A Photographer’s Dream Las Fallas Valencia

Las Fallas is the biggest annual festival held in Valencia. It is a spectacular celebration of local tradition which takes place in the form of an incredible street party.

Enormous sculptural compositions, elaborate traditional gowns, music, fireworks and fantastic nightlife are part of the party that lasts for days!

The evolution of the festival as we know it today began in the second half of the 19th century. The fallas and ninots are ephemeral, ornamental and satirical symbols placed in the streets of the city as a humorous, social or political comment. The very large sculptures are human, animal or vegetable in form, portraying a critique of a local, national or international incident, personality or character. The closing ceremonial burning, when all the fallas and ninots are reduced to ashes, is an act of purification that takes place at midnight on el Día de San Jose, (St Joseph’s day).

Each day begins with a desperta, which is the traditional firecracker wake-up call signaling the beginning of another day filled with excitement. The streets teem with colorful flowers and every food stand through-out the city beckons to you with buñuelos and rosquilletas from morning until the wee hours.

One of the biggest events of the week is the Ofrenda de Flores a la Virgen de los Desamparados, (the flower offering to our Lady of the Forsaken) on the 17th and 18th of March from around 4pm to nightfall. A beautiful procession of the members of the Fallas, wearing the elegant and intricately decorated costumes, carrying bouquets of flowers as offering to their patron Saint. These flowers are placed at the base of the enormous statue of The Virgin, where they will then be put into place by men who climb the structure to fill her gown.

Valencia – Las Fallas
March 14-21 8 days/7 nights

Join us on a photography adventure to Las Fallas in Valencia Spain, a fiery fiesta of color and tradition.

Spain is known for its unique festivals. In the month of March, Valencia throws its own fiery festival called Las Fallas which literally means “the fires.”

The focus of the fiesta is the creation of extraordinary sculptures which take many months to build and the destruction of the ninots, which takes only a few minutes. The figures are built by local artists and are funded by the different neighborhoods. On March 19th at exactly midnight, La Cremá (the burning) begins and we will be there with cameras in hand to capture it all!.

Highlights:

Photography adventure to the Cosmopolitan Mediterranean city of Valencia.
Morning Workshops to explore ideas
Evening critiques with our photographer
Learn from scratch or perfect your craft
Be in Valencia to capture the days leading up to the festival the city prepares for all year.
Participate in the preparation of a paella, in the birthplace of this dish.
Enter areas not open to the public, reserved strictly for VIPs
Sightseeing to some of the regions’ most important architectural areas

Figure 1 VIP areas for Spain Adventures only

Figure 2 Hard hat areas reserved for Spain Adventures only

What’s Included: