One of "Las Fallas"
The entire week there are different forms of celebration. However, Saturday March 19 is the final day for the celebration and it is normally the day with the most festivities. It is a festival made specifically for pyromaniacs because everything had to do with fire and burning.
I went on a university-sponsored trip with a lot of my friends. From what we were told, there was supposed to be an influx of people from other cities in Spain and other countries in Europe. It was supposed to be pure chaos. They were totally right!
We left Alicante at 8AM and got to Valencia at 11AM. For about an hour and half we walked around the city and saw some of Las Fallas on display. Mind you, these are 15-20 feet tall colorful structures sitting smack dab in the center of the streets. Many of the roads were closed off. It is surprising to try to imagine how Valencia survived a week of the roads being closed and the crowds spilling out into the streets.
Anyway, by 1PM we made it to Plaza Ayuntamiento. For all of you non-Spanish speakers, thats the town hall plaza. It is the center of the city with the largest Falla. Here, they had a festivity called "Las Mascletas" which are a series of fireworks in the air commemorating the start of the final day. But these are not normal fireworks. The sound is so loud that you need to open your mouth so the pressure of the noise doesn't break your ear drums. You feel the vibrations reverberate throughout your body and even on your skin.
After Las Mascletas, we had plenty of time to kill before the parades and the burning of Las Fallas would begin. My friends and I walked around the city, saw the Valencian Catedral, the architectural wonders and even took a siesta in the park.
We were recommended by many to try the specialty food of this festival. Of course, being the ever-hungry and ever inquisitive person that I am I tried both. One is called "bañuelos" and the other, found in America as well, "churros." Both are deep fried dough with sugar sprinkled on top. Bañuelos are in a round shape while churros are in a pipe-like shape. Some of the bañuelos and churros came stuffed with cream or chocolate. There were even some bañuelos made of pumpkins!
After our escapades throughout the city, we headed to the "Cabalgata del Fuego" which was a street parade with demonstrations of fire. There were little "Reinas de las fallas", Queens of Las Fallas, and even little boys with running around with fire-spitting dragons attached to their waists.
From 10PM to 1AM there was a series of burning of the Fallas. In various areas of the city there was another Falla burning and we followed the burning by the sound of the firecrackers and direction of the crowd. We ended up seeing two burn. It was amazing to see the fireworks shoot up first, creating suspense, and then the entire 15foot structure become engulfed in black flames.
Before
After
The First Fallas Burning
The Last and Final Burning
The First Fallas Burning
The Last and Final Burning
The craziest thing is not even the fires burning down a 15 feet tall structure in the middle of the street smack dab in the city center. What is far more crazy to me is that from 6PM onwards til 1AM at night every street you turn on you hear large banging sounds, almost like gunshots. This is sound of little children (yes I said children) carrying around and letting off firecrackers. Many are known to loose fingers and become badly burned all in the name of culture. It was an experience of a lifetime to go to the Fallas and experience such chaos, but at the same time caution must be taken for this festival. One of my friends actually got hit in the face with a firecracker and was left with a small burn mark.
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