FUN-travel: Granada to Chiva & Buñol, Spain
September 4, 2012 by Susan Clarke
Trip Day 48 – Monday, August 27 – Granada to Chiva & Buñol, Spain
What I LIKE
- 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
- 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.