Valencia. La ciudad del fuego

Have you ever thought about the bat that appears in every emblem from Valencia? It is me? Do we belong to the same family?
Well, to know the real story we should imagine Valencia being dominated by the Arabs. Long long time ago, Arabs used to have a bat in order not to have insects and parasites in their fields, including the king. But the king's bat was special, because if it dies, it would mean that the city wouldn't be arab anymore. So that happened, one night, king's bat meet Jaime I el Conquistador and he died because of Jaime's helmet. Next day you can imagine what happened...Yes! the city was reconquered by the christians! and then bat became a symbol in every emblem.


Valencia means fire, fireworks, little kids with big explosives, tons of people...why? Because of Fallas. A "Falla" is the thing that appears with me on the picture. This one is the biggest but there are too many. Every corner and square of Valencia has a Falla with different meanings (humour, critics, politics...) . This art that envolves lots of people and work, bring to Valencia many tourists so Valencians recover all the efforts that they made in the construction phase. During "La Cremá" all Fallas are burnt simultaneously so the city seems to be on fire. But every fire is completely controlled by humans (yes, we can) even if it can reach 100 meters high. The night before called "La nit del foc" you can see the biggest firework show of the world. During the whole week, at 2pm, the city, and the villages around celebrate "La mascletá". This event consists on thousands, tons and tons of firecrackers bombing continuisly during almost 30 minutes. Amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0SKVjpjcm4

However, Valencia is much more (Ciudad de las artes, Mestalla, the beach, F1...) so I'll come back for sure to continue telling stories about this portuary city where arabs and cristians lived together for many years. Below I appear in "La lonja", the antique fish market.


PD. Gracias a Guille, a Lefteris, a Felipe Massa, De la Rosa, el resto del Padock, Edu y compañía y mi dueña, claro ;)

Salamanca enhechiza

Tanto buscar la rana en la fachada de la Universidad, y nadie se da cuenta de que también hay un murciélago. Pues sí, ahí estoy. Pero Salamanca no es solo una rana que vuelve locos a estudiantes y foráneos, es una ciudad donde se respira el pasado, donde las tradiciones, los chascarrillos y la magia de una época de capa y espada se esconden en cada esquina.












Casas malditas, cuevas donde el mismísimo diablo impartía catedra, fachadas con conchas que esconden tesoros. La plaza mayor y la catedral: una delicia para mis alas que encontraron confortable cobijo y alimento en la ciudad plateresca.
Mestizaje cristiano y árabe, gótico y mudéjar renaciendo en un estilo único en el mundo. El plateresco de las diversas fachadas inunda los espacios con frutas, coronas y escudos.

Ya lo dijo Unamuno:

"Salamanca, Salamanca,
renaciente maravilla
académica palanca
de mi visión de Castilla"

Hoy Salamanca es sinómino de Universidad y de saber, pero también de disfrutar.