Barcelona to Valencia
We woke up to glorious sunshine at our campsite and headed down to the bus stop near the entrance. On the drive in we realised that I didn't really know much about Barcelona other than Sagrada Familia for which we had booked tickets a few days prior. Ellen recommended a few things and we ultimately managed to book last minute onto an English guided tour of Park Güell. What I hadn't considered though, (yes it was my fault) was that one of the roads our bus needed to take was closed by police and so we were getting stuck in traffic and were at risk of missing our tour time!
A stressful half an hour followed with us getting dropped off down some random street, hot footing it across town to a suitable bus stop and trying to figure out the swipe on system for Barcelona's busses. We did thankfully make it just in the nick of time as our guide arrived and spent a great hour and a half being led around our first of Antonio Gaudi's works. This was just through the visit Barcelona website and was reasonably priced yet very informative on both the park history and Barcelona in general.
After leaving Park Güell, we hopped back on the bus and headed toward the centre of town and to a Catalan restaurant recommended to us by Ellen's cousin who until recently resided here in Barcelona. After a delicious lunch at Mossul, we headed to the nearest Metro station to make our next guided tour around Gaudi's masterpiece, Sagrada Familia.
I'm sure it's been said a thousand times how amazing the Sagrada Familia is, I won't repeat it again too much. It is indeed worthy of all the praise received, a true masterpiece of architecture and probably one of the few buildings in construction today with some true stylistic features. The way the light fills the cavernous central hall is truly spectacular as it filters through the stain glass windows filling the basilica with a rainbow of colour. After our guided tour we then had paid to go up the towers of the Nativity Facade. I won't lie, its not really worth the money paid, you go up, you walk across a small open bridge and then back down the other side. Yes, the views are spectacular and the spiral staircase mirroring a snail shell as you look up/down the centre is impressive. But it did leave a bit of a taste in the mouth with the extra cost just for this.
Now, again, I think it is a spectacular building, however there is also the other side that just bugs me. This is supposed to be a Christian church, but my upbringing taught me that Christianity is about helping the poor and needy, empathy toward other people and having no idols or gods but the Christian god. But this seemed to be more about the building itself and the worship of Gaudi, and that's before we even come to the difficult ongoing conversation about how they finish the Glory Facade.
The Glory Facade will be the main entrance with staircases and gardens etc. But in the 70's the city didn't think it would ever be finished and granted permission to build low-rent temporary apartments on the grounds belonging to the basilica. These were not to be owned but strictly rent controlled with the proviso that should the building ever near completion then they shall be knocked down. This is the problem that was conveniently missing from any information boards or even the guided tour. The construction is on course to complete by 2036, but those buildings are still there and still have residents living there fighting for their right to stay. Its a situation full of nuance and I'm not so sure what the answer is myself but the mass eviction of residents during a city wide housing crisis just doesn't feel very Christian to me. I just hope the best outcome is found for all parties.
Heading off from Sagrada Familia, we had some time to kill before the return bus and so had to get ourselves some delicious Tapas at a nearby bar before we jumped on the bus back to the campsite. We had realised at the bar that we really needed a second day to see the old "Gothic Quarter" and more of the city itself, so on returning to the campsite we went and paid for another night (three in total) so we could do just this the next day.
Heading out bright and early again, we arrived in Barcelona and headed out toward the Gothic Quarter via Las Ramblas which was nowhere near as busy as the pictures you see from peak season. In fact, most of it this time of year is a building site. We reached the Columbus monument and headed along the old waterfront (old as in, where it used to be, but land reclamation has since moved this further out) past a giant prawn (gambas) sculpture and then headed back in toward the gothic quarter. Our next stop was now the Museum of the history of Barcelona. We spent the morning, as the heavens opened outside, walking our way through underground roman and Visigoth ruins and then up into the newer existing buildings learning the long rich history of this area.
Then, after a bit of wandering around the Gothic quarter we stopped for lunch at a gem of a restaurant tucked down a tiny side street. As recommended by our handy Lonely Planet guide, La Vinateria del Call was an amazing little hidden place and currently it at the top of my Patatas Bravas rankings. Perhaps I will publish this one day alongside an equally thrilling read "Tom's best public toilets of western Europe". I'm getting off track again.
After lunch we wandered the old quarter for a little longer, graced by the sounds of a solitary fellow singing a passionate Catalonian independence song in the centre of the main square facing the town hall. At least we assume this was the subject of said song, "Catalonia" reverberated around the square many times during the song, so we can only guess. It was pretty impressive. We headed on and found ourselves at the park where the famous universal exposition of 1888 was hosted. Most of this was shut and so we wandered back up toward the Arc de Triomf (not that one) built for the 1888 expo. From here we proceeded to do some shopping in El Cortes Ingles before heading back to the campsite via the bus nice and early. After dinner we settled in for the night and decided that we had almost spent a week in Spain and barely scratched the surface. We had 8 weeks for the whole peninsula (thanks again Brexit) so we would have to make some tough decisions on where we did and didn't visit.
The next morning we hit the road and had decided this would be pretty much a solid driving day to get us right down the coast to Valencia. This time, we had done some research though and we knew the start of something called "Fallas" was on this weekend. If you have come across Fallas, or were following our Instagram, then you already know what is coming. We'll get to that shortly.
For now we headed down through some horrendous weather further and further south until Valencia was on the horizon. We pulled into a little car park on the coast as the sun went down. This was perfectly fine but we took a short expedition to see if the nearby town with train station was safe to sleep or at least leave the van during the day, and subsequently decided no it wasn't when we saw a guy and his kid were setting off fireworks amongst the half dismantled cars. The former was Fallas related but as I have said, we weren't prepared yet...
We got back to the car park and found a car park for a metro station about half an hour away for the next day. So the next morning we set off to this place we had found and it turned out to be an absolute gem. Free parking and perfectly safe, with the metro right there. We locked up Noodle and jumped on the tram headed for the City of Art and Science alongside the Turìa Gardens park (The former Riverbed now park). On the walk between metro lines we heard small fireworks going off in the streets and firecrackers here and there, but not many and we'd by now read that Valencians set off little fireworks here and there over the two weeks of Fallas. OK, cool, bit of fun we supposed.
We wandered around the City of Arts and Sciences for a bit and then bought tickets to go into the science museum. Its a bit tired and confusingly laid out, but the exhibit on Da Vinci was interesting and worth the money. The ISS simulator was... a bit cringe, and very dated and in need of an update. But, the whole of that floor is about to undergo a full remodel, so it would seem they know that too.
Moving on from the science museum, we didn't really have a plan. We decided to wander through the Turìa park to a metro then go into the main centre. As we did, we saw a dad and his kids throwing firecrackers at a flock of ducks in the water. This was our first real exposure to Fallas, and we still maintain that this should not be done. However it was the start of a 45 minute walk of culture shocks. We ended up walking all the way into town rather than taking the metro and as we did our delicate English sensibilities were gradually more and more worn away by what we have since dubbed "the siege of Valencia".
Fireworks. Firecrackers. Everywhere! Like assault rifles going off down side streets and an artillery barrage in the centre of a major park. These weren't launched fireworks either, the majority were laid on the ground by children as young as 4 as their parents proudly watched on as their little angel took their Fallas themed fuse rope (yes like one used on a 17th century cannon, but brightly coloured and fun) and lit the little parcel on the ground and ran off laughing. And BANG it goes off like a howitzer!
Again, this is in the middle of a busy park as people have just left work. What started as a mild fear of antisocial behaviour on our part, because lets be honest this would be exactly that in the UK, became mild amusement and ultimately by the end of our 45 minute walk through the park I actually wanted to have a go myself. We wanted to see what would happen so much that we decided we would come back the next day and just stay this evening until late and have an early night out in Valencia.
It didn't relent either, in fact as the night drew on, it only got more and more intense. Fireworks and firecrackers being set off everywhere, in the streets, in the crowded squares. We got so used to it that a number of times huge explosions would go off as we were sitting eating tapas at various locations and we would listen, with everyone else around (it was VERY busy), deduce that we could hear no screaming, and just continued with our drinks or food. We were so desensitized by this point that we were barely noticing the smaller firecrackers any more.
We got a late metro back, well it was late for us, but early for the Valencians who had a full firework display at midnight! The next morning, a little hungover we had a long lie in despite the 8am fireworks display wake up call... Yes, that is actually part of the festivities, in the city itself there were bands marching the streets at the same time as a wake up call. This was our warning that we had only seen the start of the chaos. And they do this everyday for 2 weeks!!!
By the time we got into the city just before midday the bands were still marching randomly around, the police had completely cordoned off the entire old town and crowds were gathered in the Valencian sun watching the bands, milling around and preparing for the 2pm "Mascletá" outside the city hall.
Now Mascletá is a whole different ball game. We got there 45 minutes early and had a somewhat decent spot in the square but not right by the fireworks cage. Yes, a cage surrounding an area the size of a football pitch or two was placed in front of the town square and filled with row upon row of hanging fireworks in brightly coloured packages and row upon row of ground based mortars.
You can see where this is going.
10 minutes to go. BANG. A single rocket goes up and reverberates around the streets, the crowds begin to fill the balconies all around the buildings facing the plaza.
5 minutes to go. BANG. Another solitary rocket as the police helicopter takes one final circuit to force-land any drones in the blast zone.
1 minute to go. The Fallera Mayors (Fallas Queens) shout from the city hall balcony, the crowds around us joining in "Señor pirotecnic, pot començar la Mascletá!!!"
ALL. HELL. BREAKS. LOOSE.
10 minutes of the loudest fireworks you will ever hear. The idea here is to make as much noise as possible, its not so much about seeing it, but hearing it. Feeling it. In your ears, in your bones and in the very ground. The crowd goes nuts, the full assault is an immense, all consuming experience. Nothing else exists but this barrage of explosions for a solid 10 minutes culminating in louder and louder explosions. The ground visibly shakes beneath your feet and a mild, primeval fear at one point swept over me. But there's nowhere to run, you're fully immersed in this experience and it's exhilarating!
The final explosion goes off, the crowd goes wild once again, the square is full of smoke and ashen paper rains from the sky. The smoke begins to clear and the Valencian sun breaks through and you can finally see again. People break off to go for lunch and do other things for a few hours like its completely normal. Then 5 minutes later, as if the Mascletá wasn't enough, people are setting off firecrackers again.
We used the next couple of hours, after the adrenaline had worn off, to visit the cathedral of Valencia, an impressive building for sure and lays claim to house the holy grail. There's a cup there for sure, but you have to be sceptical about these things, this is the land of the inquisition after all.
Leaving the cathedral and our brief moment of peace, we emerged back into the sun and prepared to watch the parade at 5:30pm. Obviously stopping at some tapas bars on the way.
Firecrackers had stopped... which was weird but we soon realised why. We had stumbled onto the first street of the parade, where the parade leaders mounted on horses were lining up. So it is orderly when it needs to be!
We stood and watched the parade pass us, showcasing themes of the larger Fallas models from each neighbourhood that ere being erected across the city in preparation for the finale of Fallas festival the following weekend. There were many references to the devastating floods that swept the southern districts in October and to the "Anonymous Volunteers" who assisted with cleanup and sheltering victims, these were understandably met with huge applause and cheers from the crowd.
As the parade finally passed us by we turned to head back to our metro station as the sun was dropping. We kept having to reroute as we ran into the parade route here and there and ended up at the train station and had to treat ourselves to some last Churros as we waved goodbye to this wacky, yet wonderful city. We cannot wait to come back for the final weekend of Fallas some time in the future. Unfortunately we won't be able to this year.
One last gem was awaiting us as we headed to the metro. We stumbled into China town and turned right. There in front of us was this huge, 2-3 story tall sculpture of a man? knight? being assembled in this tiny square/roundabout between the 4 story buildings. We circled round and saw the bodies of yet taller figures with heads not yet attached. A white smaller model sat in front of them. We realised that this was an actual Falla being assembled! We had no idea they were this large. Some apparently reach 5 stories and have smaller models called "Ninots" that are paraded the following week before joining the larger model. These ninots are on display at the science museum, but we couldn't get tickets the day before.
Here's the even crazier part (just for a bit more in all this madness). The citizens vote for their favourite Falla to save it...
Save it from what you may ask? Well, the translation to English of "Falla" is "Torch"... see where this is going yet?
On the last day of the festival, every one of those huge, 5-storey models except for the winner, is filled with MORE fireworks and they light the fuse! The city is basically set alight and the fire department have to douse the buildings in the tighter streets like this one to prevent them getting scorched or setting on fire themselves!
Well... now we have to come back for the last weekend!
Arriving back at the Metro station where Noodle was parked, we stood on the railings to watch the 8pm fireworks at city hall on the horizon. As to be expected many of these were loud even from the many miles away that we were and shook the trees in the surrounding Orange groves ever so slightly. A final crescendo as we said goodbye to Valencia and we finally turned in for the night.
Closing thoughts: Barcelona is beautiful. Valencia is insane. And I know which one I'd like to live in...
