​Have you ever wanted to see huge cartoon sculptures in a beach city illuminated with Christmas-like lights? What about walk through city streets with fireworks exploding without warning in front of you, behind you, around the corner, down the street? If that sounds appealing to you I have the perfect festival for you! Las Fallas in Valencia.
 
As negative as that may have sounded, Las Fallas is a festival that everyone should experience once in their life. For more information on the history and traditions visit this website: https://www.visitvalencia.com/en/events-valencia/festivities/the-fallas.
 
Derek’s friend from UMass, Pete, spent the week with us in Madrid and then joined us for the weekend in Valencia. Unfortunately, the weather on Friday and Saturday was not ideal with scattered rain showers and otherwise gloomy days, but Sunday’s weather was gorgeous and everything I was hoping it would be. Friday and Saturday included eating dinner at 12:00 AM, exploring the streets of Valencia into the early hours of the morning, and Pete drinking Spanish hot chocolate, which has the consistency of melted chocolate frosting and resulted in a couple stomachaches.
 
Las Fallas lit Valencia up and made an already beautiful city into a charming town filled with happy, drunk people and crazy, sugar-infused children throwing the loudest fireworks into the street. There was a concert on what felt like every street corner and sculptures depicting different people, characters and scenes. Although we did miss the burning of these sculptures on Monday evening, we saw everything else and are beyond satisfied.
 
Pete might have gotten a little annoyed with us in some instances. For example, when we wanted to go to Port Saplaya, a "mini Venice" near our Airbnb, I may or may not have put in the wrong address and took us 45 minutes in the wrong direction. Once Derek discovered my error based on a clear lack of seawater in sight, we decided to stay where we were and make our way into city center. However, parking spots were understandably limited and after driving in circles for 30 minutes, we decided to head to our first destination, the port. About 30 minutes later, we had made it to the port.
 
A little side note, Spain, especially Valencia, loves circles instead of “normal” intersections. That being said, we pull into the port in the main street which ended in a circle. After missing the turn for the parking lot, we ended up back on the highway and another 17 minutes away from the port. Derek and I were crying laughing, but I don’t think we can say the same for Pete. Sorry Pete!!!!
 
The weekend ended on a higher note with the most gorgeous day and the bluest sky I have ever seen. We spent time on the beach. I took pictures and Derek and Pete grappled. If you saw my snapchat stories, you know what I’m referring to. Every place we went I had to watch them practice jujitsu (grapple) and pretend like it was normal.
 
Unfortunately for Derek, producing videos takes about 100x longer than writing a blog post. So, just like the post about Malaga and Mom, no video today, but enjoy some photos below and try to relax as you anxiously await Derek’s video.  

Next up on MandyandDerek.weebly.com, DAN COMES TO VISIT!!  As I mentioned in my last post, Dan and I will be traveling to Portugal for 5 days. We will be renting a car in the south of Portugal, a city called Albufeira and then drive to Lisbon, and then finish our trip in Porto. 

To commemorate our week with our mom in Spain, Derek has created a short video below. 

Thanks again, Mom. See you soon. ♥︎

Quick update on Mandy and Derek this March. Pete, Derek's friend from UMass, arrived to our apartment this morning. He is spending the week in Madrid with us and will also be joining us for our trip to Valencia for Las Fallas this weekend. 

Pictures, post and a video to come soon!