While we were on our way to Valencia for Las Fallas (more about that below), we ended up in the town of Almeria as we needed a toilet break and CS was lured by a picture of grilled meat he saw by the roadside. It turned out to a totally correct decision as the pork ribs were absolutely delicious. There was only another table in the restaurant other than us but the food was so so yummy. Just look!!!
Charcoal grilled pork ribs!!!
We eventually arrived in Valencia after lots of driving and it was Fallas hunting from there onwards. The whole reason we were in Valencia was for the Fallas festival and not for the oranges (haha...), though they are really quite yummy. CS saw a picture of the festival in Rough Guides and since he’s actually a closet arsonist he just had to see this festival where they burn burn burn.
Structures taller than buildings!
Larger than life!
Smaller ones competing in kids categories
To give you some background information, according to Frommers, Las Fallas is supposed to have pagan origins where carpenters would throw out offcuts of wood into the street and set fire on them to welcome spring. It has evolved though into a huge festival where each neighbourhood will produce fallas and compete for the top prize. The festival itself is 2 weeks long but the city is most crowded in the two days leading up to March 19 when the fallas are "cremated" and the entire city goes up in flames (La Crema!). The fallas are usually made (some may costs up to $500K euros) according to a theme and are meant to be a satirical jab at anything from religion to politics and films to football. We saw quite a few fallas that poked fun at certain politicians and also the events that were taking place such as the protests taking place in the Middle East. During the 2 weeks, there are various events taking place and the whole city is just one big party.
the Comical..
the Dark..
the Beautiful.
One of the first things you have to know about Las Fallas is that during that period, kids and adults go crazy lighting firecrackers, petards (something that explodes and sounds like you are in a warzone) and borrachos (tubes which once ignited, move around in frantic thrusts, with a long tail of sparks coming out of them). The firecrackers and borrachos are fun but petards are seriously annoying cos its seriously loud. We had one thrown near us while we were waiting for La Crema (when they burn the falla) and I think I went deaf for the rest of the night.
How man has evolved from Adam to a bazooka wielding baboon.
We spent the four days in Valencia "fallas hunting" (as I call it) and it was quite fun. As all the fallas are burnt on March 19 and the 800+ fallas are spread all over the city, you have to look for one you liked so you can go camp there on the night of March 19 and see it burn. Some of the fallas were very impressive and we kept detouring from where we were going as we kept seeing fallas at every corner. The most amazing thing is that you turn one corner and there’s a falla, and then at another corner you see another one. They actually print a map which shows you where the top fallas are located, they also have smaller ones throughout which are not marked so it’s a bit of a treasure hunt.
Spanish theme?
Some of the fallas were quite amazing and you can actually pay to get up close to the falla. There was one we paid where you can actually go inside the falla and they even had performances by a student theatre group!!! Very cool. They also had a booklet which explains the various parts of the falla and what it symbolise which was rather interesting to read.
Hordes of people everywhere
Day and night
Other than fallas hunting, we also attended the other events held throughout the festival, one of them being the Mascleta where they set off fireworks in the afternoon at Plaza del Ayuntamiento. Yes its afternoon and you can’t actually see the fireworks but the point of the event is to hear the explosions and not see the fireworks. We had a good spot the first time we attended the Mascieta and during that period, everyone is silent and I mean everyone. It was quite magical actually. The best Mascieta is the last day of Las Fallas and I must say it was seriously good. While we were stuck in the middle of the street and not exactly near Plaza del Ayunmiento, the explosions were still great and definitely better than what we heard on the first day. Spaniards, just like us are also quite kiasu and people fill up Plaza del Ayunmiento quite early to secure a good spot just for this.
Amazed by the shear size and effort in building this art sculptures
Another event they have is the Castillo, which is fireworks at night. This was totally magical. The first two nights, we saw it from our hotel but we went downtown on the third night for the Nit de foc (Night of Fire Fireworks Display) and that was totally fantastic. It was held at 1.30am but there were so many people out, families, elderly couples, youngsters etc that it felt quite safe. It kinda felt like the whole city was out in full force, along with all the Spaniards from other cities. The fireworks lasted a good 15 minutes and it totally beats hands down any fireworks display in Singapore, even the ones during National Day Parade. They had all types of fireworks, ones that burst again after bursting, ones with different colors at one go, it was just spectacular. We didn’t take much pictures cos we were too busy staring at them in awe. We had to walk like mad to catch the metro back to our hotel afterwards but it was totally worth it. Oh one of the great things is that the metro runs 24 hours during Las Fallas (I think) and they had night buses so it was still easy to get back.
Awesome fireworks display
After all the pictures, can you guess which falla we went to watch burn? All will be revealed in the next entry, hehe…
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