was sort of cool. The matadors are like legends (as are the bulls) in Spain.
 |
| famous bulls |
We watched a movie of a bullfight. Lots of pageantry, lots of tradition, but at the end the bull dies and that was gross. So we are thinking....no bull fight for us.
It was a gorgeous day, so we jumped on a couple of buses and went back to the sea side. Please notice we are both wearing color today, and short sleeves!
 |
| Jerry showing pictures of fish to a fisherman on the beach |
 |
| Ugly black shoes have no place here. |
 |
| The bar we would go to later. |
 |
| Jerry is goin' in |
It is beautiful and sandy, and hardly anyone there. They think it is cold, but after Iowa this seems fabulous.
 |
| like pelican lake when we put the dock in |
 |
| Another pitcher of Sangria and this time nuts, olives and |
 |
| garlic shrimp. Yum |
We tarried there for a long time, then hopped back on a bus and went as far as the Turia park which is a city scape that is public space and gorgeous. We walked and walked. Gorgeous day.
 |
| New ferris wheel....like the London Eye |
 |
| love the palm trees |
 |
| Iris are almost finished |
 |
| Crocus are everywhere |
 |
| orange tree |
 |
| Don't ever complain about gas prices. 3.58 per Liter not gallon. |
got back to the apartment about 6:30 pm tired but happy.
Trying this again. Hope this will post this time. The flea market thing was great. I would love it. The art work is great, it must be great to actually see it not just a picture. I'm with you on so many people able to do so much during the week.
ReplyDeleteDee Ann
Dee Reed
Again, thanks for sharing. This blogging thing is pretty cool. The meat market photos from yesterday were fantastic.
ReplyDeleteLove your photos and descriptions. Next time you are in the market, buy some Manchego cheese, some quince spread to put on the cheese slices, and some Marcona almonds! Yummmmm! :-)
ReplyDeleteDee Ann it's good see you are following along. Leave your cell phone on at work and I will give you a call. Yes the flea market would be awesome for you.
ReplyDelete