Las Fallas in Valencia

Ashley and I started off our trip to Valencia by walking through a few parades and some massive crowds. The train station and our hostel were on opposite ends of the city center...where all of the festivities and people were. It was an interesting start to Las Fallas, the spring festival for the province of Valencia in Spain. During the day, Las Fallas is dedicated to religious activities, flower ceremonies, traditional dress, and the official welcoming of spring. 

The Virgin Mary and baby Jesus composed entirely of flowers.  

Like most things in Spain, the festival takes on a whole new life at night. When the sun goes down, Las Fallas, which means 'the fires' in Valencian, becomes a fire festival- the largest legal pyrotechnics display in the world takes place here every year. On Friday night, we followed the crowds to the 'river' for the fireworks display. It took Ashley and I awhile to figure out where the river was because we didn't see any water. Apparently, the river dried-up years ago and was replaced with a series of parks and playing fields, but the people continue to call it the 'river.' Eventually the crowds led us there and we waited for the fireworks to start. It was the best fireworks display that I have ever seen- it put every 4th of July fireworks show to shame. The entire show was in tune and it was like a grand finale from start to finish. 


On Saturday night there were more fireworks shows to accompany La Crema, which literally means 'the burning' in Valencian. It originated as a type of spring cleaning in which the residents would burn their trash and old furniture at the end of winter. Now, it is a competition to create the wittiest, most beautiful and most fascinating ninot, or large puppet, out of paper maiche and cardboard. The winning ninot is preserved in the Fallas Museum forever. Every other ninot is burned at the end of the festival. Here are some examples of what the ninots looked like:

The winning ninot for 2011. 

The American ninot, including Homer Simpson, Mickey Mouse, Uncle Sam and a large doughnut.

I thought they were all extremely well-done. But, only the winning ninot survived Saturday night. They spread out the burnings between 10pm and 3am so we were able to see multiple. Here is a progression of pre-burning fireworks show through burning frame:

Pictures cannot even begin to do this justice. But here is another progression:

Doused in oil....

And the fire begins...

We were much closer to the fire for this one, so I was glad to have the firefighters (known as bombers) there for protection. It was definitely an unforgettable experience. You may have noticed the blue and white checked handkerchief around my neck in the picture above. Not only was it a novelty to remember Las Fallas by, but it was also very convenient to cover my nose from the smoke and shield my eyes from the immense heat wave that came when the fire hit about 50 feet high. I'm glad I spent one euro for it!


Danielle, Ashley and I decided to stay an extra day in Valencia to see the city without crowds of people milling around. Unsurprisingly, it was a very different place. We were also lucky to have a beautiful day to explore. Valencia is known for its Art and Sciences buildings, which are incredible:

In addition to seeing these, we had a picnic lunch in the park with Spanish food para llevar, or to-go. I have seen very few to-go places like that- I really wish we had some in Sevilla. During the weekend we also had the opportunity to eat paella, which is a traditional Spanish rice dish similar to risotto but made with saffron and some sort of protein. Valencia claims to be the birthplace of paella, and they traditionally serve it with chicken and vegetables. We also tried the shellfish variety, which was my personal favorite. Overall, it was an enjoyable weekend in Valencia. 

Trip to Alicante/A Tribute

On St. Patrick's Day, one of my best friends from Illinois, Ashley, landed in Sevilla for a European spring break trip. Unfortunately, I had four midterms that day. As soon as I finished the last one, I ate dinner and headed over to Danielle's apartment to see both of them. It was incredible to see someone fresh from the U.S.! The next morning, Ashley and I had an early flight to Alicante, a Spanish beach resort town on the Mediterranean. Danielle was going to Madrid later that day to drop her sister off at the airport before meeting us in Valencia on Saturday for the rest of the weekend.


After sleeping on the hour-long plane ride, we took a bus into the city center of Alicante. I immediately went in search of sunscreen, as my stock from home is too big to carry-on. The only available bottle cost 17 euros- almost $25 dollars- but I sucked it up and bought it before heading to the beach. It was an absolutely gorgeous day- 72 without a cloud in the sky. The city of Alicante is at sea-level but is surrounded by mountains, which provided a beautiful back-drop for our nap. Although the wind got a bit chilly at times, it was nice to lay on the beach for a few hours in the sun. 


For lunch, we ate at a kebab restaurant. I LOVE kebabs in Europe. In the States, we tend to only eat them in shish kebab form with meat and vegetables on a skewer. Here, they are often served in a pita or in a wrap and the meat is carved fresh from a gyro-type vertical revolving spit of chicken, lamb, or beef. They are absolutely delicious. I'm hoping to bring the obsession back from Europe with me. After that delicious break, we boarded a train to Valencia for the rest of the weekend.

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Unfortunately, as I was enjoying the sun in Spain I was oblivious of what was going on back at home. My grandma, Edna von Plachecki, passed away that Friday after struggling with dementia for the last few years of her life. As a world-traveler herself, she inspired my love for travel early on through her proudly displayed spoon collection from all of the places she'd been. I even copied her and started collecting those keepsakes for myself. At first it was a competition for me- I simply wanted to have as many spoons as she did. Although I have neglected to keep up with it, it was fun to share a hobby with her. I am happy that I will be visiting Budapest in late April as a tribute to my Hungarian grandmother- may she rest in peace.

Trip to Córdoba

The day after our castle visit, we went to Cordoba. Cordoba is a town in Southern Spain that is about two hours northeast of Sevilla. It was a very important city in Roman Spain as well as Moorish Spain. The main sight to see there is the mezquita, or mosque, converted to a cathedral. That is where our tour group headed right off the bus.


As I've done more traveling around Europe, I have become less excited to admire the architecture of the cathedrals in every city that I visit. After awhile, they all tend to meld together in my memory because generally there is very little that differentiates them. This is not the case with the Cordoba cathedral. It was absolutely breathtaking.

The red and white arches were repeated throughout almost the entire interior of the cathedral. The tedious nature of the design astounds me. The construction is credited to the Moors- the Christians simply converted the building to a cathedral when they took back the city. 

Those were a few other decorative images from the inside of the cathedral- truly breathtaking. After our guided tour was over, we were free to wander the city. Unfortunately, there isn't much to see outside of the cathedral. So Matt and I wandered around in the nice weather and simply enjoyed being outside for most of the afternoon. We did, however, go up into another castle for a view of the city, which was quite nice. 

Overall, it was a great trip! But I was happy to get back to Sevilla. 

Ruins Around Sevilla

Before Spain was the unified country that we know and love today, it was inhabited first by the Romans and then by the Moors- the ruins of many of their constructions are still seen today in and around the city of Sevilla. There are several that we have visited, including the Roman ruins of the city of Itálica and two medieval castles built by the Moors. Below are pictures from some of the houses and buildings from Itálica:

I was particularly impressed that a lot of the Roman floor mosaics are still intact. The ruins of the Itálica amphitheater are also still standing, though barely- there were a lot of restoration projects going on:

Katie and I got into a battle royale- it was the spirit of the amphitheater. The castles were also fun to see, though it was downpouring throughout that excursion. We visited two medieval castles near Sevilla- one at Utrera and the other at Alcalá de Guadaíra. Both were built by the Moors as part of the fortresses surrounding the cities. The one at Utrera actually had a series of underground tunnels connecting the castle with the cathedral and other important landmarks throughout the city. Unfortunately, the caves have caved in and can no longer be used.

I enjoying standing in the same place that people stood hundreds of years ago and envisioning myself in their situation. It's a slightly eerie feeling, but it makes me wonder- what will be left of our civilization in 1500-2000 years? Will there be ruins of skyscrapers and steel bridges alongside the brick and stone ruins of the Romans and Moors? What stories will those generations remember from our times? Personally, I have no idea what future students will learn about us but it sure is interesting to think about...

Carnaval in Cadiz

This past Saturday, I went to Cadiz for Carnaval. As you can see in my earlier blog post about my day-trip to Cadiz, the city has been decorated for Carnaval for weeks already. As I explained in that entry, Cadiz hosts the third largest Carnaval in the world- which is a pre-Lent celebration. The best words to describe it would be ridiculous and bizarre. None of the stores or restaurants or bars are open (for the legitimate fear of property damage) so it is literally a giant party in the streets.


Rather than attempting to book a hostel for one of the biggest parties in the world, we traveled to Cadiz through We Love Spain- a company that is dedicated to creating group travel trips to popular destinations for Americans staying in Sevilla. Although traveling in massize groups of Americans does not particularly appeal to me, it seemed like a great set-up. We boarded the bus at 8pm in Sevilla and arrived around 10pm. At which point they gave us a sandwich and a bottle of water each. We were left to do whatever we wanted as long as we were back on the bus by 5:30 am. Danielle was my Carnaval-buddy and we both dressed as Greek goddesses to be able to stick together more easily. Here we are on the bus-ride there:

After getting dropped off, we just started wandering around. I was surprised to see people of all ages out and about- not many young kids, but there were plenty of people in their 40s and 50s partying with the rest of us throughout the night. The stage, which had a variety of singing and dancing acts during the night, was in the main plaza by the cathedral. It was absolutely packed, shoulder to shoulder.

As you can see, everyone goes all out with their costumes. It was also particularly common for men to dress as women. I would estimate that about half of the guys at Carnaval were cross-dressing. And many of the costumes were also incredibly non-politically correct, but quite hilarious. 

As fun and exciting as the night was, it was a long time to be wandering the streets of a city. And it was a bit on the cold side as well. We bought some delicious street food to keep us warm- mostly sausages and sandwiches. But by 5:30 am, we were ready to head back to Sevilla. 

Jarabe de Palo

On Friday night, I went to a concert with Danielle- my good friend and future roommate at Illinois. We saw Jarabe de Palo (pronounced har-a-bay de pa-lo) in concert at the Antique Theatro in Sevilla. Jarabe de Palo is a Spanish rock band that is sort of a mix between John Mayer, Jack Johnson and Dave Matthews Band style music. I had never heard of them before, but Danielle actively listens to them and was looking for someone to join her. So I did. 


All of their music is in Spanish, and it was a very Spanish crowd there. It was fun to get away from the swarm of American students in Sevilla and be at a truly Spanish concert. And it was a great concert as well! Here are some pictures from the concert:

The concert started at 10:30 and they played for a little less than two hours. There was no opening act, like they always have in the States. There was, however, an encore. They came out and played a few more songs, ending on a disco number with flashing glasses that was quite strange and didn't fit in with their style at all (picture below). But I loved that the lead signer was weaing a Rolling Stones t-shirt- he was quite obviously influenced by a lot of English-singing rock artists, although his music is all in Spanish. 

It's been fun to tell people that I was at his concert- he is symbolic in Spanish culture, and a lot of people are jealous that we were able to attend. Also, as we found out later that night, the Antique Theatro is one of the top discotecas in Sevilla. On a typical night, to enter your clothing labels are checked at the door to ensure that you are dressed well enough to enter. So I'm glad we were able to see a concert there, because I'm sure they'll never let me through the doors again. And I probably couldn't afford to anyways- Danielle and I each bought one drink at the bar and they were 9 euros each! I would have to trade a night there for a weekend traveling. So it looks like that will be my only visit.