Las Fallas, Valencia
This festival sees giant papier-mache effigies being paraded through the streets then burned.
What would you do with an enormous, 10-metre high effigy you’ve lovingly created in the image of a favourite celebrity or figure from history?
If you were from Valencia, you’d parade it through the streets during Las Fallas, then set it on fire. This spectacular five-day festival every March marks the start of spring, and features hundreds of people doing just that.
In honour of Joseph, patron saint of carpenters, enormous statues (called ninots) made from wood, papier-mache and wax, which depict anyone from politicians to rock stars and mythical beasts, are erected in Valencia’s main squares, intersections and parks.
Four days later, the statues are stuffed with fireworks and set alight at midnight in an explosive blaze that guarantees a sleepless night for the local fire brigade. Each year, one ninot is ‘‘pardoned’’ by public vote, and displayed at the city’s Fallero Museum (Plaza Monteolivete 4).
From elaborate Catholic processions to sangria-soaked street parties, Valencians love a good fiesta, so you’re always guaranteed a good show. This year’s festival runs to Tuesday.
Spain’s third-largest city is a handy springboard to other cities, with Madrid 95 minutes inland via highspeed train, and Barcelona three hours north, though it’ll take longer if you’re tempted by the secluded coves and popular resorts of the Costa del Azahar (Orange Blossom Coast).
A highlight is Peniscola, where the 1961 movie
El Cid, starring Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren, was filmed. From Valencia’s passenger port, overnight ferries shuffle to the bewitching Balearic isles of Ibiza, Mallorca and Minorca.