Hello, Gentle Reader! Recent news reports may have shared a recent experience here in mainland Spain: a massive power outage that affected all of Spain, Portugal, and Andorra. Even parts of southern France were affected.

The April 28 blackout, or apagón, was a unique event and helped uncover some interesting cultural reflections about Spaniards in times of crises. (By the way, apagar is the verb to turn off (the lights), and the noun form is apagón, or big “lights out” event.)

When the lights went out, I was in my sewing class, hand-stitching a shirt that I am constructing. A power outage is not usually a cause for alarm, and this was no different. We had windows in the sewing shop, and plenty of light. I just kept sewing. Before long, however, it became clear that that the power was out on the whole block… and then the whole city. Shortly thereafter, there was a growing awareness that this was a country-wide event.

Initially, the Wi-Fi still worked and we were able to communicate with friends around the country and connect to the internet, but that was inconsistent at best. Before long, that completely shut off, too.

In Valencia, April 28 was already a holiday, the fest day of San Vicente Ferrer. He’s one of the patron saints of the city, and lots of people take his festival very seriously. What that means for the city is that most people were not at work, students were not at school, and lots of folks had free time on their hands.

Shortly after the blackout, people started going outside and chatting with one another. The weather was spectacular and many people were at home with their families. The parks were full of shouting kids, barking dogs, and people enjoying time in the sun. When the power went out, the most inconvenient aspect was the lack of Wi-Fi or the loss of the elevator in the building. Spain is able to bounce through all of that, though, because socializing is another common hobby.

On my way home from sewing class about an hour after the blackout began, I noted the number of people in the street was significantly more than normal. Folks were calling out to friends and family in their upper story apartments to check on them. The bars were full and people had reverted to paying cash for their beverage and (premade) snack. More than anything else, people were chatting with each other, perhaps for the first time in a while. In bars and parks, a sense of camaraderie blossomed as people connected.

I also noticed that there was flooding on my street as I arrived back at home. Apparently, a water main on our block had fractured when the electric pressure regulator had failed. So by the time I made it home to our apartment on the 8th floor (actually the 7th floor starting at the ground floor, or 0), we no longer had power, water, or reliable Wi-Fi. The windows were already open, and our world was quiet.

Lunch was easy sandwiches with pantry items. We followed that up with a nap, and then reading and chatting while sitting on the couch. Since my work is online, I couldn’t do the things I normally do in the afternoon. Cooking dinner was not an option, so we enjoyed a leisurely dinner of cheese, crackers, hummus, and a few other things from the fridge, which was staying nice and chilly.

About 8 hours after the blackout began, the power reappeared. Maybe it was just my imagination, but the tone of the neighborhood changed as people celebrated being able to cook, use the elevator to go back to their home, and generally let out a breath they had been holding throughout the blackout. It still took a few more hours for resumed water and Wi-Fi but the power was the thing that was the most important.

The following morning, everything was back to normal, and people now had new stories of the things they did during the apagón. I reconnected with my friends on the Iberian peninsula and found that they had similar times without power. I was also able to access the news that detailed the confusion around the cause of the blackout, although Portugal made it perfectly clear that it was Spain’s fault. Even now, several weeks after the incident, it’s unclear what triggered the outage, aside from electrical system harmonics that disrupted the entire grid.

So, what’s the outcome? There were no riots, no doomsday alarmists, no looting, no explosions, and the world did not end. Quite the reverse, actually. Neighbors checked in on each other. People reconnected socially in new ways. Most people focused on the positive aspects of the event, and while a longer outage could have been much more serious, this was quickly managed and repaired. First responders did an amazing job of responding. The community acted like, well, a community.

The news would have you believe that people completely freaked out over the blackout, but please take that with a huge caution: stories of people freaking out are sensational and clickbait. Hollywood leans hard into this expectation that society unravels within minutes of a big change. That’s simply not what happened. The Spanish virtue of patience is more powerful than that. Sure, there may have been isolated incidents where crazy things happened, but the important thing is that they were isolated and not the norm.

Instead, Spain enjoyed a day of socializing, enjoying the weather, caring for one another, and, frankly, living. Yes, it could have been more serious, but it wasn’t. It was a reminder of the importance of community.

A couple of years ago, we visited Alicante. Aside from being shocked that almost two years had passed, we found Alicante just as charming as always. As I mentioned in my previous post, we avoided the last week of the festival in Valencia. After a short train ride, we were back in the center of Alicante. A few minutes later, we were in our hotel room.

Since we had six days to enjoy the town, we had the luxury to explore some museums and enjoy unique and local sights that only Alicante can provide.

I was aware that Alicante, like many cities and pueblos in Spain, has its own flavor and unique festivals to celebrate the seasons. In Valencia, the most prominent one is Las Fallas, but in Alicante, it’s La Fiesta de San Juan, or the celebration of St. John. Unlike its Valencian counterpart, the event only lasts for four days, but there are many similarities.

Since Alicante is a popular destination in the Valencian region, you’ll often hear Valenciano spoken. And like Las Fallas, many of the festival components are specifically referenced and named in Valenciano, not Castellano. I’m letting you know that because there are some potentially confusing alternations to festival events:

• Hogueras (Spanish) = Fogueres (Valenciano)
• San Juan = Sant Joan
• La Belleza del Fuego = Belleses del foc – this refers to the women who are chosen to represent the festival annually. Translation: Beauties of the Fire

For four days, fogueres are erected in town squares and in front of the city hall, and all will be burned on the night of June 24. There are somewhere between 70 and 90 displays every year, constructed and promoted by the “foguerils” groups. These are social groups that promote their neighborhood fogueres through fund raising activities, social events, and different party events. In reality, the model of the Valencia Fallas is imitated with a great deal of gusto.

That also means there is judging. Nine jury members review each of the fogueres throughout the city. Three members come from foguerils, one is a former belle del foc, and the remaining come from the association governing the event. Of course it’s a big honor to be part of the judging committee, but I imagine it’s a lot of work, too.

There are fireworks. There’s music. There’s a whole lot of partying. And there’s community.

That brings us to our exploration of Alicante. There is a Fogueres museum in the city, and it’s definitely worth a visit. As you can see from the pictures below, there are a lot of similarities between the fallas and the fogueres. There were many more religious themes present in Alicante, as well as tributes to the founders and patrons of the festival.

In one section of the museum, there is a collection of models of the winning Fogueres. Intricate, colorful, comedic, and idyllic themes are all present in the displays. You’ll see quite a few similarities to the fallas, as the artists may be the same ones working in Valencia. I thoroughly enjoyed the museum, and it will take somewhere between 30 minutes and 1 hour to experience.

We had plans to escape.

During Las Fallas, the city population changes and over a million visitors appear in Valencia. For the second year in a row, we made plans to go somewhere else the final week of the festival. While I know that might be an unpopular choice for many locals, the constant sound of fireworks starts to grate on my nerves.

The competitions are fierce and the noise is fiercer. The last week includes the judging of all of the fallas, and some of the categories are truly spectacular. However, as the judging announcements are made, there are fireworks celebrations for every third, second, and first place awarded. In addition to those fireworks, there are also daily “sound events” where fireworks create percussive sound events. And then, on March 19, all of the fallas (except one*) are burned by being filled with (you guessed it!) fireworks.

It’s a cultural celebration that defines the unique characteristics of the Valencian people. Highly social, extremely competitive, and spectacular in every sense of the word. It seems like all rules about noise regulations are thrown out the nearest window and forgotten until March 20. People are outside, visiting the fallas and making note of the construction of each sculpture.

Rest assured that the hearing aid business is alive and well in Valencia, where you can get hearing aids and glasses in the same locations.

Want to see more? Check out this link: https://www.visitvalencia.com/en/fallas

So one Monday night in March, my friend Manu and I walked through a good portion of the city center. We were looking at the different fallas and tried to guess what was under the plastic wrap for remaining figures. Obvious or not, these in-construction pieces tell their own story. Additionally, while we were in the city center, we were able to see teams of workers assemble the falla in front of city hall.

Similar to the incredible decorations of the sculptures is the lighting displays you can see in the streets, the streets are also lit up in creative and beautiful ways. In Rusafa, there are a few streets that basically build a “light tent” above the streets, and these lights are often synchronized in color and illumination to musical presentations.

For our walk, though, we were able to see some more typical lighting options. Banners of lights and reflective materials span the streets, sometimes with the names of the falla association that builds the local falla. In smaller neighborhoods, the lighting takes the form of more sedate, but equally beautiful, suspended art.

If you’re wondering, there’s no lighting on our street, and for that, I am thankful. We do have a Casal Faller, or fallas association club, in front of our apartment building, but the falla—and the lighting—is located around the corner. I can imagine that both sound and light can be real distractions for people on busy or heavily decorated streets.

So, it was with all of this in mind, we escaped for the last week to have a more placid and calm week in Alicante. They have their own version of sculptures and fires in Alicante, but it’s during the summer, for the day of Saint John (San Juan with the festival day of June 24). More on that to come!

*Which falla is saved? That would be La Virgen de los Desamparados, in the Plaza de la Virgen. As the patron of the city, she is decorated every year in flowers brought be each of the fallas groups during an event called La Ofrenda, or the offering. Her dress is constructed completely of flowers and is a unique design every year.  

Gentle readers, while I was not here for the final week of Las Fallas, I can wholeheartedly recommend my friend Manu’s Instagram reel with his pictures: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18026361433981220/ He takes great pictures and often shares them here… worth a follow!

It started out just like any other Friday night. We had dinner with our friends at an Indian restaurant in the town of Torrent. It’s easy to get there, because you can just take the metro to the town center and then walk to nearby shops and eateries. There is also a large park near the metro station, and it was curiously blocked off. In fact, in the metro station, the exit that put you out to the park was also closed, and guarded by some very gruff-looking policemen.

Paying limited attention to the barriers (honestly, food and friends was our focus, not the idiosyncrasies of the town of Torrent), we were able to make it to the restaurant in about 5 minutes. Tasty food, good service, and pleasant conversation was the first thing on the agenda. However, as the meal conversation topics turned, our friends said that there was to be a fireworks display about the time we would be finishing dinner.

Of course, we wanted to watch it. First, it was a much less populated event than any of the fireworks shows in Valencia, so there was no crushing crowd surrounding us. Second, after being filled with dinner and maybe a couple of adult beverages, we were definitely interested in seeing the fireworks display.

And this is where I should take a pause and say a few things about Las Fallas, the spring festival here that is a unique Valenciano tradition. I’ve written about Las Fallas before (it’s pronounced “las fah yas” with the two L’s being converted in to a “y” sound to us English speakers). It’s an annual tradition that is a region-wide celebration of light and sound that lasts from March 1 to 19.

While I find the Fallas celebration fascinating, it’s a bit much for me toward the end. The noise and number of tourists in the city can be overwhelming. I have experienced the whole spectacle several times, but I think for now, we will continue to escape the city the last few days of the festival. What I will say, though, is that Las Fallas is a festival that captures the heart and emotions of the Valencian people and region. Celebratory, participatory, city-wide… complete with sights, sounds, and experiences that are uniquely regional.

This year, though, there have been some changes. Shortly before the first event of Las Fallas (called La Crida), there was a horrible fire in the Valencian neighborhood of Campanar. You may have caught it on the news, but multiple people died in a sudden blaze that erupted in an apartment building. To show respect for those who lost homes and loved ones, the events were postponed a week. So that made the night that we were in Torrent the first night of any Fallas celebrations.

That brings us back to the fireworks display in the town of Torrent. During Las Fallas, there are usually fireworks events on weekend evenings. Coupled with the daytime fireworks events (yep, that’s a thing, too), the city can’t avoid the sounds of explosions or the smells of gunpowder that accompany the spectacle.

So it was not really a surprise that Torrent, just outside of Valencia proper, there was a fireworks display. Enough people live there, and the connection to Valencia is so deep, that the local celebration of Las Fallas is normal. However, you will not find tourists clogging the streets or restaurants in Torrent. What you will experience, though, is a fantastic fireworks display that lasted for about 10 minutes.

Since we were eating dinner quite close to the park where the fireworks were launched, we basically had front-row seats. Some of the fireworks ended up overhead, while a drifting cloud of firework smoke also enveloped us adding a more ethereal feeling to the moment. I took a few pictures and some videos, but then I put my phone away and just enjoyed the spectacle.

What started as an ordinary dinner with friends ended up being a delightful surprise!

If you are able to view a flashing image, then you might like to see the following videos (they open in new tabs):

Video 1

Video 2

For the past three years, the music lovers of Spain have turned their rhythm-loving hearts toward Benidorm in February for an event called Benidormfest. This, year, we were able to go with some friends, and had a great time!

What is Benidormfest? Well, to answer that question, you have to know a little something about the annual Eurovision Song competition. Eurovision is an enormous music event that brings together the best musical and performance acts selected by the members of the Eurovision community. While originally only in Europe, other countries have also joined the European Broadcasting Union, and have elected to compete.

Every participating country has its own methods for selecting their “champion” to go to the finals, and there are multiple rounds of competitors and eliminations. In Spain, the final selection was eight songs/performers/acts. At Benidormfest, the finalists performed live, and then the voting begins.

A panel of judges provides one round of voting, including other musicians and producers. The remaining votes come from a public vote, which is called in by the festival watchers throughout the country (and beyond, I suppose!). After all groups perform, there is a period of time where voting lines are opened and people select their favorite performer or group.

This year, the acts were quite interesting. There were various styles of artists, including flamenco, pop, dance songs, and ballads. Each song packaged lyrics and performance styles in a powerful combination of pop art. I was impressed by the variety of music, but really, I shouldn’t be too impressed. Spain’s musical history is legendary, and embedded deeply in the culture.

(Completely off-topic note related to music culture in Spain: We were with a group of friends for an afternoon, and the topic turned to the local songs for different towns and regions. They asked us to sing our local state or town songs, and we pointed out that we don’t have those in the US. Our friends thought we were just trying be coy and not sing, but finally realized that we have nothing like that in the US. They thought NOT having a local song was weird, while we thought that having a town song or anthem was definitely unusual. We felt very foreign.)

In December or January, a friend invited us to join a group going to Benidormfest. Without knowing any of the details or really any of the friends participating, we said yes. Little by little, the plans emerged. While we would not be attending in the performance venue because Benidormfest tickets are very hard to purchase, we would watch from a city plaza that had a projection stage set up to watch the competition in real time.

Thousands of people had the same idea. We were luckily able to get to the plaza early enough to see the screen and secure a spot to stand as a group. The crowd was rowdy, enthusiastic, and many were dressed to show support of their favorite artist in the contest. There were bridal party groups, families, people from other countries, and clusters of friends.

When the competition started, the crowd went wild. When the songs ended, the crowd went wild. When new artists were announced, the crowd went wild. When the voting was being reported, the crowd went wild. Definitely a theme for this event!

But then, the final judging was concluded and the winning artist took the stage again to perform, and the crowd around us sang along.

The winner of Benidormfest, and the representative of Spain in Eurovision, was a duo name Nebulossa.  Their song, Zorra, is somewhat controversial (you can watch a video with official English subtitles here). Technically, the term is a formal name for a vixen, or female fox. Over time, it has become more of a derogatory term, not unlike the word for a female dog, or bitch.

To me, the song represents a departure from the traditional expectations of the highly-socially-regulated Spanish culture. Nebulossa captured this perfectly when they have taken back a word with negative connotations and have publicly said, “I live my life my way, and it’s none of your business. I won’t be bothered to change myself to make you happy.” Personally, I am 100% a fan.

Aside from the music festival, the entire weekend was a delightful departure from a typical weekend. I really enjoyed meeting new people, seeing friends from Benidorm, walking around the older part of the city, and basically taking a break from the routine. So much fun!

In Valencia, the holiday season holds a special place in my heart. In contrast to the US, where many of the season’s activities focus on shopping and purchasing the right gifts for others, the holiday season here is more experience-based. There are new things to see, to do, and to experience as the holidays draw nearer. The city literally lights up in different ways every year, with neighborhoods and the city center creating a festive atmosphere.

This past year, a friend and I also explored a new (for me) aspect of Spanish culture. I’ve talked before about nativity scenes and their prevalence in businesses, homes, and public settings. But this year, we had a mission: to see as many as we could in a relaxed morning of walking around the city.

We started at the City Hall, which is now open for visitors most of the time. In addition to being part of an historic setting, the nativity scene is a three-dimensional reimagination of Bethlehem with an amazing focus on detail. We also viewed scenes in the Basilica and the Diputació de València, or the Valencia Provincial Council. There was a scene in the Governor’s Palace, and one in Mercado Central. There were other scenes as well, interpreted and decorated in different ways to illustrate the nativity story.

Overall, it was a lovely day to walk around the city. As an added bonus, there were groups of students performing in many of the public venues in Plaza de la Virgén and Plaza de la Reina, so there was plenty of excitement and free entertainment.

One other thing to note, related to the comments I have made in the past. The Spanish culture thrives on competition of things big and small, and nativity scenes are a perfect example of this. In Valencia, there is the Asociación de Belenistas de Valencia (Association of Nativity Scene Makers of Valencia), which is part of a larger organization, El Federació de Belemistes de la Comunitat Valenciana (Federation of Nativity Scene Makers in the Valencian Community). Every year, this group publishes a list of different nativity scenes, as well as official collaborations for the group.

Want to read more? Check out my previous posts!

• Looking for Christmas: https://www.valenciaatlast.com/looking-for-christmas/
• Glittery Night: https://www.valenciaatlast.com/glittery-night/
• Nothing says Christmas like Bethlehem in Miniature https://www.valenciaatlast.com/nothing-says-christmas-like-bethlehem-in-miniature/
• Belén de Botelles https://www.valenciaatlast.com/belen-de-botelles/

Holiday decoration of the Valencia, Spain, Mail Building

View of the city hall plaza from the city hall balcony

Nativity scene in the city hall

Nativity scene in the city hall

Nativity scene in the city hall

Nativity scene in the city hall – decorated in the style of Joaquín Sorolla

Nativity scene in the Basilica

Nativity scene in the Basilica

Nativity scene in the provincial council building

Nativity scene in the provincial council building

Nativity scene in the provincial council building

Nativity scene in the provincial council building

Nativity scene in the Palau dels Marquesos dels Scala

Nativity scene in the Mercado Central

List of different nativity scenes in the area sponsored by the nativity scene association

https://ma.tt/2024/01/birthday-gift/