District 008 is an annual event with the format of an urban, neighborhood festival, which was born in 2013 with the intention of reflecting this dymamic part of Valencia and culturally and commercially promoting 008 of the ‘Extramurs’ neighborhood of Valencia, which includes the Botanico & Juan Llorens districts… District 008 was born as a […]
With the city all partied out and out of puff after Fallas, Valencia has never been big on Holy Week. Easter is a quiet affair around these parts. Some opt for a tentative pre-Summer trip to the beach in the patchy April weather. Others decide to get away to the mountains for fresh air and […]
Are you interested in folklore? Tradition? Big dresses? If you are, stick around. Valencia has all that and more, during the celebration known as Fallas . Read this and consider yourself armed for the festivities. LAS FALLAS During the second week of March, you’ll see these large sculptures being set up at practically every street […]
They play in the pasacalles, the ofrenda and even at half time at Mestalla… The marching bands that make Fallas what it is The first time you experience Fallas, amongst the sensory overload of the thunderous fireworks, the colourfully crazy fallas monuments and the crowded streets, one of the things that stays with you is […]
David Moratalla Pulido is the president of a small neighbourhood falla at Séneca-Poeta Mas i Ros in the city of Valencia. We asked him what the festival is like away from the giant fallas of the special section. 1. How and why did you become a fallero and eventually the president of the falla? I […]
MASCLETÀ Daytime fireworks are a very Valencian contribution to the world of pyrotechnics. Forget about pretty pictures in the sky, this is all about noise, rhythm, the smell of gunpowder and having your bones thoroughly shaken by the ferocious aural assault of the finale. All this under blue spring skies, amongst a huge and expectant […]
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT PERE BORREGO PITARCH According to the records the first Falla to be erected in the Plaza Na Jordana was way back in 1884 and since 1954 it has been part of the Special Section (the Premier league of Fallas), longer than any other Falla. By 1983 the Fallas constructions were getting […]
This is what the city’s residents say; condensed for you by David Rhead and Jose Marín… The smell of cordite and the sizzle and crack of rockets. The smell of Buñuelos frying in the middle of the night. The smell of the Plaza de la Virgen carpeted with Spring flowers at four o’clock in the […]
History of La Tomatina La Tomatina is one of those annual world events that attract enormous amounts and ever increasing amounts of travellers to Valencia. La Tomatina takes place in the normally sleepy village of Buñol about an hour from the city and is a magnet, not just for backpackers and young people taking […]
Bloody good fun It was hard to believe there were going to be any tomatoes at all. The main street was rammed with muchachos and chicas, buzzing while they waited for the battle, chanting ‘‘Ag-ua!’’ to provoke the residents on the roofs, then ‘‘To-ma-te’’, and of course the song ‘‘O-le, ole, ole, ole…’’, as […]
