DESTINATIONS SPAIN & PORTUGAL |VALENCIA


FOOD & DRINK


E Paella: Spain’s most famous dish hails from Valencia, and is traditionally cooked in a large metal pan over an open fire. It often features seafood, although during Las Fallas, it’s usual to have it with chicken, rabbit and beans.


E Bunyols: These deep-fried pumpkin-dough doughnuts are traditionally served with hot chocolate.


E Agua de Valencia: A potent combination of fresh orange juice and cava, this is one of the city’s most popular drinks. Another is horchata (or orxata), a sweet drink made from tiger-nut milk. For typical Valencian fare, head to the Central Market, which is home to 1,200 stalls.


ABOVE: Falleras in handcrafted silk dresses parade through the streets


At the opposite end of the revamped river bed – now one of Spain’s largest urban green spaces – there’s more animal magic at Bioparc, the city’s new-generation zoo that recreates Africa in its fauna and flora. I took a stroll along the Paseo Marítimo promenade that flanks the beach, dropping in on the glitzy new marina.


SKY AT NIGHT


On the penultimate day of the celebrations, the Nit del Foc (Night of Fire) lights up the sky. Of the many firework displays, this late-night event – it kicks off at 1.30am – is the most spectacular, with 4,000kg of dazzling pyrotechnics exploding from the Turia Gardens and over the heads of the crowd lining the Paseo de la Alameda, to a chorus of gasps and cheers. But it’s the final night of the festival that brings one of its wildest spectacles: the Correfoc (Fire Parade). There’s everything from people dressed as demonic characters brandishing burning torches to mechanical fire-breathing dragons parading along Calle de Colón towards the Plaza de la Porta la Mar. As a front-row spectator to this theatrical inferno, I found myself dodging flying sparks and ducking errant flames, which added to the excitement. The final event of Las Fallas – La Cremà (The Burning),


when every fallas in the city is set alight in a series of spellbinding fires – is unmissable. The fires are staggered from 10pm, allowing the crowds to move from one to


106 16 JANUARY 2020 There’s


everything from people dressed as demonic characters brandishing burning torches to mechanical dragons


GETTING THERE


Valencia airport, five miles from the city, is well served by airlines, including British Airways, easyJet, Ryanair and Iberia.


The newly opened NH CollectionValencia Colón has 47 rooms, set in a classic building in a central location. Doubles start at €165 (€210 during the festival). nh-collection.com


Kirker Holidays offers three nights’ bed and breakfast at the four-star Melia Plaza from £875, flying on March 17. The price includes BA flights from Gatwick, private car transfers, guide notes and the services of a Kirker concierge. kirkerholidays.com


travelweekly.co.uk


another – along with numerous firefighters, including volunteers from other regions of Spain and beyond. The unforgettable finale is the burning of the city’s


official falla in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento at about 1am. It’s always the last to be set ablaze and crowds start gathering in the square hours before. Flames began to lick at the base of the sculpture and soon it was consumed. The night air was cool but I could feel the searing heat of the fire and watched transfixed as the beautiful work of art was reduced to a wooden skeleton and finally turned to ash, all to a soundtrack of rousing music and cheering crowds – ready for the rebirth of next year’s festival.


TW


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