Day trip to Portugal

Saturday I went with a group of friends to a beach just across the Spanish-Portuguese border. One of my friends had a coworker who invited us for the day. The drive was about an hour and a half from Seville.

river separating spain and portugal

We went into the town of Vila Real de Santo Antonio and she showed us around for a bit. There was a market going on in one of the plazas and we spent some some walking through it looking at the products. 

weekend market

Cork is abundant in the region and many of the tables and pretty much everything you could think of made out of cork; wallets, hats, belts, bags, coasters, picture frames.. etc. I bough a small cork zip up bag to hold all of the extra change I have accumulated. 

cork products

After walking around for a bit and getting a beer at a local bar we got back in the car and headed to the beach. The weather was a little cloudy and windy but still nice enough to enjoy the beach. We were there for a few hours and then headed back to Seville. Nice relaxing way to spend the Saturday

New Bike

Last week I finally bought a bike to use for a trip I'm going to take across northern Spain after I finish my job. At the beginning of June I will be biking from the a town near the French border of Spain to a town in the northwest. It is the Camino de Santiago which is a historic pilgrimage to the town of Santiago de Compostela. I was going to do the Camino from Seville, but after talking to many people they recommended doing the official camino instead of the "Ruta de la Plata" from Seville. When the date is a little closer I will have more details on the trip. 

I bought the bike from my coworker Jose. I got a really good deal and for the amount I spent it is the best bike I could get. It is a Spanish company and I have already put almost 100 miles on it this past week or so. The other day I took a ride out to Italica on a trail that hugs the river. This is actually the beginning of the Camino from Seville. 

The trail is a greenway that is also used by farmers but also serves as the first leg of the Ruta de la Plata to Santiago in the north. This was the second time I took the trail but I decided to continue past Italica and head to the next town on the camino. 

 There are a variety of signals telling you were to continue on the camino; at rode intersections and crossing there are usually signs but for most of the way it is marked by yellow spray painted arrows. I imagine at times it could be difficult to decipher which way to go. I had a little trouble at one point just on this first leg of the trip, but luckily I made the right choice and continued on.

yellow arrow pointing the way

official sign 

more signals 

 Once I got past Italica I entered in between farmlands on a dirt road that seemed to go on forever. The weather was really nice so I decided to keep going until I got tired. I stopped in the middle of the fields for a bit and rested on a huge cement drain. There was no one in sight except for 2 tractors off in the distance plowing a near by field.

no hands

I went for another mile or so until I reached a point in the camino that I couldn't pass. The road dipped a bit and recent rains had flooded the entire path. I probably could have figured a way around but I was ready to head back.

Me and my lady

Now that I have my bike all I have left to do is plan out the trip. Should be a great way to end my time here in Spain. 

Weekend Trip to Alicante/Valencia: Day 3

Sunday the 20th we woke up from our couchsurfer families house and headed to Valencia to catch a train at 5 pm. We came downstairs into the living room and on the back patio was the dad and mom getting things ready for breakfast. Not only did they open there house to 4 Americans for the night, they also had a full breakfast for us. We ate with them and thanked them for everything. They even had food for us to make a lunch to go. Such nice people; It is nice to know that there are so many generous people who are willing to help out complete strangers. 

The mother drove the 4 of us into town. Hannah and Laura headed back on the train to Seville. Reegis and I walked around the center of town and then headed to the Science Park to check out the building and possibly go see the Aquarium.

Downtown Valencia

 The Science park was amazing. There were several strangely designed buildings and a nice park off to the side. We went to check out the Aquarium and decided not to go in because they recommended having at least 4 hours to see it all and it cost 20 some Euro. We walked around the park and then headed to the grass park on the side to rest a bit and eat our lunches that the family put together for us.

Science Park, Valencia Spain

We made our way back into town and caught our train back to Alicante. We got in around 9 pm and headed to another very kind and generous Spaniards house to sleep. We stayed at my friends old host mom who lives in the area. She let us shower and sleep and we left to the airport from her house at around 5 am. 

Valencia train station

I had an amazing time in Alicante and Valencia. I never had much desire to see the two cities, but I am glad I finally made a trip over. Both cities are very beautiful and have much to do. Las Fallas was such an incredible event and anyone who has the chance to be in Spain during the festival should really look into attending it.

Weekend Trip to Alicante/Valencia: Day 2 - Las Fallas - Valencia, Spain

Saturday morning I woke up around 7 am and got ready to meet Reegis at the train station around 9 for a two hour ride on the slow train up to Valencia. We were heading to Valencia for "Las Fallas de San José" which is a festival taking place inside the city from the 12th of March to the 19th. The whole week is filled with fireworks, music, street vendors, all day/night drinking and parades. They top it off at the end of the week burning huge statues in the city streets at midnight on the 19th. 

Las Fallas is a festival in praise of Saint James. The Fallas themselves are large sculptures made of wood, papier mache and other chemicals which probably are not the best to be inhaling. There are over 2 million visitors to Valencia during the week to celebrate the occasion. Some of the statues reach 40+ feet and cost nearly 200,000 Euros. There are hundreds of statues of all sizes around the city which are voted on for best prize in a number of categories. The statues range from style and usually relate to current affairs and local customs. 

After midnight on the final day, the day which we were in town, they ignite every single statue in the city and watch them burn to ashes back by fireworks and explosions. I had no idea what to expect when I first walked into the city but by the end of the night my mind was thoroughly blown. 

We got there before noon and decided to start walking around the city center for a bit checking out some of the pieces of art that they would be destroying in the approaching hours. The statues were impressive. Massive, colorful and well made. Standing close to them you could see how much time and effort was put into each statue. 

This won first prize

One artist really had a stick up his ass with the United States. Now I don't know what his actual image or message was, but the statues made it seem he wasn't too fond of our culture. The center of the Statue was a large sprinkled donut where the Mcdonald's logo as a top hat and sporting Mickey Mouse and Uncle Sam bursting out the sides. There was also a large bust of Uncle Sam pointing a very large index finger out into the crowd.  Surrounding his top hat was a native American, a cowboy and a rocket ship heading into space. 

Around the main statue was a number of smaller statues which included: Homer Simpson eating a donut; a large fat nude sculpture eating a hotdog with a large stick in his ass supporting him up; a large dragon eating a American business man with his patriotic red shorts in the mouth of the dragon; A large fat man at an airport security scanner machine completely naked with a security officer near by. I spent the most time looking at this statue trying to figure out if there was any love for our culture or country. No luck. 

After walking around for a little while we headed over to a main plaza to see the "Mascaleta"a which is an explosive display of ear ringing proportions. At 2pm every day there is a coridinated firecracker and firworkes show. The last day is supposed to be the most intense and I believe it. There was a solid 5 minutes of loud firecrackers with smoke billowing into the crowds. Shortly after fireworks accompanied the loud bands for another few minutes. By the end of the show the sun was hidden behind a large thick cloud of smoke. We were advised to keep our mouths open during the show since we were so close so you could let the sound and vibrations pass through you easier. The video below had the event pretty well documented. I couldn't belive how loud and the amount of time it lasted.

She is a dirty one

2pm during the Mascleta

Goodbye sun

Shortly after the Mascleta

I met up with a few more friends from Sevilla and we walked around the streets for a while. They had a couchsurfer who lived outside of Sevilla with her parents. Needless to say they had it made. Paella parties, rides into town and a really nice house to stay in. They headed back around 5 pm and my buddy Reegis and I found a grassy park area to try and get some rest. We had no place to stay for the night and planned on being out until the next day when our train was heading back to Valencia. The attempt to rest was crippled by the deafening sound of fireworks going off all around the town.

Main drag with shops

Since I couldn't get any rest I kept looking over at a big round about with a large monument in the center. I noticed there was metal gates lining the whole road and people were gathering. We got up and made our way to the barrier and found out a parade was going to take place. It finally reached us around 8 pm. It had traditional Valencian music, dancing and costumes followed by men in red jumpsuits with horns running around swinging ropes with fireworks and flares attached. They also pushed around metal bulls that shot sparks from its mouth and nostrels. After about an hour of people swinging around fire the whole plaza lit up with explosions and a firework show started. Below is another good video of parts of the parade.

The smoke from the fireworks and the parade were so bad. Luckily we had the knowledge to buy some scarfs to cover our faces while we were being blasted with sparks and smoke.

Parade

After the parade we met up with our friend Ted who was there with some cousins and his uncle. We walked around and checked out some more statues and then left to meet back up with my friends Hannah and Laura and the girl they were staying with.

As we walked around some of the smaller statues were being burned. We made our way to a large statue about 30 minutes before midnight to watch burn .

It was one of the most insane things I have ever witnessed. I didn't picture the festival to play out this way. I imagined large statues that they had in town and moved outside of town in a large field to burn safely, away from humans and buildings. Spain doesn't roll like that. They had these 40 foot statues smack dab in the middle of the intersections surrounded by firemen who drenched the buildings with water as the statues burned. We were a solid 100 feet back and could feel the heat. I would highly recommend watching the video below to see how massive this burn was.

I would love to see this event from a helicopter. I imagine it looks like a city under terror. There are hundreds of statues in all the intersections that get burned at once.

To make things even better we ended up finding a place to stay. The girl who my friends were staying with offered to let us go stay at her house. It was going on 2 am and we didn't leave on the train until 5 pm the next day. We gladly accepted and even got a nice bed to sleep in. I would learn in the morning how extremely kind and hospitable the family was. We hung out with the mother and the girl for a bit and then headed to bed. 

Valencia dubs themselves the firework capital of the world and after that night I agree 100%. This was one of the most interesting and spectacular things I have witnessed. The best part to me is during all this chaos everyone is so happy and friendly, drinking away and enjoying the party. Great weekend and if you ever have the chance to see Las Fallas I would say do it. It is worth it. 

Weekend Trip to Alicante/Valencia: Day 1 - Alicante, Spain

Palm trees lining streets in downtown Alicante near the beach

Friday morning I woke up early and flew from Seville to Alicante, Spain. Alicante is a city on the Costa Blanca with a population around 325,000. It is on the on the eastern coast of Spain facing the Mediterranean Sea. The flight was a short 55 minutes and I got into the center of town around 10:30. I went and found my hostal and took a siesta because I was so beat from the morning travels. My Hostel was located right in the center of town only a few blocks away from the Puerta del Mar.

View from Hostel

After waking up I decided to head up to the top of a large cliff that had a castle on top only a few minutes from the beach. The Castle is called Castillo de Santa Barbara and the views from the top of the city and sea were amazing. It took a while to get up there so I enjoyed my time and weather and hung out at the top on a viewing deck for a while overlooking the sea.

Alicante, Spain

Atop the Castillo de Santa Barbara

The way I walked up took awhile because I went around the whole cliff and walked up the road. While I was on top I noticed a foot bridge that cut right back down the mountain almost directily to my Hostel. I headed back that way to change and head to the beach for a bit while the weather was still warm. 

Footbridge into alicante's center

Castillo de Santa Barbara

I headed to the beach for a bit to sit in the sun and read. I was waiting for a few friends to get into town so we could meet up and figure out what our plans were for the next day trip to Valencia. The beach was nice but it was still to cold to get into the water. I read and drank a beer for about an hour and then met up with Arley and Reegis.

The two of them were staying in a town right outside of Alicante with Arley's old host mom from when she studied abroad a few years back. I didn't realize I was able to stay there too otherwise I wouldn't have booked the hostel. We ended up going out to the town and having some tapas with her old host mom and her friend. I caught the last train back into Alicante around midnight and went back to my hostel to pack and get some rest for the long next two days. Las Fallas in Valencia was tomorrow and we had our train ticket to leave Alicante at a quarter after nine. 

The next two days I spent in Valencia were amazing. I am putting together a few videos of all the festivities and the posts will probably be up in the next day or two. This was definitely one of the best weekends I have had in Spain and I would take a look at the videos because I have never seen so many fireworks/explosions in one day ever in my life.