Valencia – Market, Fun and Beauty

First the Market: our tour guide of today, Karin, walked us through the oldtown of Valencia, to tell us interesting and fun stories about traditions and trades, history and habits. We visited the market, which was not only a beautiful example of the Modernist style (that we saw in Ålesund, Norway and Soller, Mallorca), it was also the cleanest market we have ever seen. No garbage, no blood or unidentified gooey stuff on the floor. Everything looked appealing and delicious!

Then the FUN: Pelota is a game that reminds me of tennis / squash (racquetball), that is played in a very long rectangle inside court that resembles the narrow city streets where it originated from. And here come a few facts that make Pelota fun: there is no referee. The game is an honor game, so if one team is weaker than the other, the stronger team plays with only 1 player and the weaker team plays with 2 players. The spectators sit on benches inside the playing field. They get cushions, but not to sit on them; they have to be used to protect against the ball. The playing field includes the benches, the walls, ceiling, etc. The ball is handmade of bulls leather, 8 triangles, stuffed with a wooden ball that is wrapped with felt. It has the size of a golf ball. The players don’t use a racquet, they play with their bare hands, that they wrap with playing cards and tape. Retired Pelota players, the Pelota veterans sit in a special section that is sticking into the playing field. During the whole game a guy walks around on the field taking bets on the game. If you want to play Pelota in the USA, you can do so in Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, Texas, Connecticut, Florida and California.

And the Beauty we saw after the game by visiting an exhibition of traditional silk garment producers. The Valencia area was a world famous silk manufacturing location, with Mulberry trees everywhere! But with the competition of the much cheaper cotton, many farmers replaced the Mulberry trees with orange trees. And today the silk manufacturing is done with imported raw silk. And few companies are still doing the weaving, sewing and finishing done here, in Valencia.