To say that I’m “la princesa” of solo day trips might be an understatement – I feel like “la reina”. Maybe it’s because I don’t like staying in hostels by myself or maybe it’s just because I can feel like I can accomplish what I want in a single 24 hour period, but I’ve got the system down. Aside from the school sponsored trip to Segovia, I’ve embarked on two other días de aventuras – last weekend to Fallas in Valencia and this past weekend to Barçelona. Twas a whirlwind, por lo menos, but here’s a recap of one of the two viajes.
Before embarking on my adventures abroad, I met a good family friend, Caity Murphy, for lunch to hear her recommendations while living in Spain. Aside from becoming extremely excited over the
A Steve Jobs Falla
course of the meal, I took away one important tip from our conversation – Go to Valencia and experience Fallas. I was a bit hesitant at first, since I had originally planned on traveling to Ireland for St. Patrick’s day but I am so glad I ended up listening to Caity.
Las Fallas is essentially a large festival that shuts down the whole city for five days in celebration of the coming of Spring. It coincides with Father’s Day (Día de San Jose) and is from Friday to Tuesday, ending with burnings on Tuesday night. I’m not entirely sure how to completely describe the festival, but there’s hundreds of girls wearing thousand dollar dresses, fireworks all day long, lots of mojitos, and these giant fallas that they end up burning at the end of the week. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my life. Anyways, I was online and saw that BeMadrid offered a 20 Euro day trip to Valencia on Saturday, so I jumped at the change and signed up to hang with 700 of my closest friends. Though I did know some NYU folks on the trip, I felt “naked” and and alone for the first time since being here because my roommates were in London.
With a Fallera
An early wake up and a five hour bus ride later, I found myself surrounded by thousand of Valencianos, amidst what sounded like a battlefield. We had arrived precisely before las máscletas – the midday fireworks – began. My bones shook with each explosion and though the noise was deafening, I was on cloud nine. Afterwards, a group of us (somehow mostly comprised of BeMadrid tour guides) ended up walking to lunch. After a while of wandering, two girls and I broke off from the large group – Natascha from Cologne, Germany and Mikhalia from Iowa – and grabbed some tapas before the rest of our adventure.
Over the course of the day we walked miles, saw countless Fallas, and indulged in Valencian culture via paella, bañuelos and agua de valencia (a mix between a mimosa and screwdriver). When we grabbed dinner, we luckily found some wifi so I was able to contact Caity and tell her how
Guille and I at Bar Negrito
much fun I was having. What was intended to be a quick thank you, turned into her giving me directions to visit her old roommates at Bar Negrito and the start to one of my favorite nights in Spain. The crowded bar was jamming out to some old school nineties music and as soon as I walked in, I knew it was a cool place. I went up to the first bartender I could find, and asked if he knew Caity’s roommate. As luck would have it, he turned out to be her roommate and took care of the three of us the rest of the night – just goes to show how small this world really is. Guille was quite honestly the sweetest Spaniard I have met since being here, and definitely made my trip to Valencia one to remember.
Following Bar Negrito, the three of us headed to the other side of town to a space that BeMadrid had rented out. After a quick hour of dancing and running into other friends from Madrid, I joined two Spaniards to had out to watch the fireworks. Man, does Valencia love fire works. The whole light show was íncreible – it lasted 20 minutes and was unlike anything I had ever seen before. As soon as they ended, it was a race against the clock to get to the buses by two. Five hours later, I found myself waking up on the bus in front of Plaza de Las Ventas (where the Bull Fighting Stadium is). I dragged my weary body down the steps onto the metro back to Sol and was witness to one of the funniest sights of my life: the metro at 7 on a Sunday morning. Here in Madrid, the metro closes at 1 until 6 so most Madrileños stay out all night to catch the train home the next day, and it is an absolute mess/comedy show the following morning. By the time I reached my apartment, I could barely muster the strength and energy to put my pajamas on before passing out on the couch all day. Though I only went to one day of the festival, I had an amazing 24 hours at Fallas. My only regret is that I didn’t stay longer to see the burning of the constructions.
Natascha, Mikhaila and I with some Falleras
