Month: February 2017

Holidays / Las Fallas / Valencia

Finding Ninot: Museo Fallero, Valencia

Last month, Doer and I previewed Valencia’s upcoming, most famous cultural event with a visit to the Fallas Museum. Located in an old convent near the City of Arts and Sciences, the Museo Fallero hosts each year’s pardoned ninots. The museum also has a great brochure on the tradition if you want to read more about it here. The festival dates originated in the mid-18th century, when people gathered on the eve of Saint Joseph’s Day to erect and burn satirical monuments made of wood, cloth, and cardboard. The festival became more complex and artistic around the beginning of the 20th century, becoming

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Other Countries / Tourism

Bulgari-WHA?

Aah, our province of Castellón de la Plana… home to a bona fide airport, as we learned after a little research once we were placed. Only one problem: locals told us when we got here it was a fiasco, never opened, a model of government corruption and excess. We’ve been flying from the much larger Valencia airport since we arrived. So imagine our surprise when, driving around one day, we saw exit signs on the highway for the airport. A little more research was in order! Turns out, the airport did actually open. And you can fly to a whopping four destinations from there

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Burriana / Holidays

Three Kings Day: Parades and a special cake

Doer and I admire Spaniards’ spirit of celebration, and we’ve already witnessed a number of holiday celebrations, local festivals, and parades. In early January, Three Kings’ Day (or Epiphany) is widely celebrated, with parades all over the country marking the story of the Magi who journeyed to worship baby Jesus. Though this Christian holiday exists in the U.S., there are many more traditions associated with it here, and it seems to be as widely known and celebrated as Christmas itself. Much like Santa at Christmas, Spanish children set out sweets for the kings and their camels the night before, and

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Tourism / Valencia

Alicante: another world on the Mediterranean coast

Visiting Alicante – the third province in the Valencian community, where we live – had been on our bucket list for a while. With Mom and Jim in town and a few extra days after New Year’s before I needed to get back to work, we decided to give it a go on our way back from Madrid. What we found was a picturesque city full of white sandy beaches and great restaurants. With all that beach, this is a really happening spot in the Summer, though we picked a great time to see and experience what appealed to us. It really

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Holidays / Madrid / Tourism

Oh no, we Madrid’nt

With New Year’s Eve coming up, our next stop with Mom and Jim was an easy choice: the Puerta del Sol, Madrid’s answer to Times Square in New York. We were able to secure a last-minute airbnb just steps away from the action, so it was go time. We arrived on the 30th, so there was even some time for sightseeing. We headed to the Reina Sofia museum the night we got in from Cuenca, after finding out admission was free after 6pm. Lots of classic art there by the likes of Goya and El Greco. We also got to

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