We recently had the chance to visit a friend’s childhood home in Enguera, which is a small town nestled in the hills surrounding Xátiva, about an hour south of Valencia city.

The picturesque village is small and home to just over 5000 people, but the township extends to over 240 km², taking in huge swaths of publicly accessible mountain land.

We visited Enguera on a Sunday, when the temperature was approaching 40°. The streets were empty and slient, apart from the occasional television blaring from inside one of the shuttered buildings. Hiking up and down the village’s steep hills, beginning to feel faint from the heat, it seemed as though we were dreaming, in a ghost town. The disconcerting emptiness ended, though, once we got to the town pool, where all of Enguera was cooling down.

For such a small village, Enguera boasts an extremely impressive church, perched atop a hill, and a rich history. Check out some of photos from Enguera’s past here. And the mountainous surroundings offer hikers a plethora of options for day long walks. There’s plenty to do.

If you have the chance to visit, make sure to eat some Arroz del Horno, a specialty from the area. We were lucky enough to have it cooked by our friend’s mother — a real treat.

It can be difficult to reach Enguera from Valencia via public transportation, so taking a car is the best option. If you can’t drive, check out Enguera’s website (Spanish only) for information on trains and buses to and from Valencia.

Enguera’s Location on our Valencia Map

Getting tired of paella, fideua and gazpacho? Then head down towards the Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias for your next menú del día at restaurant Wok Quing (location).

You won’t be disappointed. Weekdays, the lunch buffet costs €8 per person, and is stocked with sushi, chicken, calamari, and everything else you would expect. What you might not expect is the ability to create your own wok dish from about 100 ingredients and have it cooked right in front of you, with the sauces of your choice.

The restaurant is extremely popular with locals, and for good reason. In addition to the wok, you can also have your ingredients grilled — one of my creations was this grilled salmon with mushrooms and onions:

Although preparing your own wok dishes was a lot of fun & delicious as well, some of the already-prepared food wasn’t all that great — the calamari in particular looked as though it hadn’t been touched in 6 days.

But the worst part of the meal was exiting the restaurant into 40° C heat, 5 kilos heavier and already sweating from the effort of shoveling so much wok-food into our jowls. I think the next menú del día will be a popsicle, followed by an ice cube.

I haven’t been living long enough in Valencia to have seen this hall before they renovated it. But I can say that they did a wonderful job, and it’s really worth a visit, especially since the Estación del Norte is already on the must see list of Valencia visitors.

Location on Our Valencia Map

Please take a look at our Valencia TV Site

Source: RatoneroValenciano.spaces.live.com

Cute little guy!

The Gos Rater is a small, agile dog which was bred in the Communitat and first documented in the 16th century. As their name indicates, they were bred to be rat-catchers — something they’re extremely successful at. In fact, the Gos Rater is the world’s best canine rat-catcher. In doubt? Check out the video of a crew in action:

Besides being useful for rodent removal, the Gos Rater is a friendly and lively dog, though it can be overly nervous.

I’m not sure I’ve seen any Gos Raters running around, but will start keeping my eye out for them. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve guessed that Valencia’s official animal is the French Bulldog — you see those slobbery things everywhere (including our apartment).

More Information at the National Association of the Gos Rater Valencià
[via 20minutos.es]

A 21st century mixture of sports (some may call it a ‘mashup‘; very Sport 2.0), footvolley is extremely fun to watch — it’s almost best viewed as an exhibition of skill. Check out some of the footage from 2006’s world tournament, also held in Valencia.

This is the 4th annual tournament… and Brazil will be looking to pick up their 4th consecutive title. Damned Brazilians! What with their samba, partying and domination in all things soccer, they get on my nerves.

Other teams invited this year come from all over Europe and South America. Our sympathies will be with the Germans. The footvolley championship would be a nice consolation prize after the heartbreak of the Euro 2008.

More Info at Spain’s Footvolley Site (in Spanish)

This time we’d like to take you to El Bicho Raro: a cute neighborhood bistro serving French cuisine.

For €11, you can choose between 3 set menus:

Or you can mix & match, picking one item of each color to make your own combination. Bread, drink and dessert are included.

Ok, let’s step inside:

Freshly made bread, still warm.

I chose Beefsteak, Ginger/Soja Rice and the chorizo and artichoke salad for my meal:

Mike had the dorade (fish), potato gratin and cold spinach soup.

The meals were excellent, though the plates might be a little smaller than you might expect for €11. Still, there wasn’t much to complain about.

Ahhh almost forgot, the desserts: Chocolate Cake and Creme Brulee.

El Bicho Raro
C/ Conde Montornes 9
46003 Valencia
Tel. 96 392 49 20

Location on Our Valencia Map

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Marking the end of Valencia’s Feria de Julio is the famous flower battle (la batalla de flores), established in 1892. Basically, falleras ride on parade floats, equip themselves with tennis rackets, and allow onlookers to pelt them with heavy little flowers. It’s great fun, and if you’d become sick of seeing the Fallera Mayor’s pretty, blond face everywhere… well, this was your chance to smack it with a flower. (Though, it must be said, while most her court was quickly overwhelmed by the onslaught, the Fallera Mayor never lost her composure, swatting away every flower with ice cold precision … perhaps it was this skill that won her the coveted position in the first place)

The battle was proceeded by a small parade on La Alameda, which went up and down the street 4 times before the warfare began. The girls on the floats all looked a little nervous regarding the warfare to come, and the public was impatient.

After the battle had finished, spectators ran into the street to gather up armfuls of flowers to throw at each other. Some of the more eager didn’t notice (or care) that they were picking up horse manure with the flowers.

The night ended with fireworks over the Turia.

And the program is great! It’s like a master class in Cinema Classics… Godard, Lubitsch, Fellini, Wilder, Tarantino, Bergman. Every genre is covered, from animation (Ratatouille) to art house (Seventh Seal). In our day jobs, we run a popular film website and can verify that every movie in this program is worth seeing.

It runs from July 28th to September 7th. The films start at 11pm and entry is €3 (or you can get 10 entrances for €20).

Here’s the full lineup. I’ve listed the English names of the films, but keep in mind that everything is being shown in OV, with Spanish subtitles. Feel free to bookmark this page, for easy reference!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Jul 28	Jul 29	Jul 30	Jul 31	Aug 1	Aug 2	Aug 3
Amarcord France, 1973		Ninotchka USA, 1939		American Gangster USA, 2007
Aug 4	Aug 5	Aug 6	Aug 7	Aug 8	Aug 9	Aug 10
Breathless France, 1959		Sullivan’s Travels USA, 1941		The 400 Blows France, 1959
Aug 11	Aug 12	Aug 13	Aug 14	Aug 15	Aug 16	Aug 17
The Seventh Seal Sweden, 1956		La Soledad Spain, 2007		Be Kind, Rewind USA, 2008
Aug 18	Aug 19	Aug 20	Aug 21	Aug 22	Aug 23	Aug 24
XXY Argentina, 2007		Planet Terror USA, 2007		Death Proof USA, 2007
Aug 25	Aug 26	Aug 27	Aug 28	Aug 29	Aug 30	Aug 31
Querelle Germany, 1982		Arsenic and Old Lace USA, 1944		Ratatouille USA, 2007
Sep 1	Sep 2	Sep 3	Sep 4	Sep 5	Sep 6	Sep 7
La Notte Italy, 1961		Some Like It Hot USA, 1959		There Will Be Blood USA, 2007

Barraca in El Palmar

Barracas are rectangular, about 9×5 meters, with a steep triangular roof to fend off rain. Traditionally, they’re made of clay, canes & reeds, and have a small top floor which might be used for the storage of silk worms. Entrances on either side allow air to circulate.

The best place to see barracas is in the communities of the Albufera, particularly El Palmar. There, you’ll even have the chance to go inside one — there’s a museum dedicated to them.

If you can’t be bothered to leave the city, there’s another option… but you’ll have to hurry. The last surviving barraca in the city center can be found in Carmen, but the city council is threatening to remove it in favor of a police station (all in the name of progress and modernity, of course!) The address is Calle San Miguel 22 (location).

The Last Barraca in Valencia City

<<rinôçérôse>>

It looks like there will be three stages. Here’s the full lineup:
escenario XL
Primal Scream, <<rinôçérôse>>, Najwajean, Fangoria, Jet Lag, Poet in Progress, Polar, Erick Morillo, Groove Armada (dj set), Fedde Le Grand, Mark Knight, Todd Terry

escenario M (Defected in the House)
The Shapeshifters, Sandy Rivera, Copyright, TFC, Roog (Hardsoul), Simon Dunmore, Shovell (live on percussion)

escenario S (Playboy Cabaret)
Jay-J, Danny Marquez, David Gausa, Southmen, Simone, Geena

Jet Lag

2-day tickets cost €94, and the festival takes place on the 19th and 20th of September.

More Info at the Official Website
Our Earlier Post about the Festival