Monday, March 13, 2017 I have mentioned Fallas before but never really described in detail what exactly Fallas is. So I've pulled together different information I gathered on Fallas, so here goes! What are Fallas? "The Fallas are unique. For several days in March (15th to 19th), this festival converts the towns of the Valencian Community into a momentary street art museums to celebrate the arrival of spring. Around 800 monuments made of wood, cartón piedra (literally "stone cardboard", similar to paper maché) and other materials, including Styrofoam, fill the city's streets. Music, gunpowder and traditional clothing are all essential ingredients. Its creative values and practical rituals have resulted in the festival being declared Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO."
Origin of the Fallas "According to certain reports, with the arrival of spring, when the days started to get longer, bonfires were made with wood and old furniture. Often, dolls were added to criticize the behavior and attitude of neighbors. The first records of the Fallas of Valencia appear from the 18th Century. The neighborhood based festival was joined by the work of carpenters, in honor of their patron Saint Joseph, and other professionals who helped spread it throughout the city, reaching over one thousand Fallas commissions. From the outset, the festival has evolved consistently thanks to its critical and cultural outlook and rejuvenating spirit." Key elements of Fallas Fallas artists - architects, sculptors, painters and decorators of different levels of versatility, imagination and creativity. Pyrotechnics - which date back to the times of the Muslim presence in Valencia, are one of the basic elements of the festival. Of all the Fallas events, pyrotechnics might be the most important. They give Fallas a sound that will take your breath way and make your heart beat in an excited fashion, mixing color and rhythm and sound in perfect harmony. Music - Musical tradition in Valencia, based on music associations and tabal and dolçaina groups. The city's streets are ALIVE at ALL hours with the music!!! Whether it is DRUMMING BANDS
OR MARCHING BANDS
There is always music! Fallas commissions - these groups are responsible for organizing the festival in each neighborhood. Our friends Celine and John organized a visit to one older Falla called Pintor Segrelles. They really are like a social club. They pay memberships and many fund their own mascletá's and Falla monument. Pintor Segrelles cost about $28,000. Of course they need to purchase a large insurance policy in case when the Crema (the burn) happens they burn something else down!
Clothing - In all official acts, the falleros and falleras dress in their best attire, recalling the elegance displayed by Valencians in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is the official clothing of the festival, something that has served to recover a number of garments, accessories and a large variety of shapes and colors that show the richness of traditional Valencian dress. The Ninot exhibition - Ninots are the figures that form the scenes of the Fallas monuments. We visited this exhibition in the beginning February when our niece Kimberly and Erwan were visiting from München, Germany. You vote for 2 that get "pardoned" and therefore will NOT be burnt on March 19th. In my February post I featured some of my favorite Ninot's, however here are a few more for your viewing pleasure
The Crida - this is the opening ceremony including light, sound, music and pyrotechnics. The Mascletás - every day from March 1 to 19 at 2:00pm - the pyrotechnic show lasts between 5 and 7 minutes and has a determined rhythm, where gunpowder explosions gradually increase with an amazing finale! The Plantá - March 15th the Fallas artists leave the Fallas completely finished and ready to be visited on the streets. Fireworks displays - on the nights of the 15th to the 18th at the Turia Gardens (between the Exposición and Las Flores bridges) the fireworks takes place. The MOST spectacular display is known in Valencian as Nit del Foc - Noche del Fuego in Spanish or (night of fire) are held on the 18th and 19th. We went to both, the 18th was at 12:30am and on the 19th at 1:30am. On the 19th there were well over 1 million people in are around the Turia river to see this fireworks display at 1:30am! The Flower offering - La Oferenda La Crema - the burning of all the Fallas Personal fireworks - for the 5 days of Fallas (15th to 19th) ALL day and ALL night people, including girls, boys and adults are exploding fireworks. Both girls and boys have these wonderful wooden boxes they wear over their shoulder that carries all of their fireworks. Some have personalized their boxes over the years. As you might expect the adults blow off HUGE/LOUD explosive fireworks, quite near you. They sound and feel like mini bombs, they are called petardos. Temporary Buñuelos, Churro and whaffle kiosks During Fallas the smell of deep fried buñuelos and churros blend with the constant smell of smoke and gunpowder. On almost every other corner is a shop making buñuelos
In reviewing my posts I realize that I haven't really mentioned that Fallas, officially started on March 1st (really February 26th with La Crida - video below) and it runs through March 19th. The main event is March 15th to the 19th
One of our favorite events of Fallas is every day at 2:00 pm from March 1st to the 19th in Plaza Ayuntamiento (City Hall Plaza) is Mascletá, the one below was on the same day 2.26.17 as the La Crida above.
Mascletá, is what we might call day time fireworks. But that is not really what Mascletá is. While it is a pyrotechnic event, the focus and attention is on the timing and rhythm of the pyrotechnic and especially the composition of the sound. There are a few "fireworks" that have a small amount of either florescent red or green colors and even more rare are some with multi-color smoke, but color and fireworks as we know it is not what Mascletá is about. That said, we did not know exactly when our friends Ophelia and Peter were going to arrive....when we got home from today's Mascletá they were waiting for us at our apartment.
We were happy Ophelia and Peter choose to visit us and excited to see them again. They live in Boise, IA and it's not often we have the opportunity to spend time together. Ophelia and Peter are fellow travelers of the World! They have travelled a lot over the years. Including spending a year in Vietnam! I was SO jealous of Peter, when he took a trip for 3 months exclusively for diving in the Spring of 2016. I had planned to join him for some diving but the timing of his trip and our arrival in Valencia did not work out. Ophelia was not feeling 100% so Peter joined us for dinner at Vuelve Carolina. We ate here with Dory and Jim and knew that Peter and Ophelia would love it. They have tasty and interesting dishes. We loved the mushroom forest dish below. Behind the glass is a sweet corn fritter that we also loved. We also had a Pan bao with pork jowl, fried calamari and a few other dishes, it was delicious!
Friday, March 10th It was a gorgeous day so we started off the day by taking O and P to the beach. Since we have been going to the El Cabanyal Beach there has been a sandcastle in this location the entire time, however they just transformed it into this new design, which we all enjoyed!
Since we were going to have a busy evening, we all took a short siesta after returning from the beach. Tonight we took Ophelia and Peter to and lighting of the Las Luces (The lights), another Fallas event, on Calle Cuba. Our friends Celine and John coordinated a group event and some of our other Valencia friends, Eddie, Heather, Dale, Yvan and others were there. Of the 3 different illuminated street light shows Calle Cuba won first prize, this year. They had over 300,000 points of light and 400 meters (1, 200 feet) of paneling. We happen to agree with the judges decision as we felt this was the most amazing show! For us the experience was incredible. We were in awe and amazement and wonderment. Personally I had never seen anything quite like this.
After dinner we all were fortunate enough to celebrate my 60th Birthday courtesy of our friend Michele Stern. Michele gave me a gift certificate to this wonderful Restaurant Blanquerias. Here is Ophelia with her lovely smile
And this was our Cod loin comfit with tomato and herbs
It was so nice of Michele to provide the gift. For it was wonderful to be able to share it with Ophelia and Peter, that made it even better, thank you Michele! Saturday, March 11th After a busy Friday, we relaxed and enjoyed the morning. About noon we walked towards Ayuntamiento as we wanted to share the Mascletá experience with Ophelia and Peter. Each day that passes I believe more and more tourists arrive and the Mascletá is getting progressively more crowded. After lunch we went for a walk into the Turia River Park. We took them to the City of Arts and Science. We just love the place! It is the MOST important modern tourist destination in Valencia and one of the 12 Treasures of Spain
For dinner we wanted to keep it casual and close to our apartment so we went to our tapas place called Jamon del Medio. Sunday, March 12th Today Ophelia and Peter are taking the train to Barcelona. They will be there for a few days before flying to Costa Rica to spend the final 3 weeks of their 3 month journey....which also included Liberia (only Ophelia) and Morocco together as well as many other cities around Spain! We loved having them and look forward to the next time we see each other, hopefully in California. This afternoon our friend Roz invited us to join her to attend a Holi Festival of Colors. It was at the Radha Krishna Hindu Temple. First they have a religious ceremony then they serve lunch, then comes the Holi celebration.....we had a wonderful time!
Wednesday, March 8th - Women's Internationl Day! Tonight we joined our friends to march through Valencia for the Women's International Day. Some of the people we joined are American's and as you can see the women and men had a few signs to deliver a message to the President who shall not be named!
I love the top sign, which is hard to read it says "We are NOT Ovary-acting" or how about "I've seen better cabinets at Ikea" of course "Orange lies Matter" is also pretty good!
This is an article from the web site Expatcia. A friend of mine here in Valencia, Steven Flans, sent it to me. I love how the Spanish use milk so I wanted to share this article. "Spaniards might not be crazy about drinking "la leche" but they are obsessed when it comes to creating quirky Spanish phrases. Despite the fact that Spaniards have a much lower consumption per-capita then the UK (or the US) they are idiomatically at least, obsessed with milk. From giving a milk to having bad milk to going at full milk, leche has produced some of the most useful Spanish phrases. The Spanish Royal Academy, the organisation charged with safeguarding the Spanish language, lists more than 40 Spanish phrases or idioms using it - none of which have anything to do with the white stuff. Here are some of the most useful leche Spanish phrases, although be careful. Some Spanish phrases have contradictory meaning of "la leche", depending on the context. Tener mala leche- to have bad milk This means to be in a bad mood. or to be bad tempered. This Spanish meaning harks from the days when people believed that babies inherited personality traits through breast milk, which is why wet nurses were carefully selected in order not to pass bad milk on to babies. Mala leche- bad milk On its own, mala leche can mean bad luck. So !Qué mala leche tiene!can mean "What bad luck he has". As the Spanish way to call someone lucky uses the verb tener, this can be easily confused with the first point by foreigners. Not by the Spaniards however, who always seem to know which meaning is intended at any given time. A mala leche/con mala leche- with bad milk An action undertaken "with bad milk" conjures the Spanish meaning that it was done with bad intentions from the beginning. Subtly different to above, the two meanings can easily be confused when referring to a person: context will dictate whether they had a bad temper or bad intentions. Hay mala leche- there is bad milk In this sense, mala leche means bad blood of ill feeling. So "hay mucha mala leche entre él y su hermano" means "there is a lot of bad feeling between him and his brother" Ser la leche- to be the milk Confusingly, this phrase can mean either to be really good or really bad. So if a new phone is "la leche", it is very good, but the same phrase could be used to condemn an old phone that keeps breaking. When applied to a person !eres la leche!, it can mean almost anything. For example, "he thinks he is the milk" "se cree la leche" can be translated as "he thinks he is all that" A toda leche- at full milk This essentially means "at a maximum level". So "ir a toda leche" means "to go really fast", "trabajar a toda leche" means "to work flat out" and "hacer los deberes a toda leche" means "to do your homework at top speed" La leche de - the milk of This means a lot of something. So "saber la leche" about a given subject means to know a lot about it, while to be " la leche de listo" means to be very clever and "hace una leche de calor" means that it's extremely hot. This can also mean a lot of nothing, so "no sabe ni la leche" translates as "he doesn't know anything" De la leche- of the milk Similar to the above, this phrase is used as an intensifier. So "un dolor de la leche" means a really strong pain and " una suerte de la leche" means a really good fortune. ?Qué leches?- what milks? An expression of surprise, that could be translated as "what on earth?" or the more vulgar "what the hell?", depending on context. For example ?Qué leches haces aquí?" can be translated as "what on earth are you doing here?" or "what the hell are you doing here?" Thus structure also works with other questions such a "?cuándo leches?", when on earth and ?por qué leches?" why on earth. !Leches!- milks This exclamation can mean anything from shock, wonder or surprise to annoyance, and listeners are expected to understand depending on the situation. It can also be used in the singular, as Spaniards exclaim simply !leche! milder than an expletive, in this context it can be translated as anything from "heaven's sake!" to "goodness" to "well I never". Toda esa leche- all that milk This phrase has a vague meaning, which can be roughly translated as "all that stuff", "all that jazz" or "all that kind of thing", as in tengo que comprar pan, agua y toda esa leche" "I have to buy bread, water and all that kind of thing". Dar una leche- to give a milk To slap, hit, smack or punch someone. For example, !te voy a dar un leche!" means "I am going to slap you" Darse una leche- to give oneself a milk When reflexive, this expression means to hurt oneself accidentally by bumping or crashing into something. For example, " Andrea resbaló por la calle y se dio una leche" means that Andrea slipped and fell on the street, but "Andrea se dio una leche con el coche" means she had a crash in her car. Cagarse en la leche- to shit in the milk Spaniards idiomatically defecate on everything: from God to your mother to the salty sea, so it seems only fitting that milk should be included in this list. The expression is used to express anger or frustration, and the Spanish meaning again harks back to breastfeeding - the original phrase meant to "shit in the milk that you were fed"
Sunday, March 5, 2017 - Toledo We enjoyed another easy drive from Ávila to Toledo. As we approached Toledo I could see that the city was quite prominent. It is situated on the top of a hill surrounded by a river on three side. I was impressed before we even entered the city. As a side note, what I like about links from Wikipedia is if you click on the photo on the right side of the web page you will see many photographs of the location, some of them historical, many times they include Flags and the Coat of Arms, etc. We checked into our hotel, the San Juan de los Reyes, an ok hotel, but a wonderful location, in the Jewish Quarter. (Beth note: We were so excited about this hotel which is a renovated old flour factory. The outside is very well done and promised great things inside - alas it didn't deliver. It had about as much charm as a Motel 6 - oh well it was clean and as Howard said, a great location) Just up the street, we first visited the Santo Tomé to see the famous painter El Greco, The Burial of Count Orgaz. I have to admit that when we saw El Greco's paintings in the Prado, I didn't love his elongated style...for me it was a bit over the top. However this painting does not have that style and it has a lot of interesting things. For one the painting is divided into Heaven above and Earth below. Above the faces you see a little baby going up the birth canal, to be reborn in heaven where he greeted by the saints, Mary and Jesus. Interesting enough El Greco painted himself into the piece, 7th from the left (the one looking right at you and appearing to not be participating in the funeral). And he also included his son, the boy on the bottom left pointing at the priest. I did like this piece a lot. Next we visited what was formally a Jewish synagogue called Ibn Shushan. It is considered the oldest synagogue building in Europe still standing.
The Catholic Church, "owns" it and the Jewish community wants them to give the synagogue back to the Jews. It is currently called the Santa María la Blanca. When I first walked in it felt like a mosque, not a synagogue. It looks and feels this way because it was originally constructed under Christian approval by Islamic artist specifically for Jewish use. I would love to daven here!! Toledo is an ancient city (2,000 years of history) and was known for the co-existence of Christian, Jews and Muslims. Next we visited the Synagogue of El Transito. It has incredible detailed hebrew writing all along the top portion of the temple on all four sides. It it the best surviving piece of Toledo's Jewish past. Now the synagogue also serves as a Jewish museum and displays menorahs, books, artifacts and ritual clothing. The Ark is behind some Muslim style arches, and there still is some of the original mosaic tiles flooring. I would like to pray here too!
Within a block is the El Greco Museum. This place was also special because they recreated El Greco's home. So we had a sense of how he lived and worked. We saw his The Twelve Apostles which, to me, all looked the same. But I did loved the View and Plan of Toledo.
Everything we have visited so far is in the Jewish Quarter. As we have walked around we keep seeing many different types of Jewish tiles on the streets, sides of buildings. Some say Shepard, some Chai and others are Menorah's. I liked seeing them to remind me of being in the Jewish Quarter.
While we can get "over churched" the Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes is neat because of the fine carvings. "Everything had meaning in the 15th century. Even this small monkey, an insulting symbol of Franciscans, on a toilet reading the Bible upside down. It is thought that a stone carver snuck in a not too subtle comment on Franciscan pseudo intellectualism, with their large libraries and small brains"
It is said to have been built to commemorate the birth of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile's first son Prince John AND to commemorate their victory at the Battle of Toro. Some other images of the Plaza
We heard that the best views of Toledo were from the Parador Hotel. Therefore we decided to take the short drive to have a drink, watch the sunset over Toledo. On the way we stopped to view the Puenté de Alcántara.
I also loved these Hebrew sayings that Toledo shines on the walking streets at night
