Final night of Fallas for us

It is 00h31 and the parade of beautifully gowned women continues. By tomorrow the Virgin will be completely decorated with the bouquets offered by the masses.

The dress is made up of thousands of red and white bouquets offered  to  la Virgen de los Desamparados -- the Virgin of the Forsaken

Party In Valencia

Life in the streets of Valencia took on a definitely serious party air today. The streets are absolutely packed with people. the firecrackers are flying wildly. I have never seen such a high level of professional partying!

We walked all day and saw well over 50 falla structures. They generally are using the financial crisis and Germany and France's domination in the euro zone as their satirical themes.

This is the most serious festival I have ever seen. Valencia really knows how to throw a party!!

This neighborhood was having a paella cook off.  There were more than 20 of these impromptu fire pits cooking.  It smelled so incredible!  It is the men who cook paella when it is cooked outside and women who cook it when it is prepared on the stove.

So this is SuperLady who is supporting on her back the kids, the shopping, the ironing and a husband who is a slacker in his underwear watching soccer!

This Falla was commenting on the financial crisis.  Note the broken open safes in the foreground.  I love how they mixed the fun for the kids to see with the sharp political commentary for the adults.

A Bit of This and a Smidgen of That in Valencia

The symbolism here is funny...The traditional paella is made with rabbit and chicken.    That is a paella pan at their feet!

This was a room in a bar/café in Valencia.  Someone has a bit of the hoarder in them!

The tiled underside of balconies on a beautiful building in Valencia

Lunch at El Tossal

One of the best things about traveling with someone who really knows the lay of the land is letting them introduce you to the local cuisine.

Today we ate lunch at El Tossal in Valencia. We began with a gazpacho sorbet sprinkled with olive oil and sea salt. The starters were calamari coated with a tempura batter that was made using the squid ink giving it a dense sea flavor in addition to a deep black color and a bowl of clams steeped on a broth heavy with chunks of garlic and lemon. The main dish was a large skillet of rice with darkish rooms and langoustines. Finally we had dishes of spring fresh strawberries with a scoop of homemade ice cream.

The restaurant has a wall in its cellar room that dates back to the time of the Moors in Spain. As a historical artifact, they are not allowed to touch it so they have incorporated the wall into the architecture.

Now it's time for a siesta to re-energize ourselves for the parties tonight!

Moorish wall

Arroz with Langostine

Women's Restroom with Moorish wall!  Cool way to make a protected artifact part of the decor!!

Clams with Lemon and Garlic

Gazpacho sorbet

So Much to See!

Every plaza, every street there are lights and falla sculpture...monuments...not really sure what you could call them in English. They are like the size of a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade float, but they stay in one place and you parade to them!

After a fabulous dinner at Gonza's family's apartment of a Spanish tortilla, tuna and rafe tomatoes, Iberian jamon, fresh strawberries and a really yummy sponge type cake with a cream filling, Mel and I opted out of the midnight fireworks. Gonza and Mike were real die hards and walked over to the riverbed to watch. The booms heard throughout Valencia was enough to tell me that I probably should have gathered my energy and gone with the guys...oh well there are more to come!

Merkel and Sarko!

First Prize for Lighting Display...No surprise there!  This was so immense and amazingly cool!

Day 3 In Valencia

The energy and noise level increases with each passing day. Each night we go to bed one hour later. Fallas is heating up! We have been told that as the music goes until 3am on Friday and Saturday, we might as well just stay up and dance!

Valencia now sounds like a war zone. Ever male over the age of 7 seems to be addicted to the sound and smell of fireworks. Every 15 seconds it seems you hear bangs reverberating down the narrow streets. We were told to bring earplugs as it will go all night. I used them last night to sleep, but we will have to wear them 24/7 starting tonight!

Today we took a day away from the noise and crowds to walk and have lunch by the beach. Seafood paella and beautiful sunshine!!

The madness of the partying begins tonight so we are done with the restful part of our trip...on to the wild life!!