Hola Oviedo, and hasta pronto Valencia. In a few days, we’ll be packing up our things and moving to the beautiful capital of Asturias for three months. August, September and October will be spent drinking cider.

Since we won’t be here, Hola Valencia will be taking a little breather. But you can follow our Asturian adventures on a new blog:
http://oviedo.for91days.com/ and twitter account: http://twitter.com/for91days

The name “For 91 Days” might give you a hint of the direction in which we’re taking our lives. Basically, we’ll be keeping our furniture and permanent address in Valencia, which will be our base. But for most of the year, we’ll be spending 3 months at a time in random cities around Spain, Europe and the rest of the world. Our jobs are totally mobile, and we’re both born travelers, so we’re really excited to get out there.

We’ll pick the blog back up when we return to Valencia. But right now, we’ve got to start packing for our temporary move to the northern coast! In this heat, the cool Asturian climate is sounding really good.

What are your thoughts about Oviedo? Have we picked a good city to live for a few months?

- Car Rentals in Oviedo

This must be the kind of discovery that anyone who gets into the field of restoration hopes to one day make.

A dusty, dirty old painting in storage at the Church of San Andrés was cleaned up and restored by The Light of the Images, the same group responsible for the marvelous renovations of the Glory of the Baroque. Underneath the grime and neglect, workers realized that they were holding a painting by the 16th century Valencian master Francisco Ribalta.

A crucifix scene now christened “El Calavario”, the painting depicts Christ on the cross with a kneeling Mary Magdalene, the Virgin Mary and a few others surrounding him. The painting has been dated to 1620, eight years before the artist’s death, when he was already respected and firmly entrenched in Valencia. Ribalta was of the Baroque era, and one of the first Spanish practitioners of Carvaggio’s tenebrist style.

You can see his newly discovered painting in the church of San Juan de la Cruz, as a part of the Glory of the Baroque exhibition.

- Great Car Rental Prices fro Valencia

Every cloud has a silver lining, after all! The ashes emitted by the explosions of Iceland’s Mt. Eyjafjallajokull wreaked absolute havoc on European air travel, and now it looks as though another effect will be to lower temperatures this summer.

(Quick! Without thinking, say Eyjafjallajokull out loud!) EDGY-CHAFFA-COOLIO!

In Northern Europe, this won’t be welcome news, but here in the Valencian Community it certainly is. Especially in late summer, any drop in temperature is appreciated. So, I’m sorry for all those mean things I was saying about you, Iceland. A cooler summer is worth a lot — let’s do it again next year.

ETCHY-ALA-JALK-ALAL!

[via Levante, image Boston.com]

- Car Rentals in Valencia CHEAP

Hmph, try not to look too happy, bub

Death. Taxes. The departure of David Villa. There are just a few things in life that are unavoidable, and the dreaded day has finally arrived in Valencia. An era is over. But everyone knew it was coming, so it’s better just to remember the good times. The world’s best striker no longer plays for Valencia, but for the world’s best team. There’s something fitting about it. Sigh.

My buddy’s girlfriend just left him for another guy. It’s rough. But the other guy is really cool, successful and good looking. Totally the right move, from her perspective. And as much as I want to comfort my pal, she was too good for him. It was just a matter of time.

So, Mr. Villa, we won’t be angry. At least it’s Barcelona and not Real Madrid! At least you’re staying in Spain, and not being shipped off to the Premier League! Best of luck in the future, hope you’re happy and win all sorts of championships, and blah blah blah.

What an incredible turnaround this season for Valencian Football. After the disastrous 2008-2009 campaign, when the club was mired in debt, with a huge new stadium they couldn’t afford to complete, VCF looked likely to be relegated. At the very least, experts agreed, they’d have to sell off all their stars — top-tier teams across Europe were eager to swoop down on Valencia’s stinking corpse and snatch up their stellar talent for pennies.

Los Che & their fans deserve to celebrate [Alberto Iranzo / David González - as.com]

But Valencia ignored its debt, stubbornly kept all its best players, and this year has played incredible, inspired football, likely saving the club. With last night’s 3-1 victory over Xerez, Valencia has qualified for the Champions League. And the cash which will flow in from that competition (€3 million, just for qualifying) is sorely needed.

The Guardian has a terrific article explaining how Valencia was able to bluff its way back to life.

With Levante UD likely to ascend to the top flight next season, this is turning out to be a banner year for Valencian football.

The AVE, the highspeed train connection which will link Madrid and Valencia at the end of 2010, is already bringing in additional business. Royal Caribbean just announced that their largest Mediterranean ship, The Adventure of the Seas, will begin departing from Valencia in 2011, June to October.

The Adventure of the Seas

The massive ship, which contains a climbing wall and an ice-skating rink, holds over 3000 passengers. During its Valencian itinerary the ship will visit Rome, Livorno, Corsica and Málaga. We took a look, and prices for the 8-day cruise start at just over €350. And it’s always been my dream to ice skate on a boat. Well actually my dream is that vampires are chasing me on the ice, and I keep falling down on my ice skates, and they’re just about to catch me, but I make it to the side of the boat and leap overboard right in the nick of time, waking up as I splash into the water. So, I’ll probably skip on the ice skating.

Although the construction cost of the AVE is incredible (over €4 billion so far), it’s shaping up to be a great financial boon for the city. The journey between Madrid and Valencia will, by some reports, be cut to just over 90 minutes. That’s crazy, and kind of exhilarating. Royal Caribbean directly cites the AVE as one of the reasons they’ve decided to come to Valencia. I can’t wait to see what other business the train helps rope in!

Article in Spanish

- Port of Valencia

Today has been extremely eventful news day in the Valencian Community. Here’s a quick rundown of the stories which are front-page news around town.

Image Sources: The NYT | Levante | Las Provincias

Franco’s Final Farewell
A statue of Francisco Franco was removed from a captaincy in the city to a military warehouse in Bétera, providing a striking image which even made the New York Times’ Pictures of the Day (#7). The statue had already been hidden from public eye in 1983, but lived on in an interior patio of the captaincy as a cult object. It’s now in a warehouse, in a metal container, visible to nobody. I don’t understand why it hasn’t been destroyed. I’m sure there are people who’d volunteer for the task.

The Battle of Cabanyal
Yesterday, destruction began on 5 buildings in the seaside neighborhood of Cabanyal, in advance of the controversial prolongation of Avenue Blasco Ibáñez. Though the buildings weren’t among those protected by an emergency governmental declaration, the destruction set off major protests and led to the arrest of dozens of citizens and politicians. Violence was avoided but just barely, if the pictures are any indication! The battle lines are clear: neighbors and the central government vs. business interests and the city government. Tensions are extremely high, and I’m afraid this fight still has a long way to go.

Tightening the Belt
But the biggest news — not just in Valencia, but around Spain and the world — was the new developments in the Gürtel corruption case. The Times of London is now calling it “one of the country’s biggest political scandals since the return of democracy in 1978″. There’s really no room for rational doubt anymore, the corruption sinks deep into the power structure of the Partido Popular, and some of the accusations are stunning. Heads are going to roll, although the Valencian public doesn’t seem to care much about the corruption of its ruling party. With every new revelation, the PP seems to become even more popular.

- Valencia Souvenirs

With its biggest popular celebration going on, Valencia should be in the news for its positive aspects. But, nope. The main story in the city for the past week has been the censorship of a few photos from an exhibit looking back on 2009.

The MuVIM’s exhibition, Fragments of a Year, brings together iconic photographs of Valencia from 2009. Politics, sports, entertainment, culture and fiestas, anything that’s made news in the Valencian Community is fair game. Or so we thought!

In blunders politics. Apparently unsatisfied with the stranglehold on power they already enjoy in Valencia, a couple functionaries in the PP have decided it’s their right to hide anything which might portray their comrades in a negative light. In a clumsy move, a public museum was forced to remove images that are politically uncomfortable to the ruling party.

As a result, the director of the MuVIM has resigned. Voices across the political spectrum, including Valencia’s mayor Rita Barberá and the national direction of the PP, are united in condemnation of the censorship. And, of course, more attention than ever is being paid to these pictures. Instead of just being a small part of a retrospective, they’ve become the main attraction. As is always the case, the practitioners of censorship are revealed as stupid and short-sighted.

And we’ll do our part to assist. Without further ado, ladies & gentlemen, the 10 censored images. The stars of the show.

(Photo: Carles Francesc) Camps and mayor Rita Barberá celebrating an electoral victory

(Photo: Vicent Bosch) Scandal-embroiled Ricardo Costa and Francisco Camps button their jackets

(Photo: Miguel Lorenzo) President Camps meets with the archbishop of Valencia, who doesn’t appear all that interested in his sudden piousness

(Photo: José Cuéllar) Two different kinds of power meet; former CV President Victor Campos sits down for a chat with El Bigotes… what could they be talking about?

(Photo: Santiago Carregui) Jorge Alarte of the PSOE meets with Obama’s guru Ravi Singh; perhaps censored because it shows the opposition meeting with a popular emissary? We can only speculate.

(Photo: Miguel Lorenzo) Ricardo Costa, sad after being ousted from power; he remains the only high-ranking casualty of the Gürtel investigations, and has since been given a new job

(Photo: Carles Francesc) Camps leaving the courtroom, where he appeared in connection with the Gürtel corruption investigations

(Photo: Mikel Ponce) Former Prime Minister Aznar (PP) receives an honor; Why might an image as innocent as this be censored? Because he’s smirking a bit? The image seems to cast him in a positive light.

(Photo: Miguel Ángel Montesinos) Zapatero in Valencia during European elections; I have no idea why this was censored

(Photo: Benito Pajares) Camps getting in a car, and receiving a pat on the head from Rita, during the Gürtel tribunals

Parany is a curious word I’ve been seeing a lot of in the Valencian press lately, usually appearing alongside words like “protest”, “anger”, and “controversy”. And “killing”. Naturally, I was curious.

Parany is a form of hunting song birds, described here by thepetitionsite.org:

accioecologista-agro.org

The Parany trapping technique involves the planting and cultivation of high stands of trees (mostly enclosed on private property), interlaced with poles to which sticks impregnated with glue or lime are attached. The migrant song birds are attracted to the tree groups as ideal night roosts. To ensure a high catch illegal electronic lures are also employed. The plumage of the birds settling on the sticks becomes glued together and the birds fall helpless to the ground. There they are collected by the trapper who kills them – often by crushing the bird’s skull between thumb and fingers.

Keep in mind, this information comes from a site dedicated to banning the practice, and might not be the most objective summary. The last sentence is particularly manipulative. Who wouldn’t be against crushing birdy skulls by hand?!

The Valencian government recently legalized parany, to the elation of “hunters” throughout the Comunidad. But their joy was short-lived, as the national government stepped in and banned it again, three months later.

We don’t know enough about parany to weigh in either way. Honestly, skull-crushing seems like a painless way to die, but if it’s endangering entire species, it should probably be stopped. Leave a comment and let us know your opinions on this controversial topic!

After an incredible 2 year stay in Spain, Visions of Spain, the collection of paintings by Valencia’s Joaquin Sorolla, is headed back to its home in New York City. By any measure, the tour was immensely successful — more than two million visited the exhibition on tour in Spain’s biggest cities, including Madrid, Sevilla, Barcelona and Valencia.

I went twice.

Sorolla painted these gigantic canvases in the 1910′s with the purpose of introducing his country to the United States. The commission came from the Hispanic Society of America, the seat of which is in New York.

If you’re in NYC, please don’t pass up the chance to visit the society’s headquarters, off Broadway & 155th, and see the paintings. The vibrant, idealized scenes may not be literal depictions of Spanish life, but they convey the right sense. It’s re-opening in May, 2010.

-Great Hotel for Fallas