We didn't make it to the town plaza as early as we wanted...and thus were stuck an entire block away from the plaza center. For a brief second, we thought about pushing our way forward...but it quickly became clear that no one in this bunch was budging.
And as you can see in his face...Joe was not in the mood for it.
Despite the distance from the fireworks, it was still amazing.
Not only was the crowd at the mascletá ginormous, but every street all over Valencia was bursting at the seems with people. They were spilling out of restaurants and congregating around every falla. The streets had slowly started closing off to cars throughout the week...but this day there wasn't a car in sight on the streets. . . only loads and loads of people. I had heard about how many people there would be. All I had heard from the locals was "mucho gente, demasiado gente"... Lots of people. Too many people. And I believed people when they said this...but no crowd, not Disney World or Mardi Gras, compares to this one. Number-wise...it may not be more bodies, but the venue makes it seem like there are more because EVERYONE is packed into small plazas and streets. And really, the entire city center is not very big itself. Normal days you can walk across it in 15 or 20 minutes. So the ratio of people to square footage is what makes it sooo unbearable. And also all the fireworks going off at every corner.
We were able to duck into a Horchatería to let Mom and Joe try horchata (the tiger nut milk drink) and fartons (the bread things).
Joe's initial reaction to horchata was...well... not completely pleasant.
This face was not posed. He had JUST taken a sip before the picture.
We braved the crowd again in order to make it to the tram stop. My falla was on the way...here are some more pictures from it. I'm guessing the dog is spelling out the name of the cable company that people are unhappy with.
To get a break from the people and to let Mom and Joe see the sea, we took a tram to the beach. A short trip, but both of the weary travelers fell asleep within minutes. I had definitely become the mom in this trio.
Fun play structures for adults even.
This should be your next aerial toy, Dad.
Just a seat and a giant fan on the back.
Cerveza on the beach.
We contemplated going back to the hotel for a short siesta, but we soon realized we needed to start heading back to the city center because the crowds on the buses were getting worse and worse. And it took us a while to figure out the buses since many bus stops were closed because of Fallas.
Sardines. Joe had to hop on and off at each stop to let people behind us off.
Free from the bus. But back to the street where we were met by more Virgin processions. More falleras heading to the Ofrenda (the offering-- which is the name for the flowering of the Virgin)
Not a fallera
Even falleros still need their pacifier
Our goal was to find a place to eat early (which in the Spanish world is around 8:00) so we could get a table. The plan was to stay at the restaurant pretty much until the fireworks (at 1:00 a.m.) This was when we LOVED the Spanish custom of sitting in a restaurant for however long you like. We ate, drank, ate, drank, talked, had coffee, dessert...we took our precious time.
This tapa is called patatas bravas- backed (I think) potatoes with a garlic mayonnaise and tangy tomato sauce. I hate mayo, but I love patatas bravas.
Oh and by the way, this was the same restaurant (The Caves) that we went to earlier in the week. It was so good we had to go back. And we just had to find a place to sit and REST.
Tonight was the 1:30 fireworks. After all the flowers are on the Virgin (the last one being placed by the Fallera Mayor), the fireworks start. So we went to see the final product, but were only able to get a view from the rear. So so so so so so many people.
We had resigned to the fact that we would need to get to the firework show at midnight. That's right. We were going to wait for an hour and a half for fireworks. The night before the burning of the fallas (a.k.a. tonight) is called Nit de Foc, which is Valenciano. For what I'm not sure... we'll just say it is Valenciano for MOST AWESOME, INCREDIBLE, MIND BLOWING FIREWORKS EVER. Supposedly the show lasts 30 minutes. We HAD to get a good spot. Plus we needed to get on the right side of the barricade that the police set up (the right side being the closest side to our hotel)
So we started heading over at 11:30. On the way Joe stopped to buy a toy and see how it worked.
Mom took about a billion pictures of falleras this week.
Look at this one.
After jumping in the first picture, Joe decides he needs to cross some cultural boundaries...and maybe some boundaries involving appropriate-ness with other people's kids.
He looked at the mother and just held his hands out to hold the kid. She slowly and hesitantly handed the fallero over long enough for a picture, then immediately wanted him back. She wasn't scared looking, but she wasn't entirely sure about the whole thing either.
The babiest of falleros and the creepiest of tourists.
Walking to our firework spot we passed by the arsenal of fireworks!
We found a grassy spot to sit. And we sat and sat and sat. Guess what was around us? PEOPLE. We sat and we sat and more and more people came.
We had minimal entertainment from the amateur fireworks around us (which we had become numb to at this point)
We sat and we sat... played more pass-the-time games.
When it got to be 30 minutes til, we named as many things as possible that we could do in 30 minutes besides sit and wait for fireworks. The spots in this picture below aren't snowflakes...they are smoke flakes. Guess the flash picked up the little bits of smoke in the air from all the fireworks.
Just when we didn't think we could take it any more......
THE FIREWORKS BEGAN!! 30 whole minutes of fireworks!! It was amazing.
Here is the last 3 minutes. Personally, I think the video does a pretty good job of showing how amazing these fireworks are...but that could just be because I was there in person. You tell me what you think.
The streets were a disaster leaving this final firework extravaganza. They were covered with trash and people and fireworks were shooting off in all directions. I don't know how we made it back to the hotel...my feet and back were killing me. My eye hurt from a piece of ash falling in it during the show. I could barely keep my eyes open I was so tired. We were all falling apart. We were ready for Fallas to be over.
We slept for about 2 hours then had to get up to send Mom and Joe to the airport. The taxi driver had to dodge glass bottles on the streets. We said a quick good bye as they dropped me off at my stop, and I trudged across a filthy bridge at 5:00 a.m.... littered with trash and people still out from the night. I felt like I might die from a Fallas overdose...and we'd been going to bed "early" compared to some.
I don't know who I felt more sorry for: Mom and Joe having to travel all day Saturday...or me having to go to one more mascletá and the falla burnings, because that meant MORE walking through and standing in CROWDS. I now completely understood why most Valencians leave the city during Fallas.
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