La Tomatina – Valencia 30th August

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Posted and filed under Travel and Tourism.

La Tomatina. Maybe you have heard the name and wondered what it was. Spain has all sorts of crazy fiestas for fun and this is just one of them. Bunol (pronounced Bunyol), just forty kilometres from Valencia, is the home of this amazing Fiesta, the culmination of a week-long festival in honour of the town’s patron saint. 8,500 residents welcome a further 30,000 people to their lovely town to take part in a huge food fight.  

Other than that they say it is for the town’s patron saint, there is no other religious connection whatsoever to La Tomatina.  Held every year on the last Wednesday of August (30th August), people travel from around the globe to take part.

Sometime after 11 am, the madness starts with a burst from a water cannon, although tradition dictates the mayhem only begins once one brave tomato thrower has claimed a prized local ham from the top of a thirty-foot pole, greased and slippery, an impossible task.

The owners of cafes, shops and other businesses use giant sheets to protect their premises from the hordes of people about to paint their town red. From the back of the open trailers official starters open fire on anybody within range, retaliation is instant and extremely messy, and anything moving is considered a fair game with tomatoes galore.

An hour or so later, the combatants lick off quite a lot of tomato juice, spit out the pips and then squelch off to the local river, where the organisers provide shower facilities.  As usual in Spain, the day after this annual craziness it’s as though nothing happened, Bunol goes back to sleep and resembles any other quaint little inland town.

Accommodation is limited locally, so it’s better to make your way to Valencia, stay overnight and make your way to Bunol by one of the many local buses and trains.  And then enjoy an unforgettable time there.  Here is the website http://latomatina.info/en/

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