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.
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