FUN-travel: Granada to Chiva & Buñol, Spain

September 4, 2012 by  

Trip Day 48 – Monday, August 27 – Granada to Chiva & Buñol, Spain

Buñol Plaza de Puebla

What I LIKE

Cid – Street for La Tomatina

  • up and ready to go to next big adventure!
  • (same coffee, fruit, sandwich to-go experience)
  • 10:30 head out
  • drive looks a lot like the mountains close to Yuma, AZ
  • make good time
  • arrive 4:15
  • drive to Buñol takes 10 mins
  • 1st stop – beer break
  • 2nd stop – Buñol Hotel & ask about La Tomatina & getting a balcony
  • very helpful young women @ front desk tells us about the Paella Cook-off  happening @ 7 PM
  • town is terraced on a steep hill
  • snake down streets
  • find the castle, the church, the main square – Plaza de Puebla
  • 6:45 – need to eat – find pizza place – mediocre at best but I’m really hungry
  • 7:15 – walk one block to street by the park, over four blocks long, lined on both sides with families & groups cooking their paella
  • consists of sand on the pavement to create fire pit, stack of firewood, a metal stand to make stove, & big round metal pans of varying sizes with handles (like a huge wok with the bottom cut flat)
  • unlike anything I’ve ever seen!

What I DIDN”T LIKE

Paella Cook-off

  • have to drive 330 miles
  • no luck finding a balcony

FF (FUN-fact) – The tomato fight has been a strong tradition in Buñol since 1944 or 1945. No one is completely certain how this event originated.

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