Tag: festivals

Las Fallas / Valencia

Finding Ninot: Exposition of Ninots 2017

Doer and I accidentally stumbled upon the Exposición del Ninot 2017 when we dropped by the City of Arts and Sciences with our friend Wendy at the end of January. Most of the combustible figures are destined to burn the final night of the Fallas festival this Sunday; however, each year one of them is pardoned by popular vote, and it is destined to live in perpetuity in the Museo Fallero, which we visited earlier this year. The entrance to the exposition at the City of Arts and Sciences After the ninot indultado, or pardoned ninot, is announced tonight, the unfortunate remaining figures will

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Valencia

Nature and rice: Exploring the Albufera

At the end of January, Doer and I took our friend Wendy to the Albufera, a freshwater lagoon and estuary on the Gulf of Valencia. Before that, we spent a couple of days exploring some small cities in our region. We began the weekend in Sueca, a town near the Albufera and only a short train ride from Valencia. Some online detective work brought us there, as I had tracked down a cafetería with five pinball machines – by far the most machines we have been able to locate in one place in Spain. Doer really had been missing this favorite hobby, so imagine

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Burriana / Las Fallas / Spotted Abroad / Strolling

What’s with all the parades, fancy dresses, and fireworks?

Ever since we moved to the small Spanish city of Burriana, we have been stumbling upon longstanding cultural traditions almost every time we leave our building. Our first week here coincided with an annual festival which includes bulls running through the streets; and while I had promised myself I would never watch any bull spectacles, that resolve quickly disappeared when we needed to go to the city hall, and found bulls running in front of said hall. It was an intense week – even when we stayed home, we could hear cannons, fireworks, music, and general merrymaking from our abode.

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