Valencia (Aug 28 - Sept 1, 2023)

August 28

I landed in Madrid on August 28 and immediately took the train from Madrid to Valencia and then moved into our AirBnB for the Valencia trip. Most of this evening was spent exploring the old town of Valencia and catching up with friends I haven’t seen in a bit.

I personally think the Valencian old town is quite beautiful, especially for someone who has never seen Spanish architecture before. The cobblestone streets, peaceful atmosphere and incredibly vibes made it a joy to walk down. I would highly recommend exploring the old town during sunset to get some great views!

August 29

We spent this day exploring other parts of Valencia. We started off by exploring the Garden of Turia, a green space that occupies the river bed of the river Turia. The Turia river often flooded, so authorities set up a diversion to prevent floods from affecting Valencia. I would highly recommend walking along the Turia river bed; it’s an incredibly peaceful walk and it’s interesting to see the local’s day-to-day along the park.

We also explored Mercat Central Valencia, which is a giant market in the centre of the old town. I am personally not a huge fan of markets since I don’t usually buy anything there. This was definitely something skippable.

We then walked all the way to Monforte Gardens, a botanical garden in Valencia. I am a big fan of botanical gardens, but I found that these gardens were not great. We may have visited at a bad time as all the flowers were dying, but the architecture around the gardens was interesting. We spent the rest of the day getting ready for La Tomatina.

August 30

LA TOMATINA!! This was the entire reason why we came to Valencia in the first place. La Tomatina is a massive tomato fight. I needed an excuse to hit my friends with food and this was the perfect occasion.

We went as part of a La Tomatina bus group which picked us up from Valencia and then drove for about 30 minutes to Buñol, which is where the tomato fight happens. We stored our belongings in a locker and then walked to the site. As we walked into the alleyways of Buñol, locals doused us with water to start. We then picked our spot along the main alleyway of the streets and waited for 30 minutes for the tomato trucks to pass through.

When we saw the white trucks slowly making its way into the streets, we suddenly felt an electric buzz in the atmosphere as everyone was anticipating the upcoming fight. We suddenly felt a huge wave of people making their way out of the alleyway as the trucks had to drive through the street and needed people to move. This was honestly a little concerning as people could easily suffocate with the amount of people stuffed into the alleyway.

Eventually the trucks came, and with it, absolute mayhem. People in the trucks were chucking tomatoes left, right and centre and the food fight began. I got absolutely bodied by the tomatoes (a lot of people throw without crushing it, so it can hurt). 4 more of these trucks came with more tomatoes. I had LOADS of fun pelting my friends with tomatoes. Some of the random strangers also participated in the melee to the point where one of my friends’ shirt got ripped off from him. This was an absolutely wild experience.

As the last truck made its way, we started to make our way out of the alleyway and to a nearby river, where we washed off all the tomato sauce. We made it back, got a change of clothes from our belongings and took the tour bus back home to recover and rest.

I would highly recommend groups of friends to come to this event, but I would probably never go back again. Thinking of throwing tomatoes gives me bad dreams :p.

August 31

This was a super chill day, mostly still recovering from La Tomatina. I spent the morning checking out the old town and the central cathedral in the morning. Visiting the old town during sunrise is also a great time to explore the area as there are very few people and the views are incredible.

We visited Valencia’s City of Science and Arts. The outside looked really interesting and the gardens around the museum made it look awesome. However, the actual museum is quite mediocre. Nothing too novel and it wasn’t filled up with many exhibits as I expected.

We then went to Valencia History Museum, where I learned a load about Valencia’s Visigothic, Andalusian and Spanish past. I would highly recommend any other history nerds to check out this museum; there are really interesting exhibits and they often put the exhibits in the viewpoint of normal people living during past times. Afterwards we went out for drinks!

September 1

We didn’t do too much this day after recovering from the previous night. The main thing was checking out a beach in the evening. Valencia’s beach is pretty nice and we got some great views as sunset approached. We also got a traditional Valencian paella (this city is the birthplace of the famous Spanish dish), but I didn’t think it was as great as others made it out to be. Maybe my taste buds are not yet ready for Spanish cuisine. I would strongly recommend taking a stroll along the beach and the promenade

Tips for visiting Valencia/La Tomatina

• It’s usually much cheaper to fly into Madrid/Barcelona and take a train to Valencia rather than flying into Valencia directly
• Uber is not as common in Spain as North America. Bolt is often a good option in Spain. For food delivery, Glovo can come in clutch
• Try living within the old town of Valencia! Transit options are usually quite good and you can spend your mornings walking around the old town
• La Tomatina tips
  • Get cheap, disposable clothes from Primark (athletic shorts + white tee + white shoes works well). Everything you wear will get destroyed
  • Go with a tour group; there are lots of busses that will take you to Buñol and back to Valencia
  • Bring a change of clothes for everyone and store it in the locker (usually a shirt is fine). Bus operators will not let you in if you are not clean
  • Go to the river after the event to wash out the gunk. There are gonna be locals that will hose you down, but sometimes they ask for money
  • If you wear glasses/contacts, DO NOT WEAR THEM. The tomato and the juice will make your life miserable if you do that. Try to go with friends who are also not visually challenged
  • I don’t think you need to bring goggles. Yes, tomato juice is annoying to deal with when its in your eyes, but goggles can impair your vision when the juice is smeared all over it. Pick your poison, I guess
  • Do not wear open-toed footwear. Given the amount of people in that alley way, your feet will get destroyed. Also, the alleyway becomes a river of tomato sauce after the melee; walking through that with open toed shoes would have been absolutely disgusting
  • Do not try to be in the centre of the alleyway if you want to get out before the crowd. It is really hard to get out and you will get trapped. I would recommend waiting until 30 minutes before the event to start walking into the alleyway where the fight happens
  • When you first walk in the alleyway, do not stay in the street. Find a sidewalk and stand your ground. This will prevent you from becoming caught up in the huge crowd wave when the tomato trucks start driving through.
• Skip going to the science museum. It’s not really worth the price and time, but the outside is great to look at!