Like Mardi Gras in New Orleans or the 4th of July in the US, a lot of cities in Spain have their own annual fiestas that have been going on for decades. One of the most important of these festivals in all of Spain is called Las Fallas, (the torches) and it is a week long celebration in Valencia, Spain (about 3 hours down the coast from Barcelona)
We learned about this festival in a bunch of my classes and all of my professors could not talk enough about how wonderful it was, so when I friend from my Spanish class invited me to go the the finale of the week with him, I just couldn't pass it up!
The locals in Valencia spend the whole year building these elaborate floats and during the week they parade them around the city, always shooting off fire crackers and lighting fireworks. For the grand finale of the festival, the floats are ranked and all but the first place "fallas" are burned! It is very hard to explain, but there is a lot of cultural significance and it was really incredible to see.
We got up early on Thursday the 19th and took the train to Valencia. We arrived around noon and the city was already packed, everyone is just walking around on the streets shopping at vendors, checking out the floats which are positioned in all of the 4-way intersections and eating fried foods like chocolate and churros and bunyoles (like friend donuts)...Of course I tried some of each!
We checked out some of the floats and vendors, grabbed lunch and then decided to head out of the crowds for a little to explore. We walked outside of the center city and found a very nice park and playground and eventually made it to Oceanographic, the largest aquarium in Europe. After just seeing the building we decided we had to go it. We spent about 3.5 hours there, it was so neat!!
After that we continued our walk to the beach. Valencia has a GORGEOUS coast. By this point it was around 6:30pm so we took the opportunity to lay down in the sand for a while and enjoy the sights and sounds of the sea and all of the people hanging out on the beach.
New friends from U of Illinois, Ben & JoshAround 8 we headed back towards the action and met up with some friends of my travel partners for dinner. Valencia is known to have the best paella in all of Spain, so we just had to try it. We enjoyed chicken paella and sangria dinner at a nice outdoor cafe and it did not disappoint!
Behind one of Las Fallas
After dinner is when the real fun began. Around 10pm they burned the smaller floats so that the children could watch. Everyone was walking around and gathering in the squares by the huge floats. At midnight, all of the large floats were lit. The floats had fireworks on the inside that went off once they started burning and there were sparklers and firecrackers hanging across the streets. It was amazing so see, and we had a great vantage point. It was HOT!! We watched the third place float burn...
Before and After
Third place Falla, my favorite...
and then started wandering around to look at the smoldering remains. The firefighters and street cleaners were already hard at work. This is when we enjoyed some churros and checked out some local cafes. We couldn't catch the train home until 5:15am but we had a blast!! The day flew and it was an unforgettable experience that I am thrilled I had the opportunity to see.
and then started wandering around to look at the smoldering remains. The firefighters and street cleaners were already hard at work. This is when we enjoyed some churros and checked out some local cafes. We couldn't catch the train home until 5:15am but we had a blast!! The day flew and it was an unforgettable experience that I am thrilled I had the opportunity to see.
It is so important to jump at these once-in -a-lifetime experiences and I'm so happy that I have such wonderful people to share my adventures with!!
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