Beautiful canals!

Brad and I arrived to our couchsurfer Simchah waiting for us at the train station. He’s not

Simchah and Herring!

exactly a typical-looking Dutchman …he’s tall but actually has some skin on his bones, and has a headfull of dreads! Very cool vibes! We immediately went to rent bikes while he gave us the low-down on the rules…

1. Look everywhere (for tourists mostly!!)

2. Give way to the right

3.Don’t be afraid to use your bell!

So on we rode with our massive backpacks on ha! Simchah first took us to the coffee shop he worked at and treated us to a cappuccino before heading to his humble abode to drop off the packs! The town is just incredible to ride around in….bike lanes EVERYWHERE! The bikes rule the city! There’s a parking garage dedicated to BIKES at the train station!

Backpacks and bikes!

Come nightfall Simchah took us to this underground “lighting festival” put on by a squatting community! We rode all the way out to the shipping warehouse and were terrified upon entering when there was a massive clap of synthetic thunder! We walked down a pitch black path to an exciting world of art, music, lighting and fire! This community had made something beautiful out of junk and free stuff they found! Taking a bath 20 feet above ground, chilling out in tree chairs and abandoned school buses are just a few things they enjoy!

Synthetic Lightning!

The best part of the night was after midnight (officially my birthday!) when they put on a tribal fire show! I imagine it was a scaled down version of burning man. Everyone came out painted

Fire show!

 in robes, banging on trash cans, with bags of sawdust and fire! It was incredibly impressive, and by the end of it…they had burned down this whole contraption!

By the time we finished exploring, took the hour-long bike ride home, and got to sleep it was 6am and the sun was riding! So the next morning was a late start, but Brad and I eventually went out with the bikes and explored the red light district a bit before having a really nice lunch/dinner in Vondel park! It’s so massive with fountains and gardens and playgrounds….it can be explored for hours!

With a fairly easy night enjoying each others company….we were rested and ready to spend time with the family

Vondel Park!

Tomatina!

According to legend the worlds biggest annual food fight got its start as a joke among friends. To celebrate the end of the week long festival held every year in Bunol, a small group of amigos randomly started throwing tomatoes at one another. Add a few years, 150,000 tomatoes and 40,000 people, pack them into a rural Catalon town in Bunol, and presto….La Tomatina is born!

Since the early stages of planning for our trip Chels and I have held La Tomatina top on our list of festivals to visit. So when our good friends from Santorini, Drew, Hannah and Racheal decided they were going to come with us, we were more than thrilled to have targets when the tomatoes started to fly!

Our crew!

We left the night before the festivities and took with us a crew of about 8,including Chels and I. We cruised threw ground zero and noticed people preparing their houses with tarps and plywood. (We heard stories about people breaking down doors and coating the insides of houses with tomatoes.) We found some tables, settled in, caught up with our Santorini crew and played some card games till we were ready to go to bed.  I made sure to give out plenty of carrots to everyone to provide SOME nutrition for the night! Now the only problem was to find a spot to sleep.

Fun!

The next hour was spent exploring the areas around Bunol for a nice pitch for our tents. There was this nice secluded area with a night club nearby which provided us with some nice lullaby music!

Awoken by roosters and murmurs of people LEAVING the club, we were ready to get the day started (although a tad bit slow from a night of drinking). It was only 8am when we armed ourselves with massive cups of sangria and goggles before we found our way to the massive crowd of people just waiting for the festivities to get started. First was the Greasy Pole contest, where (drunk) guys attempt to climb to the top of a greased pole to reach the ham…..a great way to get people rowdy and excited. Then at exactly 11am, a loud firework cracks!

TOMATO-THROWING TIME!!!! All the locals that were hanging out on their rooftops spectating….were now the locals pelting everyone with tomatoes. They had CRATEFULS after cratefuls of semi-soft tomatoes….it was never-ending. Those that weren’t throwing tomatoes were unloading gallons and gallons of water onto the crowd. It was really fun but nothing compared to what was next with the dump trucks.

Dump truck!

Ahhh!

About 30 minutes after the fireworks, the first dumptruck of 5 rolled through FILLED with tomatoes. Everyone starts screaming and yelling and throwing anything they can get their hands on (usually either tomato remains or soaking wet shirts). There was a constant stream of hoses to try to keep the tomatoes from staining everything red in this town, but it made for a fun time. The people up high were the best targets, and at one point i got on Brad’s shoulders for a couple minutes before being absolutely pelted with tomatoes! It was incredible! Fun, crazy, an indescribable experience. I’ve always always wanted to have massive food fight at school, and here we are at the WORLDS BIGGEST FOODFIGHT!!!

When the official “end of Tomatina” firework went off, we were sad to realize it was over so quickly. Everyone started dispersing and following the dumptruck down the street….a couple guys ran and jumped in the trucks and just started flinging tomato juice everywhere!! It was great…the cops didn’t do anything about it either! It was hilarious to see everyone just covered in red and dirty clothes, ripped clothes walking around! We found a nice shady spot to hang around in and watch as everyone slowly rolled back to Valencia. I think we were under the impression there would be parties all night in Bunol, but by 4pm it was not only a ghost town, but it was SPOTLESS!! The clean up crew is incredibly efficient!

Frands!

So there we were, the Santorini crew…the only young people left in the town…chilling and reminiscing on what we just experienced and enjoying each others company for the rest of the night! It was an unforgettable experience…and even better that it was with friends

Late-night camping!

Feria!

Malaga is a town on the Southern coast of Spain that we had no intention of going to until we heard from Ouali that there was this awesome FREE festival down there! Being a short bus ride from Sevilla, we decided in was a must in our trip!

We arrived with no plans, so accommodation, and no idea what we were doing. Luckily the bus and train station were super spiffy, had a great information desk with maps and everything we needed to know about Feria, the festival! AND it has huge lockers for only 4.50 euros for 24 hours! We locked up everything important, except for our passports and my camera, brought a mat and our blanket with us, and set out to find the festivities.

Once we got out of the crappy part of town that usually surrounds the train station, we found the old town, small windy streets of Malaga! There were heaps of massive cathedrals and some huge pedestrian streets that were setting up for the next day! Already though, there were tons of street vendors selling local nuts and flowers! Brad and I stopped at the market for some water when we spotted a bottle of Tequila and made a rash decision about the rest of our night! Haha so we found a nice square with a big statue in the middle (big surprise for Europe) and played games with each other and people watched while we enjoyed the lovely taste of Tequila! Then we followed the masses to the beach around 11pm where we found craziness for the pre-festival opening party!!!

Beautiful cathedral!

The looonnngg stretch of beach was PACKED with people, young, old, families, anyone! We listened to some live music before the MUSICAL fireworks show! The soundtrack included Dirty Dancings “She’s like the wind”, Shakiras “Waka Waka” song, and Lady Gaga’s “Alexandrjo”!

Fireworks!

The families cleared out, but the beach was still packed with young people ALLLLL night! There was a DJ set with some crazy visuals, and tons of drunk kids running around and swimming in the water! It started raining so Brad and I went to explore the boardwalk a bit! Around 4am we were back on the beach and ready to sleep! We laid out our blanket and slept in the bright lights with a group of guys playing the bongo drums and chanting Spanish songs until 6am! The beach was TRASHED…i mean COVERED in trash! People were out with metal detectors and trash bags picking up lost belongings. Brad and I did wake up with 2 guys sitting practically on top of us…probably trying to get in our bag! We had nothing on us though and the camera was wrapped around my wrist and tucked in my clothes so we shooed them off and went back to sleep! Then we were woken around 8 or 9 by a masssive truck cleaning off the sand that probably would have run right over us ha, so we moved up to the grass and went back to sleep! Not much fazed us and there were tons of other people sleeping on the beach too!

Next time we woke up, the beach was spotless and actually really pretty! The water was still a bit dirty, but still swimable! We eventually got up and found ourselves some somewhat covered showers, washed off with soap and all, brushed our teeth and hair, and were on our way feeling refreshed and good as ever!

Malagueta!

Flamenca!

We knew today was the official first day of the festivities, and by the time we got to the old town, it was already a drunk fest by 4pm! It was unreal and unlike anything we have really seen! First of all, the streets were just FULL and tons of women and children were dressed up in Flamenco outfits! There were random break outs in Flamenco dancing in the streets and alleyways and everyone had flowers in their hair. The teenagers all made matching colorful outfits with names and sayings on their shirts! Then all the plazas were packed with food and drink vendors….drink really! The ground was SO sticky from spilled drinks that i had to cling onto my flip flops and lift my leg up off the ground to get unstuck! Trash everywhere! And a crowd you could barely breathe in! We were not on the same level so walked down the street to find another plaza….same story! More drunk people than i have ever seen! We watched a mom puke on the side of the street! At least she was dressed classy! ha!

I looked at Brad and said….Shizen…we just need to get a drink and get on their level. So we bought ourselves the famous Vino de Tinto which is basically Sangria in a big platic cup! You can buy all your drinks by the litre and for only a couple euros (hence the drunkeness)! We found a corner to post up on and watched the nuttiness! Eventually we explored our way to the beach to grab some grub and enjoy the sunset!

joining the festivities!

The beach was quiet and tranquil with everybody on the other side of town for the festival, but we did notice an abundance of backpackers hanging around! As soon as it was dark, everyone started setting up tents and mats and all sorts of goodness. I think we all congregated together for safety and it was a much better sleep the second night!

Sunset on the beach!

With so many hours on the beach, we had done some reading in the Lonely Planet book and found out about the Almeria Coast which apparently has beautiful beaches. So off we were the next afternoon. Goodbye Malaga…you showed us how crazy Spaniards can be!