Las Fallas 2009 in Valencia

During the Fallas we stayed in Valencia. We wanted to go for a weekend before Fallas to visit Toledo and Segovia, but we were ill and didn't go.

Since the begining of march we wanted to go to see the mascleta but we couldn't, because we had classes at the politecnica at these hours. Finaly our classes have ended and we went to Plaza de Ayutamiento to see it. It was a new experience for us because in Poland there is no such kind of fireworks. We really liked it, especialy because the fireworks are fired in such way that there is a rithm and people are jumping and clapping their hands. Unfortunately, we were a bit ill and we couldn't go to see mascleta one more time.

Every day from monday till thursday we were walking along the streets and watching fallas statues because we wanted to see as much as possible of the special ones.

In Valencia during the Fallas there is a lot of noise and party. Whole city is decorated with lights. There were many beatiful dressed Falleras walking along the streets.

We were also going to see castillo at nights and we liked it a lot.

The best, off course, were the fireworks during the noche del fuego. The same day when we were walking near to the river we came across the parade of L'Ofrenda floral and after the final castillo we went to see the statue of Virgen composed of flowers.

The last day we went once again to see the fallas that we liked the most to take more pictures and then in the evening we went to see the crema of one falla infantil which was quite a nice and strange experience. Then we saw the crema of a big special falla. It was the first time we've seen such a big controlled fire in a city - it was amazing. We admire firemen, who have a lot of work during the last day of Fallas. We were standing so close to the falla that when it started to burn we had to move back 15 meters becouse of the heat. As a last thing we went to see the fireworks and the crema of the falla at Plaza de Ayutamiento .

All the Fallas was a great, new experiance for us and we think that it is a really worth seeing fiesta. We would recommend it for sure.

You can read more about Fallas on Wikipedia or Fallas Official Site and see a short film showing one piece of a Falla - one ninot - from the forming of the scale model right through to the burning.