Hola Valencia

Luckily for us, the world’s most annoying alarm clock only goes off once a year. But it’s a bastard.

At 7:30am on the last Sunday of February, Valencians take to the streets for the despertà — the waking up of the city for its most important celebration, Fallas. The sudden noise, if you’re caught unaware and anywhere within a 3km radius, is terrifying. We lived near C/ La Paz during our first despertà, and I leapt out of bed thinking (a) earthquake, (b) war, (c) Armageddon, convinced that death was upon me and hoping it be swift.

But by now, we’re grizzled veterans of this very Valencian foolishness. I slept through the fire and brimstone, showing up only for the concluding mascletà in the city’s Ayuntamiento, but Jürgen marched along and got some great pictures of the revelers.

More photos of the Despertà 2010: