After the short but eventful Traslado on Sunday morning, we found ourselves again on Plaza de la Virgen that evening for the official procession. The virgin was going to be carried on an even longer route with more rose petals.
Due to bad weather the procession was canceled, but I managed to take some fun pictures of the people gathered around.
Everyone had a good time.
What are some good ways to demonstrate your Catholic faith?
This past Sunday at 10:30am, during a procession known as el Traslado, the statue of the Virgin of the Desamparados (Our Lady of the Abandoned) was moved from its Basilica (location) to the Cathedral (location). It’s a distance of only about 200 meters, and was one of the most insane religious gatherings I’ve ever seen.
The word “insane” might be a bit strong. But hysterically crying as a gigantic wooden virgin statue is carried by? Crowd-surfing in the hopes of touching a piece of virgin-cloth? I don’t know.
But those people who literally threw their little girl over the crowd and against the statue: they’re nuts. I don’t feel like compromising about that.
I did this at a Nine Inch Nails concert… I guess it’s similar
And because of the maniacal spectators, it was an incredible experience. From the balconies, thousands of rose petals rained down onto the streets. The surly men transporting the Virgin buckled at times, stressed by both the statue’s weight and by the desperate throngs of people trying to get a touch, but they never dropped her.
True, the main emotion I felt was cynical incredulity, but it would be a lie to say I wasn’t a little touched. The traslado was insane, and insanely beautiful…
We’ve mentioned the festivities for the Virgen de los Desemparados on Hola Valencia Blog before. Of course, we made sure to be there, and took some pictures documenting it.
There will be two posts about this festival - this one will be about the music and the dance on Saturday night in the Plaza de la Virgen (location).
We showed up at 22:30 - people were just starting to arrive and the plaza slowly filled up. At 23:00 we were treated with classical music and 10 minutes before midnight, we walked over to the Torres de Serranos (location) to be really close to the fireworks. These fireworks were nothing compared to the Nit de Foc during Fallas but it was still pretty fun. I think for next year, though, we’ll just stay at the plaza. From there you can see the fireworks as well, and then you’re able to claim a good first row spot to watch the dance which immediately follows.
The traditional dance was breathtaking! Hundred of dancers took at least 20 minutes to march into the plaza and the sight of them all dancing simultaneously is one you won’t soon forget.
Here are some snapshots you might enjoy:
Last weekend, we went to the Feria de Abril festivities being held in the Turia riverbed by the Puente de Calatrava.
Feria de Abril is a hugely popular festival in Andalusia — particularly Sevilla. Being party people, the large population of Andalusians in Valencia have set up a mini-fiesta for themselves. We went during lunchtime, when not much was going on, and it was like stepping into a David Lynch movie…
Feria de Abril - The Lost Screenplay
Foreigners enter a tent, looking for lunch. Extremely loud flamenco music plays over a scratchy speaker. On a stage in the background, a woman dances with a child.
A waitress wearing a polka-dot dress and a mountain of make-up takes their order, blowing her cigarette smoke into their faces. The camera pans around the tent, revealing many other waitresses, all identically dressed and all of them smoking … in unison.
Outside the tent, in an otherwise empty plaza of sand & dust, a girl in traditional dress is riding a horse with a boy who might be her brother. Or not…
Large, fat men in drag enter the tent. They dance on the stage, then exit as mysteriously as they entered.
Meanwhile, a small, round, and mentally handicapped man has appeared. He’s intently watching the girl riding the horse. There’s something vaguely sinister about him.
Seriously, that sounds like a movie I want to watch!
The tent was full, and we were the only foreigners — so I think we got a good taste of real Andalusian culture. And it tasted weird!
It takes a special kind of confidence to come to Spain as a foreigner and open a restaurant called “Tapa2″. But that’s exactly what a couple of young guys from Britain and Germany have done.
Last week, we decided to try out Tapa2, which recently opened near the Mercado Central (location). The concept is “haute cuisine at an affordable price”.
The restaurant is small — it can fit about 25 people — and sparsely, tastefully decorated. There is a limited menu, which one of the chef/owners will take the time to fully explain. The guys are clearly enthusiastic about their work, and extremely friendly.
Basically, you can choose between vegetarian (€6), fish (€7) and meat (€7) dishes, all of which are interesting. For Jürgen and I, 4 plates and dessert were enough to satisfy (keep in mind, we’re big eaters — 3 plates might be enough for “normal” people).
And the food was fantastic. Now, it must be kept in mind that I’m from Ohio, where the fanciest meal available is at Outback Steakhouse. I’m not conditioned for small portions of meticulously arranged liver pâté, quail egg and foamed peas. And even though there was no Bloomin’ Onion, we were extremely happy with the food. Even the liver.
Dessert was excellent, too.
So, if you want to impress a date with your exquisite taste, or are in the mood for an excellently prepared & presented meal, we definitely recommend Tapa2. It’s also nice to support a couple young chefs giving it a shot. Best of luck guys!
Tapa2
C/ Cardá 6, El Carmen
963 921 470
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“O Valencia” is one of the best tracks off The Decemberists’ highly acclaimed 2006 album The Crane Wife. They’re one of America’s most important indie bands (no offense, Elk City), and I was naturally curious about this song.
After listening to the track a few times and watching the video, I’m pretty sure that the titular Valencia doesn’t refer to our favorite city. The lyrics tell the story of a doomed Romeo & Juliet-type love affair, and the video casts Valencia as the hotel where the final action goes down.
Still, art is always open to interpretation. And one line in the chorus piqued my interest: “Valencia, and I swear to the stars, I’ll burn this whole city down“. That can’t be an accident: Valencia + whole city burning down? Surely, a reference to la Cremà!
Judge for yourselves. The song is awesome, and the extended video is pretty good too:
More Information at Pitchfork
The Decemberists: Official Page
An other picture dump - this time images of things you can see around la Plaza de la Reina:
Fancy a ride through Valencia in a horse carriage? Then you’ll be happy to know that la Plaza de la Reina is the right place to go. Anyone know how much an hour through Valencia costs?
Entrance to the Micalet.
Beautiful detail on that facade.
Fallas seems as though it were just yesterday, but there can apparently be no rest in this city.
On the second Sunday of May, the festivals celebrating Our Lady of the Forsaken (La Virgen de los Desamparados) begin. Actually, the festivities truly begin the day before.
Mostly for ourselves, we’ve compiled a list of events ordered by day. Planning begins now! Use this as your cheat sheet to the party. And don’t forget that we’re “Virgen de los Desamparados”-virgins, so let us know if we’ve got any information mixed up or have forgotten something important.
Saturday, May 10th
Their will be crowds accumulating from 8pm onward, but the true action won’t begin until around 11pm.
Sunday, May 11th
Monday, May 12th
Thursday, May 15th
Wednesday, May 21st
Of course, there are daily events during the course of festival, but most are entirely religious and boring not for us. Those listed above seem to be the highlights.
Most of this information comes from ValenciaValencia.com, Wikipedia (in Spanish), and the basilica’s webpage which contains an exhaustive list of events.
This statement is of course very subjective, since I’ve only been to 3 different horchaterias since living in the city.
The origin of the horchata can be found in Alboraya, a town bordering Valencia. And Alboraya’s Horchateria Daniel is the place to be. Huge and extremely popular, it’s also the birthplace of fartons - baked goodies to dunk in your Horchata.
I preferred sitting outside.
They also have a take-out counter - what you see in the cups is not beer, but Horchata!
Yummy fartons filled and covered with chocolate.
I drank a big class of horchata and munched down 5 fartons — 1 chocolate & 4 regulars:
And, yes, we skipped dinner.
Horchataria Daniel is easy get to since it’s right across the street from the metro station "Palmaret"
Avda de la Horchata 41
46120 Alboraya
Tel. 96 185 88 66
Link: Horchateria Daniel
Every Tuesday night, there is a Flamenco session at Radio City (location). We went this week, and had an excellent time.
I’m not an expert in Flamenco (and in fact, before I bought a Camarón de la Isla album 4 weeks ago, I had never really listened to it at all), but I think the performance in Radio City was pretty great. The performers all seemed to be a part of the same, extended Gypsy family. There were two singers, an older matriarchal figure & a younger one who looked as though she was giving birth, so pained was her expression while singing. Two guitarists provided the accompaniment — a grizzled, older dude who didn’t look up even once, and a much more lively & handsome younger man. ¡Gitano que guapo!
The musicians were fun enough to listen to (”fun” might be the wrong word — whatever it was they were wailing about cannot have been happy), but the highlight came when the dancers took the stage. First, a tall and very skinny guy stomped about, whipping his jacket from side to side and whipping himself into a frenzy. It was intense. At the apex of the dance he suddenly stopped and stared into the crowd, and at the same time the matriarch let loose with a wild gypsy howl — awesome.
And the second dancer, a woman, was even better. Every muscle was taut while she danced, and the tall guy was clapping the whole time for her, keeping the beat, yelling “Olé” and “Guapa” every once in a while. It really seemed as though the whole clan didn’t care whether an audience was there or not.
It must be said, though, that this was a stage performance, during which the audience was asked to remain quiet — not one of the wild, participatory sessions that can be found in Seville or elsewhere in Andalusia. Still, it was an incredible time.
The price is €7 and includes a drink. The show starts at 23:00, but show up a half-hour beforehand to ensure you get seats. There’s no need to buy tickets beforehand. As always, make sure to check the website of Radio City, to verify that this information hasn’t changed.
Link: Radio City
More information on Flamenco in Valencia, at ValenciaValencia.com
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