La Tomatina!

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After an 11 hour flight from Bangkok and a 13 hour lay over in Heathrow airport (which i must say is the worst airport for layovers of that magnitude!.. no bench seats that i could find apart from gate 1 terminal 2, and no showers to be heard of!!! ) I landed in Valencia with my one lucky US dollar .... and it paid off today!.. after realising that no other country other than Thailand likes or exchanges Thai Baht and the ATMS not working in the airport.... and looking stupid to the lady behind the currency exchange counter when i asked if she could change 1 US dollar, she was nice enough to do.. for 1 Euro.. just enough for me to get out of the airport and into town by bus! phheeeww!

Once settled in Valencia, I had the excitement of a little kid in a food fight!.. for that is why I am here! to ditch tomatoes and party with Claire and Neill at La Tomatina... sadly none of us had a camera so there are no images of the la tomatina.. but go to this website and it is EXACTLY how it appears!..

http://www.latomatina.com/

The festival is located in a little town called Bunol, about 40 mins drive out of Valencia by bus.. which was our mode of transport and the siren goes off at about 11am for the tomatoes to flow in!
Once out of the bus we followed the crowds along the narrow streets, soon to be met with a bunch of English lads celebrating a bucks night/weekend in white shirts and speedos! not the best attire!.. but suitable to say the least! As approaching the main square we knew we were close as all the houses and shops were covered from roof to doorways in plastic sheeting to protect the interior from the red spray of tomatoes!.. We found ourselves in the main section next to a stage that had several hoses ready for spraying by both the head dude (mayor maybe..) in a suit and goggles and several others both young and old that must have known someone important!..
Tight tops.. preferably two and a tight sports bra/swimmers underneath were a pre-requisite for the girls.. we also very quickly learnt not to stand near the burly shirtless spanish middle aged men and that when they start chanting.. 'camisetta!!!camisetta!! it means they want your top off!... needless to say, myself & claire were very quick to change spots in the crowd, with neill in toe.
The festival starts when the leg of ham is pulled from a well greased up pole that all are trying to pull down.. after about half an hour of being pelted with water at close range a truck of tomatoes come into town - down the main street that is already jammed full of people!.. a couple of tomatoes are seen from a far and then the next truck comes in.. now we know we are in the middle!.. (it only takes one or two in the face before you realise that!). 4 trucks in total came through creating a huge mess and plenty of chaos! It was all over in an hour though with the streets flowing mushy stinky red!
The the way out of the main square was where those that had vague spots of white remaining were targetted and covered all over again! We were advised to head down to the river to wash off...but opted for the old men from the houses to hose us down instead after seeing the river..(almost black in colour and no more than knee deep in most sections)!

Back to Valencia.. a very lovely city.. gothic architecture and the biggest city i had been in since home.. and perth is not this big!.. good to be on the beach again..! warm waters, almost white sand, and water that you can almost see through... we are very spoilt in Perth! We had a couple of strolls along the main port front at night saw many products from bangkok being sold by street sellers, lots of tapas, sangria and ICE CREAM! A walking tour one morning saw the sites of the city gates, the riverbed (that is now a park through the main centre after flooding years ago saw the river diverted around the city), many churches, the main bull ring and all the rest that goes along with a city.

Best thing in Spain.. that you can by beer from Burger King!

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Photos

gathering of men.. ?
what they were doing besides just chatting and perhaps selling stuff i dont know.. but the church looks quite grand behind them.

bull ring
the main stage for bull fights.. where a bull dies each month by being peirced in the back of the neck with a sword.. the better fighter you are the quicker the bull dies.

gothic archicture
Thought this was pretty cool.. all other surfaces of the building were smooth and then this juts out of the side!