Valencia - What's on in the coming days

With Easter on our doorstep and spring (and high pollen count) in the air, there is a wealth of things to do in Valencia this month and next.
The solemn marches and processions of Semana Santa take place over the next few weeks in Cabanyal, the maritine suburb of the city, down by the port. They are quite moving to watch and these are the biggest outside of Seville. There are also processions in Sagunto if you want to make a day of it and take in the Magnificent Roman Castle too.
Also down at the beach from the 9-11 April is the wonderfully colourful 13th edition of the annual Kite Festival - Great fun for all the family and free!
A few euros buys you vouchers that not only get you in to the Mostra de Vinos by the Calatrava Bridge in the Park Rio Turia, but also entitle you to wine tastings and food sampling. A very inexpensive way to try some of the great wines (and Foods) of the region of Valencia, just don't go down, like we did last year, at lunchtime, because all of the food stalls were closed!! And we'd gone for lunch!
Dance and Ballet fans should check the press from now until early May for some wonderful performances and artists appearing for the International Dansa Valencia - check thisisvalencia.com for full listings.
The lights go out for the night in Valencia as part of the Global initiative,Earth Hour at 20:00h on Saturday 27th March.
Finally, Cirque du Soleil Fans will not want to miss Saltimbanco at the Velodrome from 14-18 April.

A warm Sunday in Valencia

We took a walk down the Rio Túria (our lovely city park) today. Our destination was he Andalucia feria and the Final day of the El Greco in Toledo exhibition. It was a warm slightly overcast day and we ambled along. The linesman was preparing one of the dirt football pitches for one of the numerous South American footy matches.
We left the park for the Museo de Bellas Artes and realised that the queue was exceptionally long (we weren't the only ones leaving it all till the last moment!) so we decided to carry on down to Andalucia and return at 2:30 ish when the Sunday Paella would be too great a pull for the Valencians...




Back down into the park and we laughed at the sign showing the rules of the park, No football, and three games within a couple of feet, No dogs off leads, we counted four in as many seconds and no Fast bike riding... but hey, who cares, it was so nice there today, so relaxed and a lovely happy atmosphere.




We looked at all the exhibits at the Andalucia, had a glass of Manzanilla Sherry/Jerez/Xerez and some delicious Jamon, watched a bit of Flamenco and then made our way back to the museum. The gamble paid off, not a soul to be seen! We were able to see the entire fascinating exhibition at our own pace... It is always worth remembering that lunchtime, though very late - between 2 and 5pm, is sacred to the Valenciano and is invariably the best time to see exhibitions or to Shop!