FROM THE SUBLIME TO THE . . . SUBLIME!

Our last day in Valencia started with another early morning walking tour, this time of the Ciutat de les Arts I les Ciencies that Loni and I self-walked the day we arrived.  We saw some different viewpoints, including this one that captured three of the structures.

Here’s a straight-on shot of the “eye” (foreground above) showing the hemisphere planetarium within.

The botanical garden is off to the right of the pool area:

Alas, all is not well with Tomorrowland.  All the buildings were designed by Santiago Calatrava.  Originally budgeted at 300 million euros, the final costs neared one billion, the debt load for which is a problem for Spain today.  Calatrava was paid 94 million euros.  The jewel of the collection was to be the opera house.  When it debuted in 2005, it was a sublime stunner.  This picture is from the web:

It is covered with hundreds of thousands of tiny mosaic tiles, an homage by Calatrava to the work of Gaudi in Barcelona.  But problems began almost immediately, with random tiles falling off the place.  Things snowballed until, in January of 2014 the Valencia authorities threatened to sue after chunks fell off in high winds, creating a safety issue and forcing the closing of the building ahead of Christmas performances.  Calatrava subsequently agreed to foot the 4 million euro cost of removing the tiles, but the replacement initially is to be only white paint.  Well, here’s what it still looks like today (on left), covered with scaffolding and netting.

After this walkabout, we took off for what I thought was one of the neatest (I know, I use that word a lot) museums ever. 

From March 15 to 19 (the feast of Saint Joseph, day of the father in the whole country), Valencia is given over to a carnival of bonfires, fiesta, fireworks and a healthy dose of satire known as Las Fallas, ”the fires.”  Displayed on every corner all over the city are colorful ninots, giant papier-mâché figures, often 20 feet tall or more, that have been paraded through the streets and then placed in groups at intersections and public places. 

The monuments are made by specialist falleros with the help and encouragement of residents committees in all the different districts that spend the whole year preparing for the annual festivities.  The general public votes for the ninot they consider the most attractive, clever or amusing.

Each one in some way satirizes a political figure, or a soap star, or more exotic creatures from the movies, TV, sports idols, or simply imagination. Some of them are grotesque – others playful and charming – all are larger than life.  Historians say that the origins of the festival go back to the time when carpenters cleared out their workshops at the end of winter, throwing out odds and ends of wood and old candles and lighting them on the street the day of Saint Joseph. 

Nowadays, celebrations conclude with a huge firework display on March 18 (at 2:00 a.m.!), and the following night the burning of all the Fallas all over the city  (excepting the winner of the competition) in a tremendous spectacle of fire.  Fire brigades from all over the country assemble here for that night to keep watch over things.  It must be a sight.

The winning pieces (or, if they were too large, smaller models) are brought to the Fallas Museum, which was our final stop in Valencia.  Again, I have to salute Colette for putting this on the itinerary.  It wasn’t even mentioned in our Fodor’s, and I found it to be one of the highlights of the trip for me.  Here’s a selection of only a fraction of the pieces on display, dating back decades.  I’ll start with some of the posters.

The figurines are arranged along a long hallway and in anterooms branching off it.

I love whimsy, and this place was sublime whimsy.  Again, pictures can’t do them justice.  After this, it was back on the bus for the slog up the coast to Barcelona, which, we found out, is spoken with a lisp:  Bar-theh-lon-a.  Go figure.  Along the way, we made a lunch stop at one of the chain highway restaurants, sort of like our Howard Johnson’s back east, only with better food.  With all those arrows, you know just where to go.

In Barcelona, we stayed at the Hotel Colon, smack downtown in the heart of things, right on the square that houses the main cathedral, the Cathedral de la Seu, just opposite.  This square was jumping with people and music until all hours, and we were glad we had a rear room despite no view.

The cathedral itself is reputed to be the darkest of all the world’s great cathedrals.  It was built in the 1300’s, but the spires are late 19th century.  Speaking of dark, our quiet room was also tomblike in its lighting.  We had no window!  Well, there was one, but it was covered on the outside by immovable metal shutters, I guess to keep out the noise from the alleyway.  It was effective; this was a quiet room!

Back to old gloomy, it wasn’t too bad with long shutter exposures.  The nave, the altar end, and the organ:

Side view:

Our time was our own this evening, and I’ll be darned if I can remember where we ate.  It must not have been too memorable, a rarity for this trip.  Tomorrow, Gaudi!