Travel Adventures with the PagaPops

This morning we awoke to the sounds of hundreds (?) of M-80s and other firecrackers/firebombs exploding in the neighborhood. If I didn't know this 7 AM wake-up call was supposed to happen, I would have thought something was seriously wrong and Valencia was being attacked. But all was well and the explosions echoing in the park and courtyard behind our apartment were intentional. They were simply the Valencian way of signalling the offical start of Fallas week. The initial barrage lasted about 20 minutes - 20 constant minutes of cannon-ball like sounds amplified by the open plazas around our apartment surrounded by close buildings. After the first 30 minutes, explosions would burst again, periodically. And then, as if everyone had finished refueling, the continuous blasts would begin again. And continue off and on throughout the day, although not with the same intensity as at 7 AM this morning. I believe this will be our wake-up call every day this week until Fallas is over o...

Have you ever felt as if your head were going to both implode and explode as your body quickly disintegrated into a million pieces? That is the closest description I can give to explain how I felt during today’s mascleta at Ayuntamiento Plaza. It was an experience I will never forget and one I will never experience again. Once is enough – for the sake of my sanity and my hearing. I still feel like my head and insides are a jumbled mess. Is it possible to physically dislocate the inside of your body? Our journey to mascleta at City Hall began on Monday when John mentioned that there was a possibility that we could experience the mascleta up close and personal. One of John’s colleagues (Pepe) at the university has a connection at City Hall and was applying for tickets for us. The applications were approved and today, after we (“the distinguished professor from Illinois and his family” – apparently, these our application titles) met up with Pepe, Jordi (John’s host at the universi...

I really don’t know how to begin to explain Fallas. To say that it is a festival is an understatement and doesn’t capture the uniqueness of this event, but I suppose that is how I should begin. According to fallasfromvalencia.com, the festival is “intended as a tribute to St. Joseph, patron saint of the carpenters' guild, where – it is said - the tradition arose from.” The bulk of the festival takes place in March. I say “bulk” because this is not a 1 or 2-day celebration. Fallas kicks off at the end of February with La Crida (the calling) and the main part of the festival occurs from March 15-19. But the weeks in between are filled with a daily mascleta (firecracker display), parades, a ninot (fallas sculpture) exposition, and countless other activities that you can watch on the local channels. By far, the two highlights of the Fallas are the mascleta and the ninots. And Miia would probably add the Fallas Queens/princesses/court (falleras) to the list. First the mascleta…...

It’s been awhile since my last post and my delayed blogging is due to a combination of laziness, “busy-ness,” perfectionism, and a lack of a computer during the day. I find myself with the time to blog late, late, late at night/early morning and by then my brain is too tired to write the perfect post. To those of you who have been following the travel adventures of the Pagapops, I apologize for the delayed post and thank you (!) for reading. I owe you all a post of Fallas and our side trip to Barcelona and those are on the way…I promise. For now, here’s a short one on our adventures with public transportation. While we’re here in Europe, we are living without a car and so far, we don’t miss it. On the times that we’ve gone to towns and areas outside of the center of Valencia, Luis has taken us in his car. Since his car has become our default car, we ended up just leaving Analea’s seat hooked up in his back seat. Honestly, though I can’t imagine driving in Valencia. I’ve drive...