Blog Posts
Fallas 2020: La Plantà (Featuring Valencia’s Best Street Artist: Escif)
For many people in Valencia, la Plantà is even more exciting than Christmas. Unwrapping a few presents under the tree vs. unwrapping thousands of works of art across the city? No contest! La Plantà is when the massive figures which make up the Fallas monuments are removed from their cellophane wrapping and put together like…
A Glorious Mascleta Seen from a Balcony – Fallas 2020, March 9th – Pirotecnia del Mediterráneo
We have several favorite spots at the Plaza del Ayuntamiento from which to watch a Mascletà. Usually, we’re on the north side of the plaza, good for hanging out with friends because it’s not so packed. Another favorite spot is in front of the post office, closer to the Mascletà cage, where you can see…
Cant de L’Estoreta Fallas 2020 – The Traditional Children Parade Before La Planta
The Cant de L’Estoreta tradition came to life in the 1960s, thanks to the Fallas commission of Plaza del Árbol. Adults and kids alike dressed up in antiquated clothing, and reenacted the obsolete tradition of walking with the estoreta velleta, an old carpet upon which neighbors could place their old junk they accumulated over the…
Three Experimental Mascletas During Fallas 2020
Yes, Fallas 2020 has been cancelled, but we’re going to continue sharing our experiences before the Spanish lockdown. Especially for all the Valencians stuck at home, we want to deliver at least a little bit of Fallas flair! On March 6th and 7th, we walked around the city to capture some of the more unique…
La Despertà for Fallas 2020 – The Awakening of the City of Valencia
A lot has happened since we published our
Ninot Exhibition Fallas 2020
Ninots are the smaller figures which make up the large Fallas monuments, and every commission sends their best one to the Exhibition. Visiting gives you a sense of the year’s popular themes and styles
An Unexpectedly Dangerous Hike around Telendos
Over the years, we’ve gotten ourselves into many challenging hiking situations, from the Hengill Death Hike in Iceland, to the Leech Attack in Sri Lanka. And thanks to Telendos Island, we have a new one to add to our list of stupidly dangerous hikes. After so many years of travel, you’d think we might be…
Climbing at the Island of Telendos
Kalymnos is a mountain-climber’s paradise, and the heart of the scene is found in the villages lined up on the island’s west coast: Myrties, Masouri and Armeos. Within easy walking distance of these towns is a wealth of over twenty crags, with literally thousands of routes, which a climber could spend a lifetime discovering. It’s…
A Long Weekend on Kalymnos
Shortly after we moved into our new home in quiet Stavros, we took a long weekend trip to Kalymnos: a small island near Kos. With an abundance of sheer vertical walls, Kalymnos is a climber’s paradise, and we happened to have a mountain climbing friend who would be there on 40th birthday. Considering how close…
Lera Cave on the Vardies Mountain
On our first night in Stavros, while relaxing on the terrace of our house, we noticed a little light halfway up the slope of the imposing Vardies Mountain. The next day, we’d learn that this is the location of a cave church, and that there’s a short, steep path which leads to it. We decided…
