Los Reyes


Spain loves the Three Kings Day more than Christmas. It is a Christian celebration, a.k.a. Epiphany, that I was fairly ignorant of until a few weeks ago. The celebrations started on our first full day in Spain and involved a huge parade through the centre of town. We know we're special but even this was a warmer welcome than we expected. The centre of town was at a standstill, marvelling at our arrival to Valencia. It was reminiscent of the Carnaval thrown when we arrived in Brazil.

There were floats full of adults and children throwing sweets at the huge crowds of people. It was delightful to watch and ended with an address from the Three Kings to the thousands of little people who stood waiting in a wild frenzy. 
The kings declared "You shall be good kids! You shall tidy your rooms! You shall eat vegetables!" and everyone went wild.

We noticed how many toddlers there were just out and about at midnight on a Friday. Whether this is a holiday thing or a Spanish thing remains to be seen.

The next day was a public holiday and this is the day when kids are given their presents - a whole week after Christmas. 

So far our time in Spain has highlighted the friendiness, party-loving attitude, and intense Catholicism that exists in a large portion of the population. This combination is going to lead to a lot of interesting experiences and we shall be reporting on them with the the usual candor and amusement.


Christmas markets were still up in January for Los Reyes!


So many people!


First tapas while we hid from the crowds.


Seconds after this photo was taken, one of the stilt walkers stacked and fell over. She was okay.
The traditional cake that comes with a crown!


Ice skating in the sunshine in 15 degrees.
Next we will be diving back in time to 2014, when we had two wonderful weeks in Italy.

Stay tuned mis amigos.