March 15th – Fallas is now truly underway! A few weeks ago the city was awoken by the Despertà and ever since we’ve been running ourselves ragged, trying to attend as many Fallas events as possible.
La Planta officially starts today, lasting until tomorrow morning when all the Fallas monuments should be completed:
Make sure to watch the end; kind of funny.
The most famous food during Fallas is the buñuelo — donut-like fried treats made from pumpkin, which you dip into hot chocolate. You’ll find stands offering this sinful delight all over Valencia (Ruzafa has the most). Walking from monument to monument costs a lot of energy and buñuelos are even better than Red Bull for an energy boost.
Here’s a rundown of the main events for the next few days:
La Plantà
All over the city, Fallas commissions will be working to set up their monuments. A lot of the work has already been done on the larger monuments, but the groups officially have until tomorrow morning to finish. Traditionally the monuments are raised completely by hand, but the larger ones all employ cranes nowadays.
Fireworks Show
Tonight at midnight is the first fireworks show at Paseo Alameda. These shows are always incredible, so it’s worth staying up late. On the 16th and 17th the fireworks will start at 1am and on the 18th (the famous Nit de Foc) they’ll begin at 1:30.
Flower Offering
From 4pm until well after midnight on the 17th and 18th, traffic in the city center will be brought to a standstill as Falleras carry thousands of flowers to the Our Lady of the Forsaken in Plaza de la Virgin.
Here are some random Fallas pictures I took over the past few days:
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