Featured posts on life in Valencia
It’s today—the very last day of the year.By now, you’ve probably heard more than enough about the elaborate parade of New Year’s Eve traditions and paraphernalia the Spanish adore: red underwear, grapes, bells, cotillón… Spaniards like to celebrate, and when they do, they spare absolutely no detail or imagination. Many of you likely already have…
Despite living here for years, I’ve never actually spent New Year’s Eve in Spain. I’m usually traveling somewhere to visit family or friends for the holidays. In Singapore, we celebrated with fireworks and food — in my family, that meant mountains of chili crab. In Tucson, we serenaded the New Year around a desert bonfire,…
The Christmas race is officially in countdown mode. The big day is just hours away and, somehow, you already feel Christmas-saturated. Everything around town is festive to the point of chaos: streets packed with people, public transport taking its sweet time, public parking full by 11 a.m. It’s loud, busy, and relentless. And while all…
The 22nd: the first official day of Christmas.This is something you can count on if you ever need to know when Christmas truly begins in Spain. The kids will be out of school for sure—the Friday before if the 22nd falls on a Monday, or the day before if it’s midweek. The variation is minimal….