Patilla Ciudad De Requena

... been alarmed but I assume the ruckus came from all the seniors on our floor - it surprises me they could cause as much disturbance as young people looking for a party. Later Mom mentions to me that Dad walked to the wrong room several times and it occurs to me he was the one at Julie and Eddie's door.

The guided tour for Montserrat leaves at 9:00am so we all pile into the monster tour bus. Ines (pronounced EE-ness) is our ...

... in the village bumping into locals and trying to understand what they are saying... particularly when they are addressing me specifically, and have sampled some of the local cuisine.

Not been in the pool as it's a little on the chilly side at the moment, maybe I'll feel daring before I leave :s

Now I guess I should go and practice my Spanish...

... cost 7 euros per person for the glass and 8 tasting tickets. It's important to note here, that the tastings are NOT a drop in the bottom of the glass, the portions were more than generous, and on the first night I couldn't finish using all the tickets!

The second night, we tried some of the more reserve wines that 'cost' 2 tickets.

At one of the tasting tents there was a very helpful girl that took some time to explain some ...

... 4 truck loads of tomatoes, a t-shirt turned pink and a face/head full of seeds we decided to make our way up the hill back to the train station…. Stopping along the way to get rinsed off by the locals who kindly stood outside to hose the many hundreds of tourists and locals!
I took off my top layer of t-shirt and ditched my shoes as we headed up the hill – they no longer looked like the grey sneakers I had purchased for £5

The train back to Valencia was just as busy ...

... of bodies had now congregated. Gary took the boys further into the crowd (they were really keen to throw some tomatoes!), and the girls and I stayed put. As the hooters went off, the crowd roared and cheered, and we saw the truck inching forward into the masses. Us girls backed away a bit at this point, and up in the side street - which gave us a perfect view. What we didn't realise at the time, was the consequence of the truck ...

... and green spaces everywhere. Also there are ridiculous amounts of trees; orange trees with oranges still on them, on the side of the road!, palm trees, other trees I don't know the names of.... The space which used to be the river has been turned into gardens, and in the streets, poinsettas are potted everywhere (although I'm not sure, this might just be a Christmas thing) Anyway, I walked down Calle Paz, stopping at the street market only to find it was kinda ...

... We gathered at the central square, eagerly anticipating the festivities. I made a casual comment to Mary "We're drinking juice and water while everyone else is drinking beer and sangria!"

Some guy overheard us and offered us some wine. He actually lived in Calgary for a number of years and recently quit his job so that he could travel ... hmmm ... sounds familiar ... but sadly for him, he decided not to buy a house a few years ago ...

... Finally someone managed it and that was when the first of five trucks headed down the main street and dumped tonnes and tonnes of overripe tomoatoes in the street, which after being thrown time and time again just became soup. After the last truck went past it was a free for all as everyone grabbed as much tomato mush and started throwing it everywhere and at anyone. We all ended up with tomato everywhere (which we ...

... has been okay so far--thank goodness for the internal alarm! Here is the step by step process of paella creation a la Pedro (Ricardo's brother) last Saturday: The great cook first starts a big fire outside in his special paella cooking spot in the backyard. Then he heats up the oil. Step 2 is to cook up the meat in the hot oil. For traditional Valencian ...

... because with all the people there would not be "Mush-Room" Anyway.... back to the story. Before you can say, who is making the "Bloody Mary's" there are tomatoes being launched from any and every direction. Already up the street I can see the next dump truck making its way down the ill fated street - that will be the 2nd of 6 trucks to pass through in the next hour. Carnage and exhaustion are the only two words I can use to describe the scene (and hopefully the photos make it ...