valencia

incessant kissers. incessant smokers.
8am eurobus from barcelona to valencia for the fiesta de las fallas. slept cos i was feeling so tired. arrived at bus station to find lockers sole accepta pesetas, which had already been phased out. went down to train station by bus to find line in front of fully occupied lockers. getting desperate. went, tried to, for 2pm las mascaletas, heard rather than saw most of it. whole city crammed into the plaza ayuntamiento and stood still for the entire 5min of fireworks display. first time watching fireworks by day, smoke trails almost more of an impact than the coloured lights.
took train to sagunto, no consigna. last hope was for lodging. RG mention hostal carlos was first stop. place was full but they did have a room elsewhere (round the corner). turned out to be a dingy double room located above an eatery blaring some radio station. it was €25 a night. we took it gratefully.
took train back into valencia. finally had time to eat. indifferent bocadillo at cafe olympika. joined with the crowds in watching the procession of falleros offering flowers to la virgen. promptly got separated from wy. wandered about a bit, managed to see the front of la virgen, with flowers still being slotted into the frame. bought the las fallas handkerchief for €3. incredibly enough, managed to run into wy again. plan now was train station every hour on the hour if we got separated.
tried horchatas, something like soya bean drink, with an unmistakeable taste of nuts.
wandered about the old town from falla to falla. moving with the thronging crowd. questionable tapas for dinner (sepia and seafood salad.) bad food day indeed.
decided that plaza ayuntamiento wasn’t filling up so followed in direction everyone seemed to be going – towards the river. fireworks took place promptly at 1.30am for a good twenty minutes. view not too bad except when obscured by irritating kissing couples. with the show over, crowds emptied out and the trains were packed at 3 in the morning. couldn’t deal with showering in ‘the shining’ hotel and went to bed in jeans and shirt.