It is the day of La Tomatina (Tomato Festival), said to be the biggest tomato fighting event in the world. Held in Bunol, a small town about 50km away from Valencia, it is the only time in the year filled with massive amount of people from all around the world.
I heard about this festival from an acquaintance about 3 months ago, and since it was happening around the time I was in Spain, I decided to plan my trip to Valencia around the event date, and get a first hand experience.
Date : 27 – 31 August 2011
Highlights :
I was surprised that there were actually not much things to be done in Valencia, considering the size of the city, and I would have left after 2 days, if it wasn’t for the La Tomatina Festival.
There were smaller sights like the Torres de Serano and a couple of cathedrals, but nothing to be wow-ed or impressed about.
I decided to make my way to El Saler, a beach recommended to visit by Wikitravel. It is located on the other side of Valencia, and was told by the locals that it is quite far to get to.
Since there wasn’t much more to see in Valencia, I followed Wikitravel’s directions and made my way towards the bus stop (near the train station) to take the bus that will bring me to the El Saler.
While walking towards the train station, I came across a local Pasar Malam! And it was huge, stretching across at least 6 different streets! I got distracted and decided to take a walk to see the vendors’ wares.
Took another quick walk around the city today, to cover some of the sights that I have yet to visit. There isn’t actually that much things to see in Valencia, but here are probably the few of the key ones.
Plaza de La Virgen
Headed to the nearby beach (Las Arenas) today, however decided to make a slight detour to visit the America’s Cup Port. Apparently this is also where the F1 circuit takes place. Looking at the map, the circuit sure looks small!
There were not that many boats at the marina, however, those that were at the marina were extremely big and luxurious!
I came across a House of America’s Cup near the marina, and since it was also free, decided to take a look inside.
After 7.5 hours on a bus (opted for the bus instead of train since it takes the same time as a train and arrives at a more decent hour. It was also much cheaper!), I finally reached Valencia at 7am in the morning.
Carlos was kind enough to pick me up at the bus station, which I later found out he actually took a 45 minutes walk from his place to the bus station (oops!)!
Headed back to his place where I continued with my sleep before waking up close to mid-day. We headed out to the beach to get some Paella (Paella originated from Valencia! Though the place we went to for Paella didn’t seem great at all. I had better in Madrid. Looks like I should go hunting for somewhere better 
I left Stefano's house at 7.45am to catch the 8.07am train to the airport, which later required switching to an airport shuttle from T2 ...
