Sponsorship or support on this goal kindly provided by: (click on banner below)
Graham and family were very kind to accomodate me, and came to the festival to throw tomatoes too.
Tomatina Festival
5 - Completed
Bunol, near Valencia Spain - End of August
Legend:
The Tomatina Festival is a favourite on the backpacker circuit, and I have seen it featured many times in travel articles and on TV shows.
It all looks very messy, and great fun. This year a good friend of mine is going, so I plan to meet up with her there. My only concern is how do you take photos and avoid the camera getting covered in tomato juice?
Date: 27th August 2008
Place: Bunol, near Valencia, Spain
Help needed:-
Any hints and tips on accomodation near to or in Bunyol?
Anyone travelling down from the the south of France towards the end of August?
Related Blogs
How exciting! Main flights now booked! Thursday, July 24, 2008
I was woken early this morning by a call from my very helpful travel representative with a view to sorting out my main flights for the forthcoming trip.
I have been procrastinating a bit, as the house has not sold, but I finally decided, "What the heck? I'm just going anyway, I can leave the house and paperwork in the hands of the estate agent and settlement agent. Should be fine!" I hope it will.
So my first flight is now booked for Sunday 3rd August, just over a week away, from Perth to Dubai, where I arrive early on Monday morning. From there I fly to Nice in France, and have a few weeks in Europe, including the Tomatina Festival in Spain. After that I fly from Madrid to London, have a few weeks in the UK, and head to Germany for beer-swilling at Oktoberfest.
From Germany I fly to New York on 6th October, and am free to travel the States for a few months. My next flight is booked for January from Honolulu to Tokyo, and then eventually back to Australia in February.
I am now officially excited!
I did a bit of work on the map page today, and figured out how to add a Google map, with lines and dates for flights, and pins for the approximate times and dates for achieving the first few goals. You can see the map page here: http://www.100goals100weeks.com/details_Where.php
Over the next couple of days I will try to get a bit more information on the map, the calendar and some more details in each of the individual goals that are planned for the early stages.
There are join-in opportunities coming up if you are in the vicinity. Do you want to come along on any of these? Ski Dubai - planned for Tues 5th August, maybe around 2pm Big Bungee Jump - planned for Sat 9th August (to be confirmed) Dive at Christ of the Deep - planned for Wed 20th August (tbc) Tomatina Festival - happens on 27th August
If you are planning any trips, take a look at these guys, fantastic efficient service, and excellent prices: www.airtreks.com
Fifth goal completed! Tomatina! Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Yesterday I bought a couple of items that would be invaluable for today. The white t-shirt was a bargain at 2 Euros, and the waterproof camera would be a very useful.
We set off in good time for Bunol, about thirty kilometers from Valencia, and found a place to park the car, even though there were many more arriving all the time. Graham and Maria were my companions on this goal, and we walked down towards the centre of the town with the growing crowds.
The atmosphere was very festive, and there was an excitement in the air. The closer we got to the centre of town, the denser the crowds became, and we continued to worm our way through towards the centre square. It was packed there, and the crowd was surging back and forth, and there was still almost an hour to go before the official start at 11am.
The town centre was alot more closed-in than I had imagined, and the narrow streets were packed full - it was almost impossible to move anywhere, and in the surges I lost Graham and Maria. I eventually made my way to the square just off the street, and a couple of steps up I found a bit of space, and eventually managed to bag a great vantage point on a wall.
The atmosphere was electric, the crowd singing and chanting, TV cameras on many of the rooftops, and a helicopter circling around. From my vantage point I eventually spotted Graham and Maria, who weren't far away, and kept an eye on where they were in the surges as the excitement mounted.
At 11am there was a big bang to start the celebrations, and tomatoes started to rain down from people on the rooftops and balconies.
Before long a huge tomato-filled lorry made it's way along the packed street, and people aboard it threw tomatoes in every direction. The crowd went wild, and watching the lorry drive through the packed street where a minute before it was impossible to move, I wondered how nobody would be run over.
The lorry was the first of six to pass through the centre, and each one caused an increace in the tomato throwing frenzy. When the fourth lorry tipped up and emptied tons of tomato semi-puree into the streets the scene took on incredible new proportions, the air being filled with tomato juice and semi-pulped tomatoes. It was amazing and hilarious to see.
The wall was not the best place to stand, as I felt I stuck out a bit as a target, and when the Irish guy in front of me, who was acting as a great shield, gave up and jumped into the crowd, I soon gave up and followed suit, re-joining Graham and Maria.
Eventually we made our way right into the centre of the melee, and found ourselves wading ankle-deep in tomato juice. It was incredibly packed, and as the crowd moved towards the edge of town it was impossible not to be swept along with everyone else. At times it was possible to simply lift up your feet and be carried along.
There was another big bang, and the hour-long food fight was over, but that did not seem to slow anyone down one bit. Eventuallly we got to a less packed area as the crowd thinned out, and happily made our way back up the hill out of the town.
The pictures here are off my digital camera, which I only used when I felt it was relatively safe to do so. The pictures from the thick of the action from the waterproof disposable are now being processed, and I will post them here when I get them later in the week.
What an amazing experience! It is well worth going, but one word of advice I would give - take some cheap, but sturdy shoes, and be prepared to lose them. Flip-flops are not the best footwear, and I eventually ended up barefoot, it seemed much safer, although my toes are pretty bruised!
More Tomatina pix. Monday, September 1, 2008
I bought a waterproof camera for the Tomatina, and left it to be developed in Valencia. Graham has just emailed me copies of the pictures. I took a few pix right in the middle of the tomato throwing crowd. Here is an idea of how packed and crazy it was:-
Isn't it ironic, don't you think? Wednesday, September 10, 2008
A little too ironic....
The author of the book "100 Things To Do Before You Die!" just died on 17th August.
Unfortunately Dave Freeman had only completed about half of the list that he and co-author Neil Teplica had created.
And how did he die? Running with the bulls in Pamplona? A terrible crash in the Paris-Dakar Rally? Or drowning in the World Bog-Snorkelling Championships? No, none of these. He fell over at home, banged his head and died!
It makes you wonder if this whole writing-a-list thing is tempting fate just a little bit too much.
It does however bring into sharp focus how short a time we all really do have, and how we never know what surprises might be waiting just around the corner. For me it re-inforces my belief that doing what you really want to do, and living the life you really want to live is extremely important, and why wait until later, get on with it now!
Here is Dave and Neil's list of 100 things to do before you die! It is all travel and event related, rather than being personal goal related, as my list of 100 goals is, but there are quite a few of the same places or events on the two lists.
1 Eight-day dog sled race, Alaska, USA 2 La Fiesta de la Virgen de la Candelaria, Argentina 3 Racing at Royal Ascot, Berkshire 4 Devil dancers of Corpus Christi, Venezuela 5 Calgary Stampede rodeo, Canada 6 Vernal equinox at Mayan pyramid, Mexico 7 Maha Kumbh Mela, Hindu pilgrimage, India 8 Academy awards, Los Angeles 9 Vienna Opera Ball, Austria 10 Running of the Bulls, Pamplona, Spain 11 Land-diving — primitive bungee jumping — Vanuatu, South Pacific 12 Bastille Day, Paris 13 La Tomatina tomato fight, Bunol, Spain 14 National Hollerin’ Contest, South Carolina, USA 15 Cannes Film Festival, France 16 World cowpat throwing championship, Oklahoma, USA 17 Nude Night Surfing, Bondi Beach, Australia 18 Paris Air Show, France 19 Mardi Gras carnival, New Orleans, USA 20 Venice Biennale art festival, Italy 21 Polo finals, Buenos Aires, Argentina 22 Cheese rolling, Gloucestershire 23 Roswell UFO site, New Mexico, USA 24 Lent Carnaval, Brazil 25 Monarch butterfly migration, Mexico 26 Navajo native American fair, USA 27 Holy week celebrations, Peru 28 Junkanoo street festival, Bahamas 29 Up-Helly-Aa fire festival, Shetland Isles 30 St Joseph’s feast day, Valencia, Spain 31 New Year’s Eve in Times Square, New York, USA 32 Voodoo pilgrimage party, Haiti 33 Chelsea Flower Show, London 34 Icarus Cup free-flying festival, France 35 Day of the Dead funeral celebration, Mexico 36 New Orleans Jazz Festival, USA 37 Tough Guy contest, Staffordshire 38 Yom Kippur at the Western Wall, Jerusalem, Israel 39 National Rodeo Finals, USA 40 Snow Festival, Sapporo, Japan 41 Oktoberfest beer festival, Munich, Germany 42 Anastenaria firewalking ceremony, Greece 43 Palio horse race, Siena, Italy 44 Testicle festival, Montana, USA 45 Extreme skiing, New Zealand 46 Monaco Grand Prix 47 Queen’s Day party, Holland 48 Ganesh Chaturthi, Hindu festival, India 49 Battle of Gettysburg re-enactment, Pennsylvania, USA 50 Fatima pilgrimage, Portugal 51 Hogmanay, Scotland 52 Art Car Weekend, Houston, USA. 53 Basque Herri Kilorak sports festival, Spain 54 Cannabis Cup, Amsterdam, Holland 55 Marathon des Sables, Morocco 56 Annual rollercoaster convention, USA 57 Autumn Love Parade, Berlin, Germany 58 New Year’s Eve on Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 59 Venice Carnevale, Italy 60 Hounen Matsuri fertility festival, Komaki, Japan 61 Custer’s Last Stand re-enactment, Montana, USA 62 Pushkar Camel Fair, India 63 Near Death Pilgrimage, Las Nieves, Spain 64 Paris-Dakar Rally 65 Rath Yatra: Hindu chariot festival, India 66 World Bog Snorkelling Championships, Wales 67 North American Rainbow Gathering, USA 68 Nobel Prize ceremonies, Stockholm, Sweden 69 Sanja Matsuri music festival, Tokyo, Japan 70 Beer Can Regatta, Darwin, Australia 71 Hajj and Eid-al-Adha, Mecca, Saudi Arabia 72 Oil wrestling tournament, Kirkpinar, Turkey 73 Mevlana Festival, Turkey 74 Rattlesnake Derby, Oklahoma, USA 75 Bisket Jatra, New Year, Nepal 76 Illumination of Temple of Abu Simbel, Lake Nasser, Egypt 77 Spamarama luncheon meat festival, Texas, USA 78 Fez Festival of World Sacred Music, Morocco 79 Shuni-e Buddhist ceremony, Nara, Japan 80 Namaqualand Wildflower Bloom, South Africa 81 Pageant of the Masters, Laguna Beach, California 82 Great Serengeti Migration, Tanzania 83 Incwala festival of fruits, Swaziland 84 Holi creation festival, India 85 Greenwich Village Hallowe’en Parade, New York 86 Paro Tsechu Buddhist festival, Bhutan. 87 Dragon Boat Championship, Hong Kong 88 Naadam sporting festival, Mongolia 89 Punkin Chunkin, world catapult championship, Delaware, USA 90 Kalibo Ati-Atihan masked ball, Philippines 91 Chung Yuan ghost month Festival, Taiwan 92 Homowo Tribal Celebration, Ghana 93 Burning Man Project, Nevada, USA 94 Ngan Kin Jeh vegetarian festival, Thailand 95 Tet Nguyen Dan, Vietnamese New Year 96 World Extreme Skiing Championships, Alaska, USA 97 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Sydney, Australia 98 World championship cockroach races, Australia 99 Great Singsing festival at Mt Hagen, Papua New Guinea 100 Nyepi: Silent New Year’s Eve, Indonesia
Reproduced from 100 Things to Do Before You Die: Travel Events You Just Can't Miss (Cooper Square Press) by Dave Freeman and Neil Teplica
Hi Graham, Yep, think all the pips have gone, but the t-shirt still has a strange tomatoey smell ! Paris was fantastic, goal 6 was ticked off, see the blog for details and pix: http://100goals100weeks.blogspot.com/20 ... leted.html Thanks again for the hospitality, had a great time! Good luck with your project - hope all is going to plan. Cheers, Ian
Bunol, near Valencia Spain - End of August
spanish-fiestas.com
