I had my alarm set for 9am, assuming my train was at 10:45am. I was now leaving Madrid, heading down to Valencia. The alarm goes off and instantly something in my head is telling me my train is at 9:45am. My instincts was right because I remember telling a fellow hosteller I needed to get up around 7ish for my 9ish train. I froze and was so certain I was going to miss it. I tossed and turned in deciding whether or not to attempt to make it. OK! I will try. In a hurry I brushed my teeth and got dressed. Bags straight on the back and I run right through reception cutting the queue yelling out 'I have no time to check out'.
Off I went straight to the near by metro station. Thankfully this line goes straight to the station I needed to be. OMG! I made it and had 15 minutes to spare. How is this even possible my head is chanting. Once on the train I quickly dozed off.
I arrived in Valencia. I don't know why but I didn't want to make my way to the hostel. I stationed myself at the one spot and sat down. After unknown hours I figured I should make my way to the hostel before the rain comes. The journey to the hostel was some kind of an experience. I was on the same street walking up and down countless time. It took about 1.5 hours to find this place. I should really give up using maps to find my location because it seems to take longer than winging it.
I really felt like I needed some mellow time for awhile. I needed some 'Me Time' that I usually get back home. I chose to spend my time at this hostel like I was at home.
I ended up spending the night with a fellow hosteller named Stef. It is not a surprise but shes Australian from Sydney. We spent the night drinking beers down stair at the local restaurant, blabbing on aboit anything. We both learned we will be doing the dame Oktoberfest camping tour. We were both doing it solo and agree that it feels good to know we have each other now. Hopefully out request for bunking together will be approved. That was it for the day.
Day 40
I needed to make full use of the day. Breakfast and out the door I went. I know that I am not a typical sightsee'r, in fact I am not a big fan of it. The only time I have gone to see famous landmarks are because I have been travelling with friends. Compare to all the other continents I have been too, Europe brings in a different feel. I get the urge to the beauty and amazing history of Europe.
I ended up seeing quite a lot of land marks. There seem to be something on every corner in the city centre. I found myself at the Torres de Serranos, Torres de Quart, Mercado Central, Catedral and Basilica. As per usually I found myself at a wifi spot for a few hours before I made it back to the Hostel.
I ended the night early as it was a 5am wake up call for La Tominata tomorrow.
Day 41
"La Tominata"
5am rise, shower and breakfast. The hostel had breakfast set up earlier than usual. The whole place was occupied with people participating. Majority of them were fellow Aussies. The prices for the stay was jacked up to during this period with a minimum of three night stay.
As I made my way to the central station to catch the organised buses to Bunol. A small town where the annual event is held. It was certainly weird to see crowds of people walking the streets at this time.
I arrived. There was a DJ spinning tunes and numerous bars pouring alcohol. It was only 8am and people was already hitting the drinks and floor. This year for the first time, you needed to pay to participate. They say it was to control the number of participants but I believe they know people would pay, so why not make some money out of it.
The line to collect the wristband took about 30 minutes, next it was the cloaking line which took about 1 hour 30 minutes. I managed to be adopted by a group of Americans while waiting in line, how lucky am I? LOL. One quick Mojito before we head up to town. 10:40am and the heavy rain starts pouring in, how convenient minutes before the 11am ham climb.
We're gonna be soaked by tomatoes sooner or later, so why not just bare the heavyyyy rain. 10:50am, we decided to bolt up to the entrance of town. We failed finding the perfect spot in town because as soon as we stepped through the entrance, a truck load of tomato was unloading. We were running late. Oops. The crowd cheered and jumped as it unloaded. We didn't get enough time to find the right spot in town.
Apparently right in the centre of the town is where a ham is hung high on a pole. The pole is covered in oil. At 11am hundreds of people would tackle the pole hoping to grab hold of the ham. Once the ham is taken off the pole the tomato trucks begin to unload.
The crowd quickly ducked down and scooped as much tomatoes they could grab with both hands. The tomatoes were shaped like the Italian ones, where back at home they are a little expensive. You'd expect the tomato to be soft and juicy but juicy as they were inside, it was hard as rock. I could already see the bruises I will get from this. Who cares right? Lets fight.
It didn't matter whether you were standing or squatting or even hiding. Tomatoes were flying left, right and centre. There was no way you could avoid, you are bound to be hit. It started off with hard tomatoes thrown at you, followed by soft as people learnt to squeeze it before throwing it. In the end the whole ground was flooded with tomato juice. It felt like stepping into puddles when it rained but thicker. Time after time everyone would take a break by dancing and chanting. Numerous trucks full of people would drive past and we would all target them on the truck.
I think a whole hour is a little too dragged on because I was over it within 30 minutes. I gave it another 10 minutes and squeezed out of the middle onto the side walk far away. I was still getting hit while spectating. No one is free! And then it was over. I was drenched with tomato from head to toe and the worse was having chunks of it in your hair. Everyone was on the hunt for water to flush off all the tomatoes. Locals suddenly appeared outside their houses with hoses and people were taking their turn to be washed off.
The weather wasn't warm at all, which made the wetness of my clothes cold. I had clean clothes and a towel back in my bag and headed down to the cloak room to grab it. The line didn't look as long as this morning. The line was deciving, I ended up in the line for 2.5 hours freezing my ass off waiting for my bag. They had poor organisation of cloaking. Bags weren't place in correct spots. They ended up asking us to go into the room and look for our own bags. People had things missing out of their bags and some even had their bag missing. I was starting to get paranoid but luckily it was there. Phewwwww.
After all this waiting around for little things I was now totally OVER it! I am glad to have this ticked off my bucket list but I would definitely not do it again. All I wanted to do right now was to have a hot shower and snuggle up in bed. It was now raining heavily and most people were getting ready for the after party but not for me. I am exhausted out.
Day 42
My enthusiastic attitude has finally died down. After travelling for more than a month, there was no way I could brace myself to do things every single day. I was exhausted out and needed a proper time out. I spent most of the morning and afternoon lazing around at the hostel with no plans at all. It is funny how even when your not doing anything, time still flies by very fast.
I wanted to do a flamingo dinner and show tonight, however the tickets were all sold out. I checked out the prices for something similar to this in Barcelona but it was 2 times the price. I guess this would be something I would do on my next adventure to Spain where money isn't an issue.
I ended up on a date with my roommate Lucy. She's from the UK. We both were lazing around all day and thought it was time to get off our asses and do something, even if it was for a walk. We had no idea where we going but it was good. We walked and talked a lot. It was time for dinner. How we chose what to eat was hilarious, we both had something in our head we wanted to eat. Its rare to find someone to share the same liking in foods. It was agreed we both wanted Paella for dinner and most places only offer it on the menu with a minimum of two person. We both paused for a second and asked each other how we liked our Paella. Sometimes its hard to tell someone you don't know what you like, just incase they don't fancy it the same as you. I slowly spoke out the words seafood and she instantly said YES! Our menu was sorted.
Lucy recommended a local restaurant that she has been to twice already since being in Valencia. She said the people there was very accommodation. We sat down and immediately ordered our Paella and don't forget the jug of Sangria. It was the first time I have seen Sangria made from scratch, I didn't realise there was so many things added to it. I think it should be called 'the trash drink". I was so excited to down this drink. As we paid for the bill, we were giving a small bottle of after dinner liquor. We were told that it was home made. It was infused with citrus however left a liquorice aftertaste which I hate.
I needed to end the night with some kind of sweet after such a good night of talks and food. I walked past a busy ice cream stall. There was like a million flavours to pick from which made my decision even harder. I already have a hard time choosing things. I was bedazzled that there was such flavour called Hello Kitty. I wonder what it taste liked. I ended up with tiramisu and coconut.
This was our night in Valencia. It was time to pack as I am heading over to Ibiza for some beach life.
See you soon.
xo
calafati
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