A long hiatus from blogging. The reason: Hoots (i.e. Ralph Lutes and Pat Hoad, now Pat Hoad-Lutes: collectively, Hoots. They are too.) They arrived for a two-week visit on March 9, and we've been going about a million miles an hour ever since.
First, the last Monday and Tuesday we spent on our own in Valencia,
March 7 and 8.
It had been cooler, and was rainy one of those day. The mascletas, the
daytime fireworks, were still going every day at 2 p.m. in City Hall Square,
turning the centre topsy-turvy. Police block the streets off around the square,
in about a six block radius, starting at noon. Crowds begin forming not long after. By 1
p.m., a full hour before the six-minute show begins, they’re lined a few people
deep around the place where they let off the fireworks. Then everybody streams
out of the square again at 2:15 when it’s all over, further snarling traffic. It’s
absolute madness, but the Valencianos love it.
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| Near City Hall Square: some of the prettiest building fronts in the centre - very posh apartments |
On the Monday, we walked over to Russafa to see if anything new was
happening with Fallas preparations, and there was. Yeehaw! The heavily plastic-wrapped
pieces of fallases – failures as Karen has taken to calling them, because
that’s how the machine translations of the word (mis)interpret it – have appeared
at Sueca and Literati Azorin and Cuba and Literati Azorin.
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| Plastic wrapped Fallas figure, part of Amstel-sponsored tableau, awaiting assembly on Calle Literati Azorin |
One appears to be
sponsored by Amstel, the other by the Spanish beer maker Mahou: dueling
fallases, one block apart. Both are among the biggest and most professionally
done in the city. Think: multi-storey-high, three dimensional cartoon tableaus.
On the basis of the wrapped pieces, it was difficult to guess what the tableaus
would be about, although the Amstel fallas appears to have a circus theme.
There is a large (unassembled) tiger figure – headless body and separate head.
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| Wrapped Fallas figure awaiting assembly in Mahou tableau, Calle Literati Azorin |
We did go one of the two days – Monday or Tuesday, can’t remember which
– on a second long walk around the city in search of other fallases, but only
found one, in pieces and, again, heavily plastic-wrapped against prying eyes. Lots
of beer tents going up in squares, though, and around both gate towers.
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| Traffic barriers stacked near Russafa market in preparation for closing streets for Fallas festivities - La Fallera is a brand of Valencian rice, the stuff they use for paella, and major sponsor of the festival |
On Tuesday, we went back to Russafa to shop the market and went down
Literati Azorin again to see the progress on the dueling fallases. They were
well into unwrapping and assembling the Amstel tableau. The main figure is a
pretty young woman in a fairy-tale frock (vaguely 18th century style) with
lilac-coloured hair and a top hat. A lady circus ring master, perhaps?
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| Main figure in Amstel Fallas on Calle Literati Azorin |
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| Artist buffing paint job on head of Genie (that will eventually be seen sprouting from the ringmistress's top hat |
When we came along, they were just getting ready to add the top part of
her top hat, lowering it into place using a huge construction crane. They had
web belts around the piece. It seemed to be taking them quite awhile to get it
balanced to their satisfaction on the hook of the crane, so we walked down and
had a look at the other fallas, the one apparently sponsored by Mahou, on the
next corner.
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| One of the central figures in Mahou fallas on Calle Literati Azorin |
It appears to be about a fairy tale ball, with cartoon-y female figures.
They are all making moon eyes, presumably at some man or men, although there
are, as yet, no appropriate male figures in the tableau. Unless it's the foppish figure below, which seems unlikely. One is a middle-aged
woman with mouth open, tongue out (tonsils visible), hearts in her eyes and decolletage lowered to expose nipples. Typically crude Fallas fare.
They weren’t as far along as the Amstel tableau and weren’t doing any
interesting work on it, so we wandered back to the first one, and arrived just
in time to watch the lowering of the top hat. They had a cherry picker with a
couple of guys in it to guide the thing into place. There was also a guy on the
ground holding on to a rope attached to the new piece. When they got the cherry
picker up to the top, one of the guys climbed into the bottom part of the top
hat to guide the new piece into place. We’re still not sure how he got out,
probably climbed back up the wooden framing inside and out the top. We didn’t
stick around to see. When we left, he’d disappeared completely inside the
fallas. It was fun to watch.
New lights have been turned on on our street, and it appears there will
be a fallas just a block down from us, but there’s no sign of anything there
yet.
The Hoots
Do Valencia
Wednesday was Hoots arrival day. It dawned cool-ish and a bit grey. They
were coming in on the train from Barcelona a little after 11 – to Joaquin
Sorolla station, the recently-built overflow facility a few blocks from the
lovely old Estacion Norte. Joaquin Sorolla is where the high-speed Ave trains stop. It reminds me of a sterile cow barn.
We walked up St. Vincent Martir and got there in plenty of time. It’s
about a 15-minute walk. It turned out the train was 15 minutes late. When it did
finally come in, they were naturally the last off. We were beginning to
think they might have missed it.
The Hoots seemed in fine form. Pat was suffering a bit with a hack-y
cough, but still had lots of energy. We gave them an hour or so to refresh
themselves and admire the apartment – theirs in Barcelona, in the Bari Gotic,
the old medieval quarter, had apparently been a disaster, about which they were
still quite irate. Then we headed out on a walk through the centre, including City
Hall Square. It was of course in an uproar in preparation for the daily
mascletas. That meant the streets were blocked off, though, so we could stand
in the middle of the road and admire the square and its architecture.
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| City Hall square facing towards Placa Reina - crowds gathering for mascletas |
We took them into the Mercado Centrale, with which Pat seemed duly
impressed (Ralph had seen it in 2012 when he came and visited us here.) Our
plan had been to include a visit to La Lonja de la Seda, the beautiful Renaissance-era
silk exchange across the street, but we were a little later getting there than
anticipated, and it was already closed for lunch. So we just headed over into
Carmen and up to Torre del Quart to the restaurant we’d selected, one we knew from
past visits.
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| Mercado Centrale: fishmonger - Karen won't go in this part of the market, but Pat, who doesn't care for fish and seafood either, seemed fascinated |
It’s called La Pizca de Sal. We went to it many times in 2011 for a dish
I loved, a kind of casserole with french fries, smothered in aioli, baked
cheese and bacon. Very sinful. (This was pre-lactose avoidance days.) When we
went back in 2012, they still had a dish with the same name, but it had changed
beyond recognition, and was awful. Anyway, the restaurant is still there, with
the same name, but appears to be under new management. It’s gone a bit –
emphasis on a bit – upscale, and has less the feel of a family run business and
more that of a professionally run restaurant.
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| La Pizca de Sal dining room |
We went for the menu del dia
lunch. It was 11.90€: starter, main, one drink, bread, dessert. I had a very
tasty paella with pork pieces for starter, a quarter roast chicken with
potato and carrot as my segundo – I
think everybody had that – and a superb apple flan. The others had some chocolate
concoction for dessert.
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| Torre Serrano from Turia Gardens |
After lunch, we wandered down into the Turia Gardens and walked around,
past the Torre Serrano. Not far along our route, I realized my camera battery
was out of juice – this is a feature of the new camera: the battery doesn’t last
as long as the old one – so I went up to street level, grabbed a Valenbisi bike
and tore home to get a fresh battery, then tore back to the river to meet them
at the Pont Mar, to which they had walked in the meantime. We walked home together
up one of the Avenidas and vegged out for awhile at the apartment.
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| Rainbow over Turia Gardens |
Later in the evening, despite aching legs and sore back (me), we set out
again to look at the fallas statues in Russafa. They were brilliantly
floodlit. We arrived just in time to see the cherry-picker-riding workmen, who
must now be working desperately to get their tableaus completed by the planta on March 15, pack up for the
evening.
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| Dueling fallases on Calle Literati Azorin |
Activity along Literati Azorin is ramping up: more churro stands,
lights on on Sueca (probably for testing), lots of people out gawking. Fallas
fever. On the walk back to the apartment, we stopped at a churro stand in a
square just the other side of St. Vincent Martir from our apartment. There were
big plastic-wrapped pieces for another fallas in the square, which we would see
partially constructed the next night. What was left of the rest of the evening
spent snacking and nattering back at the ranch.
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| Testing Fallas lights on Calle Sueca |
The next day, Thursday, the Hoots' only full day in Valencia, we had
planned bike riding. It wasn’t that promising a day – cloudy and cool again –
but we finally set out a little before noon, by which time it was brightening a
little. We walked down Avenida de Marques del Turia, thinking the bike rental
place we were aiming for was at the end of it where it crosses the Turia. Wrong
avenida. So we walked along the ring road to the correct one, at the Queens
Bridge (where the winged demons are). Pat and Ralph rented their bikes from a
charming little girl who looked about 12, but must have been much older, and
spoke very good English, but in a little-girl voice. She offered us Valencian
oranges from a crate at the door. Strange.
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| Flowering tree in Turia Gardens near City of Arts and Sciences |
Karen and I walked and the Hoots rode their newly rented bikes down into
the City of Arts and Sciences, which starts near there. By this time, there was
some sun. They rode around while we walked through, admiring the always
impressive views. We met near the Science Museum, separated again, and Karen
and I walked up out of the river bed to the El Corte Ingles Valenbisi station
and grabbed bikes. We met up with them there, and we all set off down to the
beach together.
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| Palau de las Artes in City of Arts and Sciences |
We rode all along the beach front from Hotel Neptune to the boundary
with Alboraya. It was relatively dead this day – not surprising given the
weather and time of week. Karen and I ditched our bikes there and we walked
through to the restaurants just on the other side in Alboraya to see if any might
be appropriate for lunch. None was, so we walked on to the big fancy
restaurants in the condo communities. They looked dead and too poncey. Next
plan: walk through Cabanyal and find a place there. We did the walk, but didn’t
find anything remotely appropriate.
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| Typical tile-fronted Cabanyal house |
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| Fallas statue near Armoury in Cabanyal |
Plan C was to ride to the church square across Avenida del Puerto from
our 2011 apartment, to a restaurant we knew from eating there with Shelley one
time. It had been sunny for a while, but there was a coolish offshore breeze
blowing. We sat down at a table on the terrace in the sun, but within minutes,
it was mostly in shade, and a little chilly for sitting outside. We persevered.
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| Ralph at chilly outdoor restaurant with rental bikes in background |
The menu looked okay: 8.50€ for primero, segundo, bebida, postres, pan.
The one slight problem was that I misunderstood the waiter’s explanation of a
paella-like dish called arroz banda,
which Karen and I both ordered based on that interpretation. I thought he said
it had chicken and rabbit, and it might have, but it also had quite a bit of
seafood. I was able to eat around it, Karen felt the whole dish tasted of
seafood and wouldn’t touch it. Too bad. The food was basic but tasty. We all
had a chicken dish – sort of stew-y – and a chocolate dessert.
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| Pat and Karen at chilly restaurant |
We rode from there to the Turia and went around as far as the big Nuevo
Centro shopping mall, where we cut down Gran Via de Ferran el Catòlic towards
the apartment. Pat and Karen walked from the Angel Guimera subway stop and I
took Pat’s rental bike with Ralph back to the rental place. The same girl was
there, cheerful and friendly as ever. She gave us a all key rings in the shape
of bicycles and offered us more oranges. Ralph and I picked up Valenbisi bikes
(I had Karen’s card as well as my own) and we rode back to the apartment. We snacked and vegged
and complained of feeling like old cripples (or I did), then went out again
later in the evening anyway.
We walked first to the square where we bought churros the night before.
The fallas construction was well underway, with some very amusing figures, now
unveiled. (See pic above.) Lots of gawkers. Then we wandered on over to Russafa
again, via the centre. Karen and I can’t seem to keep away from the place (Russafa, that is).
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| Bullring by night - note bullfight banners. The bullfights started the day after we left |
The main figure at the Amstel
planta has grown some new appendages – a genie coming out of her hat, and a
monkey on the genie’s shoulder. There is also a swimmer hanging off to the side
– difficult to see how he’s secured – and a sleeping woman who looks like a
magician’s assistant about to be sawn in half. What does it all mean? Who
knows?
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| Last views of Amstel fallas - with fireworks just visible in background on last one |
The Mahou fallas didn’t look that much further along than it had been
the night before. We regretfully set off for home, knowing this would be our
last glimpse of these fabulous tableaus – which would all, of course, be burned
at the Crema the next weekend. We walked back through the bullring-Estacion
Norte area, where we stopped for more churros. At this stand, right in front of
the station, they made us fresh churros – as they had the night before – even
though there were some already made. They put them in a paper bag and then
sprinkle with coarse-ground white sugar. MmmmMmm!
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| Last view of Mahou fallas on Calle Literati Azorin |
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| Churro chef - our churros are the loops on the left |
The rest of the
evening back at the apartment was given over to packing and preparing for our
departure the next morning.
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