Valencia, La Tomatina, Fanatics

I'm currently sitting on a train to Barcelona after having quite possibly the greatest 3 days on my trip so far! I have had just a fantastic time and am so glad to have been able to a part of it. So, I’ll take us back to the start.

I arrived in Valencia via bus from Madrid on Monday afternoon and headed out to my campsite by the sea. I’m going to the festival with an Australian Tour company, The Fanatics. It’s run by Aussies who are working in London and work for Fanatics over the summer aka don’t get paid but get all transfers, travel, accommodation, food, and entry covered.

I’ve chosen the campsite and to stay in a tent. I have no sleeping bag, no mat, no anything really haha. But it was just awesome. I had a tent to myself. I was up the back away from most people, just in a corner with some people who became good friends. I had a tent to myself, hired a matt, used my picnic blanket as a blanket and piled up some clothes as a pillow. My never before used headlamp became a light at night.

New Friends:

Rose – NZ, lives in London
Konrad – Aussie, lives in London
Woody – Aussie, lives in London
Scott – Aussie, travelling around
Adam – Aussie, travelling around
Blanka – Hungarian, travelling around

Our campsite is a 20 min bus ride from the city of Valencia and a 5 min walk to the beach. We have a pool, a shop and bar that provides food on site. And we must be on a cycle route, because as we wait for the erratically serviced bus everyday, we watched as cyclist after cyclist peddled past us.

Monday
Once I finally settled down. I had some food and took a walk along the beach. The sun doesn’t set till about 9:30pm so at 7pm its still very light. Well wasn’t a greeted with an array of naked men everywhere. I don’t think I was on the nudist section cause there was loads of kids and women, who weren’t wearing tops, lying around too.

The blokes were just chilling around in groups, smoking, having a laugh, all starkers hahaha. So funny. And nearly every person on site mentioned this when the returned for the beach. On Monday the sea was flat as could be and just beautiful.

Tonight, Fanatics hosted a welcome party, there were deals on drinks and a small DJ set up. Lots of Australian music was played. It was great fun. Except for when one girl stole my G&T, I gave her the biggest stink eye every time I saw her afterwards. Bastard! How unaustralian!!

Tuesday
So that was Monday. I had all good intensions to get up earlish on Tuesday. Maybe go for a run, or a swim in the ocean before heading to town for breakfast and a 10:30am walking tour. After crawling out of bed a 9am and standing at the bus station at 10:10am I figured this plan hadn’t worked haha.

But, a company called Tour Me Out, clearly thought this would happen enough to schedule a 12pm walking tour – woohoo! So I had breakfast / lunch in the Old Town before meeting the group for the walking tour. It was great! I learnt a lot about Valencia and the Spanish history.

After the tour was over, I walked around for a bit, before heading back to the campsite for a swim in the ocean. It was really choppy today so there were lots of waves, which reminded me of home.

Tonight all the Fanatics, the ones at the campsite and staying in the hostel in the city, were joining together at a bar in Valencia, so around 400 Australians were descending on Old Town.

It was great fun! We all had to wear our Fanatic shirts, which were bright yellow. I went in with my tent neighbours and their friends who were staying in the dorms. What a great find! I spent the rest of my time hanging out with this group.

I decided to go and find some dinner and wasn’t that mission. After getting lost for an hour and finally finding my way back to the group. I ran into some Fanatics who were about to sit down to some food. I asked if I could join them.

So we sat there and decided on the daily menu, 1 entrée, 1 main and a drink each for E13. We were all keen on the paella given that apparently Valencia is the birth place of the dish. But we were messed around with. After ordering they took about 20 mins to come and say that they only had 3 chicken paellas and 4 seafood paellas left, one of us would need a different dish. One guy volunteered to take one for the team and opted for a new dish. All good. Then about another 20 mins later 2 of the 8 entrees appeared. 30 mins later the waitress returned saying that there was a mix up in the kitchen they thought that all had been served and now they had no croquettes left – all the remain entrees were croquettes. We decided on new entrees and waited again. They gave us free sangria at this point. After a while later 3 of the of 6 remaining entrees came out, more waiting 2 of the remaining 3 – even though they were the same dish appeared. Two and half hours later, after we watched all the people around us sit down, order, eat, pay and leave, we cancelled the mains, and made our way to the golden arches. After sitting down at 9:30pm we missed the first bus back to the campsite and still hadn’t eaten. It was rather funny, maybe that was all the sangria though haha. So back to the campsite, having missed out on most of the partying at the club waiting for food, and into bed to get ready for La Tomatina!!!

Wednesday
After returning from the festival and removing the gunk from my eyes, they did not appreciate all the tomato juices, I went to my oven tent, pulled out my picnic blanket and found a spot under a shady tree for some nap time.

For dinner last night I went into town with Rose, Konrad and Woody, also known as Simon. We walked around for a while trying to find somewhere with paella. We selected what we thought was a good place, but had very bad paella. It was over cooked and not very tasty. Oh well, we had it. Then it was time for ice-cream before returning to the campsite for one last night.

Thursday
This morning we had to leave the camp at 10am. Rose, Konrad, Woodsy, Scott and I were joined by Gulia and Gabby and headed into town for some breakfast and wifi. We found, what we thought was going to be a dodgy joint, particularly when they told us that they didn’t have a menu what did we want haha. But it turned out to be fab! For E6 we each got this large baguette with Spanish tortilla (omelette) on the inside, a couple of teas / coffees and a slice of chocolate and pumpkin cake that tasted like lamington to share. It was awesome!

All of us, except for Scott are headed to Barcelona today and tomorrow. Scott told us about a cooking class he did were you first visit a food market to buy the ingredients and then go to the kitchen to make paella and sangria. So I think Wood, Gulia, Gabby and I are going to do that on Saturday night. I’m looking forward to it!

Fanatics are a great company to go with. They are a little too laid back, but they run a really good show and are pretty much always first to any festival I’ve seen them at, which means always a great spot!

I have had a great time here. For once, something I have thought for a very long time has lived up to its hype 100%.

Until next time …

Where I stayed
Camping Coll Vert - Playa de Pinedo, Valencian Country, Spain

Great spot, really close to the beach. Bathrooms were very clean. Bar and well equipped shop on site.Læs mere