Our First Fallas
Life in Valencia during the city's biggest fiesta
Fallas is in full swing in Valencia. I’m told that all evidence of this lively celebration will be gone by Thursday, which is wondrous considering that it’s celebrated on nearly every corner.
This UNESCO-recognized cultural celebration is also noisy.
As someone who suffers from anxiety when things stay too loud for too long, I’ve had to develop some coping mechanisms, and I now understand why people asked if we would remain in town while it was going on. With many Fallas activities occurring – quite literally – at our doorstep, we’ve had front-row seats to the celebrations. We’ve seen concerts that begin at midnight and go until 4 a.m., paella cooked in giant pans on the street, a monumento fallero on our street, and more fireworks and firecrackers than I ever saw in all our years in Tennessee (and let me tell you – Tennesseeans love their fireworks). There’s even a churrerÃa stand where you can buy just about any variety of churro.
I’m so glad we’ve been able to experience this fantastic spectacle. We live on the 11th floor of our building, and we can see fireworks shows every night just by stepping onto our balcony. The city feels alive with its own sort of unique energy right now. This past weekend, we wandered over to the city center to view some of the monumentos falleros and experience the sounds of the mascletà . It was buzzing with excitement, and we were in awe of the work put into building these sculptures that will – at the end of Fallas celebrations – be burned during La Cremà .
As exciting as all this is, taking Leo out for potty breaks has been challenging with the crowds. Thankfully, noise isn’t as much of an issue for him, which is the case for many dogs. I’ve had some difficulty sleeping with the concerts going on steps from our apartment. Will and I have decided that we may escape Valencia with the kids and Leo next year and take a mini vacation. The kids don’t have school during the biggest days of Fallas, which would allow us to do that while still enjoying the sights and sounds of it in the weeks before the biggest celebrations.
Despite my difficulties with the noise (and yes, I did know what I was getting into when we moved here and was very aware of Fallas), I love the energy surrounding us right now. It’s a lot of fun – like a rave or a giant party that brings the whole community together. It’s almost like we live near Disney World and get an exciting show every evening.
However, being a tourist during a big festival like this is much different than living amidst it. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. After all, where else can you see something like this?
