valencia

felt like i hardly slept. could feel springs of bed; radio blared on at 8am; random crackers punctured the morning calm. bathroom door not lockable; hot water temperamental but at least there was. got into town and better view of las mascaletas this time round.
decided to head for beach, las arenas (LP), for lunch. metro horribly crowded; tram surprisingly new and train-like. restaurants on the sea front doing a roaring business. thankful to finally get a table at a restaurant as most had stopped seating. had the menu (no choice) at €21 a head: calamares, little fried fish, pimientos (peppers), sepia (cuttlefish) and paella. ok, would’ve been better if hot instead of lukewarm. waitress harried but quite cheerful and kept up a bit of running commentary in spanish ‘here’s a spoon for you. and one for you.’ lunched from 4.30 to 6pm. from 30 degrees C, the weather was turned a little chilly. beach not very crowded but certainly more people on it than in tossa.
stood for over 3 hours to maintain position at front of barricade to watch the burning of the fallas on the plaza ayuntamiento. quite annoying the way everything was played out for the tv cameras and not to the crowd. could hardly see the burning of the ninot (small model beside the falla) at 11pm.
interviewed by radio valencia while standing at barricade. asked question in spanish even after i said no hable espanol. mercifully switched to english and asked how i found las fallas. assuming he was referring to the burning, said that i was really looking forward to it. must have thought i was an idiot.
spectacular fireworks at 1am. best view ever, riot of colours exploding right over our heads and you could literally feel the explosions. then finally the setting off of the firecrackers and the burning of the last fallas. they had been burnt at their various locations from midnight (the nit de foc) accompanied by bursts of fireworks. ‘city on fire!’ it was quite a sight watching the towering fallas burn, feeling the heat and seeing the columns of embers flaring in the dark sky. everything was over by 1.30am. grabbed a chocolate before catching the last train (2.20am) back to sagunto. just one more night in this crappy room.