Valencia

We visited the Lladro factory and store in Valencia on Friday morning. I loved the nativity sets and the mother figurines. For our last institute class, the history of the Church in Spain, we watched a documentary on the temple and saints here in Spain. Part of the flim showed the role that Lladro had in the Madrid Temple and creating a version of the Cristus for the temple.

In the afternoon we headed to the beach!

It was the perfect place to watch the sun set behind the city.

On our final day Heather and I made our way over to see the Ciutat de laes Arts i de les Ciencies and the largest aquarium in all of Europe, also known as the L'Oceanografic (Oceanographic Park).

I think these were windows, they look very futuristic to me.

The picture doesn't do this building justice.


Yellow irises and pelicans.

Don't these birds make you think of Valentine's cards or jelly beans?

He posed for us!

Jelly fish are incredible and so delicate.

This big daddy star fish was almost 2 feet long.

One of the strangest fish that I've ever seen. What kind of fish is this?

It was crazy to be walking in a tunnel, separated only by glass, with sharks all around you.

Side note: Once upon a time I thought that I would be a marine biologist. That dream died when I realized that fish could be just as frightening as dogs. I still love fish though and had a great time at the aquarium!

Las Fallas

Okay, where to begin?

Las Fallas is "one of the most unique and crazy festivals in Spain." The main event of the fiesta is to set on fire the huge cardboard, wood, paper-machè, and plaster statues (known as ninots: “puppets” or “dolls”). The reason to part? Most people believe that the fires evolved from the pagan rituals that "celebrated the onset of spring and the planting season."

And we got to go! Let me just tell you, it was one of the craziest days of my life!

One of the ninots.

Many people dress up in traditional clothing for the parades and to celebrate the festival.

Some of the ninots can get pretty extravagant.

The main falla that we waited for about two hours to finally to be lit at 1 a.m.

The crowd.

At 2 p.m. fireworks go off to begin the party. An ambulance tried to get through the crowds which was pretty crazy.



Bull fight posters.

Outside the bullring.

I originally had planned on just skipping the bullfight, but somehow I ended up going. It was a good experience and I really felt like I was immersing into the culture, even if there were lots of tourist at the bullfight also.

Got to love those pink tights!

This guy put on quite a show and the people loved him. He won the bull's ears from his fights.

I learned a lot about bullfighting and why it is a tradition. There were some pretty intense moments where I could feel my own heart racing and I had to turn away.

This guy smoked three or four cigars during the bullfight and we reaked of smoke afterwards.

I loved to see the reactions of the spectators. It was so much fun to say "torro" along with everyone when the bullfighter had done something well or daring.

Sitting right behind us during the bullfight was Jose Thomas, the BEST matador in the world. Courtney, a girl in our group, got a handshake.

So much work and detail goes into the plaster statues that it is almost a shame to burn them up. The best are saved and put into a museum.

When it got dark the streets lit up. There were hundreds of booths lining the streets for the festivities, selling trinkets, food, and what-not.

The fireworks were spectacular! There was so much variety and some that I've never seen before. It was literally raining ash on us because we were so close to were they were going off. You couldn't hear yourself let alone the person next to you during the show.

I don't think I will ever be satisfied with the Stadium of fire or doing fireworks at home again.

The grand finale!

(We didn't get to our hotel until 3 a.m. and then we slept in until 10:30 a.m.)

*Thanks to Kim for a few of the photos!

Bilbao

Bilbao was on our agenda while visiting the Basque Country in northern Spain. The hotel we stayed at was super bien!

We celebrated Jenna's birthday with a Chinese dinner and toast (con agua).

The next morning we went to see the Guggenheim. Bilbao is a the place to see some amazing architecture like the museum and the bridge.

The "pond" surrounding the museum made a mist and I felt like I was in a cloud.

Me in the mist!

A creepy spider statue.

I noticed this little suprise underneath an overpass!

There is a super fun park next to the Guggenheim full of out-of-the-ordinary toys. I didn't get a good picture, but the little guy sitting underneath the jungle gym thing was doing tons of acrobat tricks and stunts while we were there. So cool!

Sorry Mr. Brown, I think I liked this bush clock better than the famous tree stump when we went to Guernica (the city that was devestated by German bombs in 1937). On our way back to Alcalá we ran into snow, crazy.

San Sebastian

San Sebastian was fantastic! There is no wonder why people write of the sea.

A sense of wonder, excitement, insecurity, freedom, and bliss.

We hiked up to a lookout over the coast and beaches.

There is an awesome castle and statue of Christ at the lookout.

The boardwalk was quite a lively place full of people and things to see.

My favorite lamp posts of Spain.

The water was a little chilly so we just waded.

There were a lot of surfers who braved the cold water.

All in all it was a beautiful day at the beach!