We have hosted a Winter Solstice Party for over 20 years. We love the tradition. We love having people together enjoying the season of light. We love taking time to contemplate the darkness on the shortest day of the year. And we love to host parties!
We decided to keep our tradition going here in Valencia.
Spaniards do not usually host parties in their homes other than their family for celebrations. So it was a bit unique for our friends to attend not only a ritual but also a party.
Many of them asked what the ritual was, if they needed to prepare anything. Some even asked if they would have to get naked....I think it's because we are from San Francisco. Our friends who attended are from Spain, Ecuador, Venezuela and the States. I prepared the ritual in both English and Spanish, two of the people attending help us speak Spanish. So it was interesting reading the ritual in Spanish.
Our apartment looked wonderful. Beth purchased a few Christmas decorations and found a live wreath so we had just a little smell of Christmas. (BTW - almost NO ONE has a live cut tree, they simply do not sell them, what everyone has are fake trees). We made a menorah for Chanukah, and I found some chocolate euros to use as Chanukah gelt.
Of course we missed our dear friends and family, but this was a ritual with new friends. We had much different food, like Spanish tortilla, which our teacher Maria brought. We had olives, Jamón, turkey, salami and some langostino's. We also made Richard Shupack proud by making "Pigs in a Blanket" which were a big hit.
For sweets we had Spanish Turrón. Plus "Eddie" brought a Rosca de Reyes (King's Ring Cake - you have to eat carefully as there are small trinkets that could break your teeth if you crunched down on it).
Rather than Champagne we served Spanish Cava , our favorite was Anna de Codorníu, along with fantastic red wines like Glorioso and others.
Here is a photo of our friends who participated in the ritual.
Thursday, December 22
Tonight we organized a group of many of the same friends who came to our Solstice Party last night to meet at La Fabríca de Hielo (The Ice Factory), which is in the Cabañal neighborhood at the beach. We figure that since this area is where all the fisherman used to bring their fresh fish this ice factory was needed to keep the fish fresh. We all went to see Erin Corine + Radio Souls. Her music is a mixture of Soul, Funk, Gospel, Blues with a touch of Jazz!
Nice evening.....upon returning I opted to meet Daniel and his friends as they had finished their Christmas dinner and were going out to have a drink.
Friday, December 23
Our dear friends Dory and Jim arrived and we met them at the airport. It is so easy that we take the Metro, 12 stops, and our apartment is about a minute from the Colón metro station. After 15 hours of traveling they were ready to relax, then have a soup and salad dinner and a "walk around the block". We use this term in Kenwood, but I've decided to use it for our normal circle walk we take our new guest on to get a short awareness of Valencia. Up Colón, past the bull right and North train station towards City Hall Plaza and back to our home.
Saturday, December 24th
Christmas eve and 1st night of Chanukah's.
We got up late, took Dory and Jim over to the Central Market, which was a ZOO of people. We bought some fresh sea caught Dorado and returned home to hang out and rest.
Tonight we made a Spanish Dorado fish recipe, which was absolutely delicious!
Sunday, December 25th
Being away from home we decided that we were not going to give gifts, so we only bought a few things for each other. We did buy a couple of small things for Dory and Jim that reminded us of them.
Santa also brought a 1,000 piece puzzle of the Valencia City of Arts and Science Center. I'll post a photo of it....when we are finished.
The weather has been fantastic, today it got up to 20 degrees Celsius which is 68 degrees Fahrenheit....so we went to the beach. We had a picnic lunch and then took a long walk along the beach.
My Christmas gift from the Flessel family....Warriors shirt with #30 Curry!
The sun was setting so we chose to have a drink and watch it set, it was beautiful!
For dinner we chose another Spanish recipe Slow-Roasted Andalusian style Lamb and Potatoes.
Monday, December 26
We knew that also today everything would be shut down. So I rented a car and we drove to town called Chulilla, that I have wanted to go to to see and take a hike. It is known as one of the best rock climbing areas in all of Spain.
We had another amazing day...I was hiking in a t-shirt.
Beginner climbers
Where we had a snack before returning!
Traveling and being with Dory and Jim is pretty easy, we just go with the flow. Today was relaxed, we walked over to Ayuntamiento and went into see the Museum. There was quite a long line as they have a Belén on display that many people wanted to see. We went by Plaza de la Virgen and then had a nice lunch. When we traveled with Dory and Jim to Paris one day Dory and I had Pigs cheeks for lunch. Well today Dory and I split an Iberian Pigs cheeks sandwich, it was delicious.
From here we walked over to the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia (Museu de Belles Arts de Valencia), very nice day!
Wednesday, December 28
Today, is the day of the Holy Innocents. One of the most popular and entertaining Christmas traditions in Spain. This is when everyone is allowed to play practical jokes on each other. One of the most widespread jokes is to stick a figure cut out of white paper on some one's back without them knowing it. The word in Spanish for this practical joke is "inocentada". Supposedly in many Christmas markets you can find a whole range of joke items like, wigs, itching powder, false ink.....we will see what we see today.
This celebration seems to have come from the event narrated in the Bible concerning King Herod and the innocents and over time it has evolved to become a boisterous day.
Well no jokes to report today.
We did however spend the day experiencing and learning about the rich history of Valencia, starting as early as 138 BCE. We visited the (Museu de História de Valéncia) - Valencia History Museum. The museum takes you through time through battles, dates and famous people. We spent the entire afternoon here.
Thursday, December 29
Today, we walked around town. Visiting the Almudin, a Gothic building designed to store, distribute and sell wheat. We then walked a bit and had a Agua de Valencia. From here we visited the Torres de Quart (Quart Towers) and we climbed to the top. It was a beautiful day and we had a marvelous view!
We then walked back home passing Europe's narrowest building, here in Valencia. We visited La Petite Brioche as we all wanted a crepe. Afterward we came home to relax, have a cocktail Jim and I smoked a cigar, then we all went to Lambrusqueria for a wonderful Italian dinner.
Friday, December 30
We finished the puzzle
We then went over the the Museo de La Almoina, the Archeology Museum of Valencia. It was interesting to see archeology pieces from different pieces.
This is our last night together as Dory and Jim fly home tomorrow. We have loved them and feel sad that they are leaving. At least we know that it won't be too long until we see them again.
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