Feel Valencia

The last word

2005-07-11T19:31:00.000+02:00

I came home to Finland two weeks ago and I'm doing fine... I hope you have a nice summer whoever you are. I wish the best for all the people I got to know in Spain, I'm sure I will see some of you again one day.

Got to go now... ¡HASTA LA PROXIMA!

Climbing in Buñol

2005-06-21T14:22:00.000+02:00

On Sunday we made a trip once again to the nearby valencian pueblos (it's amazing what kind of nature and climbing possibilities you can find that close). We went there with two cars. We were Fernando, Joel (esp) and I in one, and Stephane (fra), Titus, Peter (hol), Robert (ger) and Anja (pol) in the other. We left as early as we could, at 8, because it was going to be a very hot day.

Buñol, the pueblo famous for its tomato fiesta Tomatina, offers a luxurious climbing valley just a twenty minutes drive from the city of Valencia. After leaving your car behind and following a small river you come into a canyon that is full of walls that rise on top of you. The good thing about this place is that as it is so narrow you can climb all day in the shadow of the sun. That's a big deal as the temperature usually goes way over 30 degrees and it can be even dangerous to be climbing then. Joel had sugary hot tea with him in a thermos bottle, it really tasted awesome under the burning sun.

It's still nine o'clock and we had time to find good walls

Fernando rappelling (securing the other climber) and Joel going up

Some Spanish guys, Titus and Robert

The finlander who came down with a bloody finger after climbing 10 meters

Stephane rappelling with ease and Titus checking that everything is alright

Joel had a great day - he finished every route he started

This is the wall that I also managed to climb all the way up

Stephane enjoyed this beautiful roof (a horizontal wall)

The water in these river pools was, as the Spanish say it, fresco!

We spent half a hour trying to catch the fish with Peter

The Spanish and Arabic boys went nuts with the cold pool and were jumping down from the rocks - a bit of Maroccian music and.... VOILA!

Coming back after a long day

Montesa

2005-06-15T13:22:00.000+02:00

...some fotos of the climbing we did last weekend

Crossing Sierra Bernia

2005-06-07T22:49:00.000+02:00

Last Thursday my dutch friend Titus called me and asked me to join him and Stephane to the mountains. I had been waiting for this kind of chance to get out there to the nature, and also climb outdoors for the first time. Straight after my audio synthesis exam on Friday I packed my stuff and got to Titus' place. About nine o'clock in the night we were in Stephane's Peugeot 307 and on our way to Benidorm and Sierra Bernia. When I left in a hurry I didn't know exactly how much hiking we were about to do, and afterwards I had to regret wearing indoor shoes out there in the mountains (still wearing sandals because of my sore toes).

First we walked in almost total darkness a couple of hundred meters up (using as our only torch my Nokia phone!!!). We then crawled a small cave that went through the sierra and found this inexplicable beautiful place, where we were high above the sparkling lights of Benidorm. I guess I suprised Susanna quite much when I called her on her mobile phone to Finland from such an exotic place...

After sleeping there in 800 metres over the sea level we got up at seven and started to climb up on the first mountain top. These ants made such a noise with our empty beer cans in the night that they woke me up and made me afraid of rats. I guess they were thirsty for beer.. :D

The sierra rules the hilly landscape around Benissa, a pueblo right next to Benidorm. Especially for Finnish people this typical Spanish scenery of steep slopes is something very strange and exciting.

About half past two in the evening we had really made our way over all the sierra to the last top, 1120 meters high. Sitting there and drinking my last drips of water and a tropical juice which I had specially reserved for this occasion I had a good reason to smile.

PS. I left in the guestbook a small note for all you who do the same some time in the future and can read Finnish ;-)

La capital de España bajo la vista de dos finlandeses

2005-05-16T01:14:00.000+02:00

My friend Juha came from Finland to see me and wanted to try what it's like to travel without tour guides and tourist buses. So I took some time off from my university classes and we jumped on a bus and headed to the capital of Spain.

Madrid struck us with the same astonishment I got the last time I was there. Madrid is situated in over 600 meters from the sea level like most of the central Spain. Is that what gives this city the feel of an anthill..?

In the museum of modern art of Reina Sofia we ran into a work colleague of Juha. After 3 hours of sleep it was confusing to look at the abstract paintings made of lines and circles. Nonetheless we had some laughs figuring out the meaning of some famous works.

Madrid is a city of millions of people but the center is easily crossed by foot. The liveliness of the city feels everywhere (but wait till you see the streets by night!). In May Madrid already starts to warm up and you can feel this especially in the evening. It's much warmer than in coastal Valencia. We walked so that our feet hurt, and then kept on walking (a word of warning: do not wear pumas on a three day sightseeing trip!)
Too bad we didn't get a chance to do any shopping! Well, next time..

We had blue skies and burning sun and the Retiro park was full of people.

The original plan was to see the important local Valencia-Barcelona game. However, when they began asking over one hundred euros for the tickets we thought it was maybe better to save money and just go to watch Real Madrid kick Santander's ass. Outside the stadium, a crooked old man sold us some left over tickets but once inside we sneaked lower on better seats. This is what football is all about!

Maybe the thing that made this trip so memorable was that we met so many new people and saw many truly friendly Erasmus parties (Big shoutout to Moritz and Johannes!). The nightlife madrileño is not famous for nothing. It's really normal to party till six o'clock (we went to sleep at 6 and 7.30 am). At first it feels crazy but I can tell you that every morning people continue their lives as normal. Somehow they have just learned to manage without sleep.

And finally... I don't have the words to thank enough our hostess, Caroline, who gave us a place to stay and showed us around the town. Fue un viaje inolvidable. Hope to hear from you again and you know who to call when you come to Finland some day :)

Fiesta de Moros y Cristianos en Alcoy

2005-04-24T20:40:00.000+02:00

This weekend I traveled with Jussi to see another big fiesta of the Comunidad Valenciana. We enjoyed Alcoy and the parades around the town and participated in a typical dinner of the Guzmans (a christian warrior group). Later Javier gave us a nice place to sleep right there in the center. We met dozens of Javi's friends and had a lot of fun!

According to the story the miraculous San Jorge came out of nowhere in the middle of a famous battle in the year 1276 and led the christians to defend their town against moors (or muslims) who reigned Spain and Portugal at the moment. This fiesta is about celebrating the glorious victory of christians over moors.

On the first day of the fiestas groups presenting either christians or moors circle the streets with music bands. The second day is more about honoring San Jorge and on the third they make up a big battle in the castle built on the central square. There are men, women and even children wearing theatratical armors of leather and metal. They are carrying swords, sapels and spears. Though people are mostly dressed up as warriors there are farmers, gunsmiths and dancers as well. Every group is followed by a big band of horns and drums that play the same medieval martial music which I had heard before in alcoyan houseparties.

This is known to be the oldest fiesta in Spain and internationally qualifies in the same cast with Sanfermines of Pamplona and Las Fallas of Valencia. It is celebrated also in other nearby cities with slightly different habits. The first evidence of a similar party dates all the way back to the 15th century. Now the celebration takes place in Alcoy every year on 22th to 24th of April.

See the Wikipedia entry about Moors and Christians

The fighters follow their leader who shows his weapon handling skills

Xavi with friends from his fila

See here the level of detail in the armors

Tabea, Xavi's father, Sophie and Jussi

There was paper on the streets like snow

These are fotos from Plaza de España

Our nightstand, what an interesting place!

Nacho and another friend

Plaza de España just minutes before a mascletà

On the way back home

Puppies and babies in Finland

2005-03-31T20:09:00.000+02:00

I took a small vacation and flew back home to Finland. When I arrived to the airport it was dark and cold, definitely not anything like in Spain. But my girlfriend was waiting for me and I felt really good being back again. The weather was already getting warmer there and we got many sunny days.

One friend had a two months old baby girl and the other kid had grown up and was running around and shouting weird words. Seemed like anywhere we went there were small babies to see.

Not much had changed in Helsinki. Some bars had new names so those were now the places everybody was going to. The construction site in Kamppi (building another shopping center and a major bus station) had got taller and the giantic hole on the ground was gone. They will be opening the underground bus terminal this autumn.

The renovated cathedral that you always see in Helsinki brochures

We are on Mannerheimintie, the main street in Helsinki.
Not that much people here in the night time? Almost looks like it was christmas.

We visited Susanna's friends, Jan and Petra, in Porvoo. They had this adorable chihuahua puppy. It was running around hyperactive and tried to bite everything. I bet I would like to buy one too if they weren't that expensive. I'm not very familiar with this old Finnish city so we went driving around to the old quarter. It is full of small wooden houses that sell clothes, jewelry and other souvenirs. The old white church is the place where many Finnish celebrities get married.

Nit del Foc video

2005-03-21T10:44:00.000+01:00

Click here to see a videoclip of the last minutes of the biggest fireworks on last friday. It is now saved in Quicktime .mov format. Click the right mouse button and choose "Save as..." to download it on your computer. I hope you like it!

Las Fallas - Saturday

2005-03-20T16:18:00.000+01:00

The city center was full of people during the final day. There were macletas and bullfights. It was the last chance for the tourists to see the best fallas around town. The last night of Fallas was a much more peaceful one than the others. Ten o'clock they started burning the fallas infantiles (small playful statues for the kids). At midnight all the other fallas were burned down accompanied by ten minutes of fireworks.

I saw the burning (la cremà) of one of the bigger fallas near my neighbourhood. The scene was surrounded by firemen who gave the impression that they had worked there many times before. Trees and walls near the flames were kept cool with water. Still some curtains got burned and fell down on the other side of the street. As the papermass in the statue began to catch fire the temperature got really high. It suprised even the firemen and they had to move the fences ten meters back. I think everybody there got what they were waiting for. Looking at the wooden frames burning red and collapsing we realized that the fallas was suddenly over. People then continued to bars and discos just like on any other saturday night.

Also, the funny rooster-falla on my street had been burned to ashes :(

Las Fallas - Thursday & Friday

2005-03-19T15:41:00.000+01:00

The last two days I have been around the city centre with Jussi and Sophie and some other friends. This party just keeps getting bigger. Right now I am kind of excited what will happen tonight. The fallas will be burned starting at ten o'clock. Nobody will sleep tonight.

Every day the macletà at two o'clock draws more and more people to the central square.

The Plaza de la Reina has a marvellous monument made of roses. I hope to add some more info here.

At night the riverside was full of people, by hundreds of thousands. Music, lights, outdoor bars and of course, fallas...

This is the falla that won the premium prize. We did not think it was as funny and detailed as some others but it sure was big.

Now you see falleras (women and girls dressed in a traditional suit) during both night and day. They even have their small children with them dressed up. Around seven the Cabalgatas (parades) start all over the centre and people rush to the streets.

We have seen the fireworks they put every night on the river. Last night was the biggest fireworks display, Nit del Foc (Noche de Fuego, night of fire). They used 2000 kilograms of powder on a show that went on for 30 minutes. According to the news this morning there were like 500.000 people there watching the fireworks. I had never seen so many people at once. Our places could not have been any better, so we were very lucky.

Las Fallas - Wednesday

2005-03-17T16:42:00.000+01:00

Poeta Artola 25

More fallas and decoration around Valencia

Cabalgata Folklórica

Castillo de Fuegos Artificiales

Partying on the streets

Jussi and Sophie

Las Fallas - Tuesday

2005-03-16T18:58:00.000+01:00

This was the mascletà today.

The main thing about fallas is that every block makes its own sculpture (called a "falla") constructed of paper, fiber and wood. They are usually sarcastic or intelligent in some way. The fallas are being built troughout the year by specialized artists. The most expensive fallas can cost anywhere between 30.000 and 300.000 euros. Still, on the night after next saturday they will all be burned right where they are standing now (called "la quemada" in castellano or "la cremà" in valenciano). All the fallas were put in place yesterday.

Here is the biggest of these sculptures on Plaza Ayuntamiento.

Las Fallas - Part I

2005-03-10T17:47:00.000+01:00

Las Fallas : a traditional party in Valencia celebrated between 15.3. - 19.3.
mascletà : a Valencian fireworks display focusing on making loud noise

Today I went to see one of the mascletàs in the Plaza de Ayuntamiento. There has been a show every day for the last two weeks. Every barrio (part of town) has their own group competing who makes the best mascletà. So every day at 2pm the main square is filled with thousands of valencians and tourists who have reserved the best hotel rooms (with good balconies) many months beforehand. A tall cage has been built in the center of the plaza, and in this closed area the noise-specialists arrange their firecrackers and bombs.

Every mascletà follows about the same pattern, first there are the opening shots that tell the audience what is about to begin. Then follows series of different bombs that get louder each time. The final part of the show is always something that looks like a firework factory in flames. The whizzles and booms hit your ears really hard, and first-timers feel like putting hands on their ears. After the noise only thick smoke is left behind.

Right next to the mascletà cage there are already some fallas. Some of them aren't yet fully put together but it looks like they can be really big.

Campeonato Escalada

2005-02-26T12:42:00.000+01:00

I got on a beginners' climbing course a few weeks ago (after all, I had brought my gear all the way from Finland). The climbing courses of UPV are held by Pedro Pons, who is a world-famous climber, a boulder world champion. The indoor climbing wall they have here in UPV is just fantastic. They say it's one of the few of it's kind in Europe, of course made by a Spanish company.

The word about a competition just came up on the last climbing class. I was practically forced to sign my name and get on. Well, no regrets there... it was awesome to see the best competeers on the final route. The winner was no suprise. Juan Pons, the little brother of the campeón, did the final route even quicker than Pedro himself.

And by the way... I finished 18th :)

Starting up.. It was freezing cold inside

This is the Rocódromo

At first all the contestants had to do three routes

I'm getting ready for Via 2

The final route being prepared while the girls still climb

Here is the campeón Pedro Pons showing us how to do it

These are the finalists who finished second and third

Visiting Alcoy with Javier

2005-02-20T12:20:00.000+01:00

It was time to see the traditional ensayo (rehearsal) they have each month in Alcoy, a small city close to Valencia. Javier asked me and Jussi (another finnish Erasmus) to come and see the what the party was all about. It turned out to be very fun. Especially the way that the fathers and sons drank and ate together and had a good time. People at the fiesta were really interested to know about Finland, so we had a lot to talk about.

Alcoy lies in a valley surrounded by steep rocky mountains. There are four long bridges that take you over the valley and to downtown. It's something that really catches your eye. I heard the rate of cars per population in Alcoy is the second highest in Europe after Milan. Just look at the cars running by - they all have just one passenger!

I learned that Alcoy was one of the first two cities in Spain to have a textile factory, in addition to Barcelona. The small town became wealthy and the alcoyans still have a strong relationship with barcelonetas. After all, the streets of Alcoy do resemble Barcelona with the narrow, rundown streets full of small balconies. On the other hand, there are the posh, miles long shopping avenues full of small shops. It seems you can find most of the things you need right here in Alcoy.

Javier, big thanks for all your effort! Let's see if we can get those hotel rooms booked for April's Gran Fiesta ;)

Here are some of the fotos I and Jussi took in Alcoy

Paris on Ryanair

2005-01-11T13:56:00.000+01:00

We hunted ryanair tickets of precios muy bajos. Although most of the costs eventually would come from the bus trips to Girona and Beauvais (the small airports "close" to the target cities). Three days of very little sleep and an awful lot of walking (take for example the four-storey Louvre). I think we managed to stay out of the most expensive restaurants, and our hotel was superb for the price we paid. Thank You Paris, See You Again!

The sparkling apartment of Napoleon
Musée du Louvre, 1er

Taking this was prohibited!

I'm standing tall on the first floor of the tower
Tour Eiffel, 7ème

Sights from the Eiffel tower
Parc du Champs de Mars, 7ème

You could take a foto of whole Paris here
Montmartre (in front of Sacré-Coeur), 18ème

Touristshop-hopping near Notre Dame
Boulevard du Palais, 1er

This building gives you the creeps, especially since it's almost always cloudy in Paris
Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Paris, 1er

Inside the cathedral, where many people actually cried in the darkness
Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Paris, 1er

All the metro stations were built like this

The 12 avenues all start from this plaza, couple of hours later we saw Leonardo DiCaprio live promoting "The Aviator" on Champs Elysees
Arc de Triomphe, Charles de Gaulle-Etoile, 8ème

After half an hour it would start shimmering to mark the changing of the hour
Tour Eiffel, 7ème

Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias

2005-01-11T13:40:00.000+01:00

Some fotos from our day in L'Oceanogràfic and L'Hemisfèric in the science city. The seals and whales were crazy cute. Actually I was suprised how much I enjoyed the place after hearing almost everything about it beforehand. The multicolored fish were a marvel if you could manage to shut your ears from the shouting spanish children.

Poeta Artola

2005-01-11T13:25:00.000+01:00

My girlfriend Susanna came here to visit me for more than two weeks (smiley here). I got to see Valencia with new eyes going through the shoeshops with Susanna. Later on we moved my stuff from Ausias March to my new flat on New Year's Eve. I'm still making myself at home here, but it seems like a cozy place. My room isn't big but I got it really cheap (at least compared to finnish flat prices!).

La canción Ausias March

2004-12-16T13:52:00.000+01:00

One can do miracles with two iBooks and an USB headset, and a group like we have here in Puerta 13 of Colegio Mayor Ausias March. Paolo and Alessandro had made a song about our residence and the young wild people here. As a newcomer to our piso, Marc offered to play his oboe on the track. I and Ville had microphones, the rest was history...

Grab here the official 2004 Ausias March theme
Ausias Mal (Sevillano)
Written by Paolo Benvegna
Paolo Benvegna (vocals, guitarra)
Alessandro Difesca (vocals)
Marc Borras (oboe)
Pasi Kolkkala, Ville Salonen (editing team)


"Psst... quien es esta chica?"

7 Spanish cities in 5 days

2004-12-10T21:39:00.000+01:00

Last weekend I saw Madrid and some of the most beautiful, interesting and also touristic cities around it. We made a road trip to see as much famous sights as possible during the five days without school, el puente. All the walking and foto shooting without enough sleep was exhausting, but I also learned a lot about the history of Spain. I loved Madrid, maybe because it was so different from the other Spanish cities. I just seemed to have it all. But also the majestic plazas and cathedrals made an impact on me. Hopefully I will have a reason to write something like this again in the near future.

Pueblo of Cuenca

Our hostel room in front of Toledo

Finding a place to park the Opel Corsa in Madrid

King's palace in Madrid

Parque del Buen Retiro in Madrid

The impressive royal summer house in El Escorial

Francisco Franco's memorial, Valle de los Caidos

Frightening cave inside the mountain in Valle de los Caidos

A view from the Cordillera Central mountains

Aqueduct in Segovia

The beautiful cathedral in Segovia

Inside Convento de San Esteban, Salamanca

Catedral in Burgos

It was autumn in Pamplona

Basque language on the streets

Just one of the typical streets in Pamplona

Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar, Zaragoza

Late Night Indiana

2004-11-21T16:43:00.000+01:00

Last night we had to throw goodbyes to one of our housemates here in Colegio Mayor Ausias March.

Jose Maria finished his course and was ready to go home... but not before he would take us to one of the finest clubs in Valencia, that is Indiana. The entradas were 20 euros each, so the people there either had too much money or were real party animals. The place didn't close until eight in the morning and had a nice pool of sharks swimming in it.

We had a good time although we didn't find any places to buy desayuno on our way back home.

Chema, I hope you got all the fotos you wanted! Saludos!

For starters...

2004-11-15T00:28:00.000+01:00

As this is my first Blog, and I'm still new to this whole thing, I'm just going to start by writing this and checking whether i can make it appear anywhere.