Making Memories in Murcia: Weekend Viaje to Valencia

This past weekend I went on a viaje (trip) with Tania to visit Valencia, the third largest city in Spain. Valencia is about a two and a half hour drive from Murcia and is located in the autonomous community of Valencia. Besides speaking Castilian (normal) Spanish the people also speak Valencian which is basically the same as Catalan, the language spoken in Catalonia, Spain. Tania’s friend’s parents had an empty flat in Benifaió, about twenty minutes from the city, where we were able to stay for free. We didn’t get to the flat until around ten at night on Friday, so we had supper and watched a movie called Premonition and called it a night.

On Saturday we headed into the city and after finally parking (we spent a good half hour looking for an available free parking spot with no success) we went to St. John the Baptist Church for Mass. The Mass ended up being for an anniversary, so it was rather long but the neat thing was that it was in English. The priest and lectors didn’t speak the best English, but it was still cool that it was in my native tongue for a change. I had no idea it was going to be in English, Tania found out about it and decided to surprise me. After Mass we stopped into a tourism office to pick up a map and were informed that at 6pm there would be a mascletá at the river. Mascletás are like firecrackers but a lot more powerful than anything I’ve seen in the US. So we decided to do some sightseeing and later go to the mascletá.

We first went to La Lonja (commodity exchange building) built in the fifteenth century. La Lonja is a world heritage monument and considered the most emblematic building from the Valencian civil gothic style. It consists of a large hall, tower with a spiral staircase, a couple of elegant rooms and a pavilion. We walked through and took some pictures, but sadly weren’t allowed to go in the tower. After that we stopped in a huge market, which had all sorts of food and sweets and was located in a pretty impressive building. Then we made our way to the cathedral and climbed the tower (I thought we’d never reach the top) and stayed up there for about a half hour or so. The view was amazing and definitely worth the workout it took to get there. We picked up empanadillas (sort of like a calzone and typical of southern Spain) and little pizzas for lunch and ate in a plaza right next to the cathedral. The weather was glorious (in the seventies) and so we sat out in the plaza for awhile and Tania had me read in Spanish so that she could help me improve my pronunciation. Then we went into the Capilla de la Virgen (Chapel of the Virgin) which is right beside the cathedral and is a beautiful church dedicated to Mary. After that we went to the Torres de Serranos (the gate to the city once upon a time) and paid the entrance fee only to go around to the entrance and see there was no one there actually checking tickets. Oh well. So we went up and took some pictures of the view and I went to one of the towers that had the flag of Valencia while Tania took my picture from the other tower, only to find out after that the flag never made it in the picture. Bummer. Next we walked in the park that was once a river around the city, but has since been drained and filled with parks and fields for sports. It was really pretty and a quite neat idea.

La Lonja

The Market

View from the Cathedral Tower

At the top of the tower

The flag at the old gate to the city

Me minus the flag

At six the mascletá began and it was fifteen minutes filled with flashes and explosions. It was okay at first but nothing that incredible, then the grand finale happened and the sky looked like an atomic bomb had dropped. It was insane. The whole sky was lit up with fire, the noise was deafening and there was ash raining down upon us. Tania turned to me and said that Valencians are pyromaniacs. It’s so true. Even kids of about three or four years old were throwing around little firecrackers and I believe these mascletás happen every day for more than two weeks straight. Then the grand finale is the festival of the fallas which comes to a conclusion on March 19th, where a ton of large and small sculptures made from a cardboard type of material are set on fire. There is no doubt about it, Valencia has a slightly unhealthy love for fire.

River turned Park

After finally escaping from the crowds after the mascletá we stopped in a cafe for merienda (afternoon snack/tea) and then went to the university Opus Dei club for the Saturday night meditation. After the meditation we went to 100 Montaditos, one of my favorite places to eat due to it’s amazing array of chocolate sandwiches. Tania had never tried the chocolate sandwiches, which is practically a crime if you are a native Spaniard in my book, so we had to rectify that immediately. She agreed that they are incredible and then with our stomachs happy we headed back to the flat for the night. We munched on skittles (which I introduced to Tania and she loves) and watched the Spanish movie Eva which was about robots and very weird. Then we crashed around 1am resolving to sleep in a bit the next day.

Now to summarize the events of this past Sunday. After the noon Mass we ate an early lunch before making our way to the plaza del ayuntamiento (government square) to see another mascletá. This one was not as impressive as it only lasted for five minutes and from where we were standing, buildings blocked our view of most of the action. The crowds were insane and it was a good thing I wasn’t claustrophobic because people were pressing in from all sides. After finally making our way out of the madness, we went to an exhibition hall to see the ninots on display. Ninots are the cardboard sculptures that will be set ablaze on March 19th. There were larger than life sculptures and and smaller-sized ones and each one was created by an association in the region of Valencia. I’d say there were a couple hundred sculptures for both categories. While a lot of the sculptures were caricatures making fun of government leaders and policies some were just for fun, such as my personal favorite, Olaf the snowman from Frozen. After viewing the ninots, we were able to vote for our favorite large and small sculpture to save from being burned. Needless to say, Olaf got my vote. Our last stop of the day was to the beach to relax and enjoy some sun. Tania told me that Valencia is famous for it’s beverage known as horchata (almond flavored drink), so we got some to enjoy while lounging in the sand. While I can’t say that I loved it, I had to at least try it once while in the region known for it, and it wasn’t a bad experience. After a brief siesta, we bid farewell to the beautiful Mediterranean and the city of Valencia and arrived back in Murcia in the early evening. Valencia was full of great sights and things to do and my only regret is that we didn't have time to visit the city of arts and sciences which is a very cool looking area recently added to the city. Overall though, we fit quite a lot into a couple days and I had an amazing time.