Category: Uncategorized

Blog post by Katy

On Friday, March 6th we flew to Valencia from Paris. At around 730pm we dragged our suitcases over cobblestones for about ten minutes, searching for Plaza Puerto Rico in the Ruzafa neighbourhood. We rolled past the bullring and down a few narrow, winding streets before suddenly arriving at a very full plaza. And by full, I mean hundreds of people packed in like sardines, all staring up at the sky (see below).

We squeezed through the crowd, scanning apartment numbers until we finally spotted #36, a green building (see above right 2nd floor) tucked into the corner of the square. A quick buzz upstairs, an apartment tour entirely in Spanish (no comprendo), and suddenly we were standing on our three tiny balconies overlooking the plaza… just in time to hear a countdown begin.

Then everything went boom. Plaza Puerto Rico lit up in the most spectacular way. Thousands of tiny lights, glowing arches, and explosions echoing through the square like nothing we’d ever heard before. The whole place erupted in cheers.

Well… this was quite the welcome. Our home for the next three weeks.

If you’ve never heard of Las Fallas, imagine a city-wide celebration where art, fireworks, noise, and community all collide. Every March in Valencia, neighbourhood groups build enormous, elaborate sculptures called Fallas and display them in the streets. This year there are over 800. For days the city fills with firecrackers, music, parades, street food, and dazzling light displays that keep the energy going late into the night. Then, on the final night, all but one of the over 800 sculptures are set on fire in huge bonfires called la cremà. A dramatic farewell that symbolizes renewal and the arrival of spring. So far it is loud, colourful, and unlike any festival we’ve ever experienced.

On our first night we closed our three balcony blinds and fell asleep to explosive sounds lasting until 3am. We had purposefully planned our time in Valencia around this festival but nothing could prepare us for what was about to unfold. The next day, we decided we need to go with it so our first stop was the firecracker shop. We bought a box of 12+ yrs firecrackers for the boys and a box of 8+ yrs firecrackers for Olivia. We proceeded to the street with our lit pieces of rope and began exploding firecrackers! Loud piercing blasts echoed off the walls. Ours were the ‘quiet’ ones. All of this would not be legal in Canada so it was definitely eyes wide open for us all!

Las Fallas officially runs from March 15–19, with a packed schedule of events happening day and night. The preparations are already well underway, and from our balcony and the streets in Ruzafa we’ve been watching it all unfold. Every night something new appears, and every morning we wake up to a different view of the plaza and streets. Two days ago we spent the day at the spectacular modern monument of the City of Arts and Sciences (and at the Oceanoraphic -aquarium) and returned home to discover about eight new food trucks had rolled into the square joining our well loved churros truck. Market stalls are popping up too, transforming the plaza into a full festival ground. The kids are already planning their rounds: churros (see below images), bocadillos (large sandwhich), burgers, patatas bravas, cotton candy, sweets and fruit juices.

The location of our apartment honestly feels a bit like living in the middle of the Filberg Festival back home – just with alot more noise and no curfew.

Each community seems to celebrate fallas in their own little areas of town. There are white tents all over the streets during Las Fallas that are temporary gathering spaces called “carpas” set up by neighbourhood Fallas groups. Each neighbourhood in Valencia has its own Fallas committee (called a comisión fallera), made up of local residents who spend the whole year planning their sculpture, fundraising, and organizing events. The tent parties spill into the streets. Last Sunday, we found small fires cooking paella (apparently a Paella competition). It seemed to be an all-day, highly social affair, filled with laughter, conversation, and the smell of good food.

Yesterday we visited the competition museum of ninots. The giant Fallas sculptures around Valencia are made up of many smaller figures called ninots which means “little dolls” in Valencian. Each ninot tells part of the story. They’re often funny, exaggerated, and sometimes a bit cheeky, poking fun at politicians, celebrities, social trends, or everyday life. A single Fallas monument can include dozens of ninots, all working together to tell a theme or visual joke. We voted for our favorite ninot at the museum.

Las Fallas creates jobs across many parts of Valencia. Artists and designers spend the year building the giant sculptures and ninots, while carpenters, welders, and crane operators help assemble them in the streets. Pyrotechnic companies plan the fireworks, and the festival brings plenty of work for food vendors, restaurant staff, musicians, dressmakers, and market stall owners. Behind the scenes, police, firefighters, and city crews also work hard to keep everything running safely. In many ways, Fallas isn’t just a festival, it’s a year-long industry that supports thousands of local jobs.

After seeing hundreds of ninots around the city, we can say they’re truly incredible works of art, unlike anything we’ve seen before. Traditionally they were made from wood and papier-mâché, but today many are built with modern materials that allow for incredible detail and bright colours. Some are several metres tall, with cartoon-like expressions that make them just as entertaining up close as they are from across the plaza.

Next Thursday, March 19th the Fallas sculptures will all be burned to the ground (all night) and from what we understand, when we wake up on the 20th, there will be no trace of the Fallas festival to be found in Valencia. To be continued after March 19th…

Today’s blog is written by Katy

Suitcases zipped, passports ready and just enough chaos to make it memorable.

Not only has the world changed a lot since our last big adventure in 2018, but so has our little family. The kids are growing up right before our eyes, stretching into new versions of themselves. And so are we. Nick is 13, Matt is 11 and Olivia is 8.

We’re taking this opportunity to press pause.

For a few months, we’re stepping away from routines and schedules. We’re trading carpools for cobblestone streets and practices for piazzas. We’re choosing roads instead of routines and sunsets instead of schedules. We want to see the world through each other’s lens. To gather stories instead of things.

We are a family of five travelling to five countries in Europe.

Dave is on a deferred salary leave from his role as a high school administrator. I’m taking leave from my music teaching position in French Immersion. I’ll continue working on the Yellowpoint Christmas Spectacular while we travel. It’s hard to believe I’m heading into Season 18. I feel incredibly lucky to carry that creative work with me on the road.

Right now, our life is wonderfully full. Work, school, hockey, soccer, piano, gymnastics, tap, basketball, house, garden, and all the driving in between. We’re taking a break from all of it.

We’re leaving behind Canadian mountains, ocean air, rushing rivers, and deep green forests. In their place, we’re diving into history and culture. We’re excited for the kids to stand in front of monuments that have existed long before Canada was even born.

Our adventure begins late Sunday morning – after a few final hockey games and some hard goodbyes.

I’ll miss spring in the garden. The tulips and daffodils are just beginning to push through the soil. I’ll miss our friends, our community, and yes… my own bed (and pillow).

But mostly, I’m excited.

This trip has been years in the making.

Dave and I will be writing regular blog posts and sharing photos along the way. We’re also hoping the kids will chime in with their own perspectives – because let’s be honest, they’ll probably see things very differently than we do.

We’d love for you to follow along.

The Itinerary:

• Mar 1 – 6 Paris, FR (France)
• Mar 7 – 22 Valencia, SP (Spain)
• Mar 23 – 26 Barcelona, SP
• Mar 27 – 28 Carcasonne, FR
• Mar 29 – Apr 25 Cotignac, FR
• Apr 26 – May 4 Verona, IT (Italy) – Brenner Pass 7 day bike ride: Vipiteno, Brennone, Bolsano, Trento, Riva, Verona
• May 5/6 – Venice, IT
• May 7/8 – Rome, IT
• May 9 – 18 Puglia Region, IT – Stay in San Michele Salentino
• May 19 – 21 Athens, GR (Greece) 
• May 22 – 24 Santorini, GR
• May 25 – 27 Naxos, GR
• May 28 Rhodes, GR
• May 29 – June 5 Oludeniz, TR (Turkey)
• June 6 – 11 Sarigerme, TR (Holiday Turkey Village)
• June 12 – 14 Cappadocia, TR
• June 15 – 20  Istanbul, TR
• June 21/22  Paris, FR
• June 22 HOME

We have had a wonderful 3 weeks exploring the beautiful coastal country of Croatia.

We began our adventure in Split.  After a long day of travelling from the Dordogne, a quick grocery shop, and settling into our apartment in the old town, we went for a dinner at the restaurant located below us.

The next day was Nick’s birthday and he decided that as a treat he would like to take a ride on the harbour submarine. It was a beautiful day to be out on the water, even if there was little sea life to see from the submarine… We spent the afternoon at Bacvice beach which was a huge hit with the boys. The warm shallow water meant we didn’t have to worry much and they spent countless hours splashing around and avoiding the locals playing picigin (a game of keep up with a small ball in the shallow water).

With its’ Diocletioans Palace you could definitely feel the influence of ancient Rome and modern Italy in Split. Nick and I did a harrowing bell tower climb to get a wonderful view of the city.  It was an eye opener to see the difference in safety regulations with the open staircases that offered little protection to a fall to the inside and outside.  It was great to see Nick up to the challenge though. We also did a tour of the basement below the palace. It was amazing to see the vast spaces that were used recently as a backdrop for Game of Thrones and as a garbage dump and sewer by residents until fairly recently.

From Split we took an catamaran passenger ferry to the island of Korcula, where we were met by our friends Magnus, Cecilia and Julius from Denmark. We made our way to the suburb of Medvinjak where we shared a house with a wonderful pool for five days. The pool was idealic and the kids had a great time. Their swimming improved so much that the water wings were no longer needed by the end of the week. Early one morning we visited the local fish market and bought some stingray, sea bass and small fish for a seafood barbecue in the traditional Croatian style. It was great fun to cook over the open fire and we had a marvellous feast.  With a beach just down the hill and the pool we didn’t stray to far from home, but did spend one day on the southside of the island at a beach near the town of Lumbarda. It was nice and sandy for the kids, but they preferred the shallow warm waters of Bacvice beach in Split… and the pool!

We said goodbye to our friends and spent our last 5 days on Korcula in a little apartment right in the old town of Kocula. The walled town had been built when it was a port for the traders of Venice, and had a celebrated connection to Marco Polo. With a great seaside promenade and narrow alleys it was great fun to explore on foot.  Having stared at the beautiful Adriatic Sea for days, we decided that we needed to rent a boat and took out a little traditional fishing boat on a couple occasions to explore the other small islands and coastal regions of Korcula. On our first day out we stopped at a great little beach in Torkul and had a great time. We also explored the island of Badija with its’ Franciscan monastery and history as a school for elite athletes during the communist days of Yugoslavia. The deserted and dilapidated infrastructure was a little eerie. There were numerous abandoned basketball courts and you had to wonder if this is where the likes of Drazen Petrovic and Tony Kukoc got their start. We enjoyed the boat so much that we took it out again and this time headed to the beach north of Lumbarda for a great day in the sun and crystal blue waters.

From Korcula we travelled south, once again by catamaran, to Dubrovnik and along the cliffside highway to the little seaside village of Mlini where we had a little apartment by the beach. Our first excursion was a boat ride up to Dubrovnik for the day. The seas were  rough and Katy started to think she would have preferred the cliffside drive. When Matt got seasick and threw up on the way I tended to agree. Despite a dubious start, Matt recovered quickly after an ice cream cone and we climbed up to explore the famous walls of the City. The views were amazing and it was easy to see why it has been chosen as the setting for so many movies and tv shows including Game of Thrones’ Kings Landing. We spent a hot couple hours circling the town up on the walls. The boat ride back was just as rough, but this time Matt fell asleep, possibly helping us avoid any further sea sickness. On the way back we spotted many bombed out seaside resort buildings, which was our first real perspective on the war that took place here just 25 years ago. I got up the next morning and went for a run to the abandoned seaside resort of Kupari that was destroyed during the invasion of Dubrovnik in 1991.  The owner of the apartment we stayed at also told us her story of escaping the bombing in Mlini and showed as the hole in the 500 year old plane tree outside the house caused by one of the bombs.

While in Mlini we also decided to try out the local cuisine. It seems we may have travelled with our stomachs a lot the last couple months. We shared wonderful Dalmatian sea bass, shrimp, calamari, pasta and lamb. It was great fun to watch it cooked over the open fire and enjoy the sea views below.

On our last night I snuck out after the kids went to bed to head down the local seaside bar to watch the World Cup football match between Croatia and Nigeria. It was a great cultural experience to see the locals packed around the open bar, dressed in the national colours, waving flags, singing songs and setting of flares when Croatia scored. By coincidence all the countries we visited this year are represented this year’s World Cup.

The next day we drove up the coast to Split, along a beautiful coastal route and briefly through Bosnia along the way. The 200 kilometre drive took almost four hours, luckily the scenery was magnificent. On to Paris…