I highly recommend La Llantia Dorada (Golden Tear) for a relaxed and enjoyable evening of good interesting food.

Tucked on a little street just off the Plaza de la Virgen (blink and you'll miss it), the menu is an eclectic fusion of flavours, Mediterranean, Asian and Caribbean.

We went for the Menú Degustación, excellent value at 25€ a head (including an aperitif and a bottle of house wine per couple Monday to Thursday) six interesting and tasty courses started with a delicious little soup and then a salad whose main ingredient was a wonderfully smoky Tandoori style chicken. The main courses include such delights as a Caribbean style fish lasagna with vegetables and avocado, and a chicken dish with star anise and basmati rice. But each week brings new surprises.

The wine list is small but the house wine is very drinkable, and in addition to the free bottle offer, there is also the offer Monday-Thursday of you paying 2.50€ for your first glass and they keep topping you up throughout the meal at no extra charge. Minimum order is one main course per person. Thursdays there is live music to accompany your meal.

The lunchtime deal is an absolute bargain at 10€ a head (15€ on Saturdays) and in the evening there is not only the 25€ menú but a lighter meal (one less dish) for 16€.

From time to time there are themed dinners on offer - Jazz, Medieval, Renaissance, with live music and a menu inspired by the period and, as you would expect, ethnic evenings including Indian, Caribbean and Latin American.

C/ Hierba 4 (next to Plaza de la Virgen)
Reservations 96 391 2716
Lunch: Thursday-Saturdayday 14:00h-16:00h
Dinner: Monday-Saturday 21:00h-23.30h
Have a drink in Laboratorio before your meal - owned by the owner of La LLantia and of the wonderful Café de las Horas -
<a href="thisisvalencia.com/laboratorio.html

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This lovely festival returns to Burjassot, just a short metro ride north of the city, for its fifth year. Music, theatre, dance, clowns and jugglers make up more than 30 mostly free performances throughout the ten days. There is also an excellent medieval fair that winds through the plaza Ayuntamiento and up to the Patio. Absolutely not to be missed!

Burjassot is about a ten minute journey on Line One (Yellow) of the Metro from the city centre. You'll find much more information on this and other great events - including restaurant reviews and listings for bars, clubs and restaurants at www.thisisvalencia.com

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We are standing in searing 38ºC heat in a small Spanish village square with goggles on. We are amongst a staggering 30,000 people and are being doused with water, buckets of it, from the flats above. Meanwhile, there are people trying to climb a greasy pole to reach a Serrano ham at the top.
BANG! A cannon fires.

The crowd roars and dumper trucks arrive, tipping tomatoes into the street. The crowd surges, grabbing tomatoes and hurling them at anything in sight. Within minutes we are ankle deep in tomatoes, water and assorted t-shirts. All three are also hitting us from all sides.

This is the madness that is La Tomatina, the biggest, messiest food fight in the world. For just one hour, the streets are filled with half-naked people covered in the sticky smelly mess. Then, the cannon fires once again and the wonderful Tomatina is over for another year and the cleanup begins.

Just where did it all begin? The story goes that one day in the 1940s a resident of this little town was walking across the town hall square singing, badly, and through a makeshift megaphone. Market stallholders and shoppers expressed their views of his bad singing by hurling tomatoes at him and a salad fight ensued. It was such fun that they decided to do it annually. It has survived bannings and public uprisings over the years to become one of the best known of the Spanish Fiestas of the year.

Oh, and why the goggles? Just try rubbing squashed tomato in your eyes!
Long live La Tomatina!

Buñol, Comunitat Valenciana, Spain
www.thisisvalencia.com/latomatina.html

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Nit in Vela is Valencia's answer to the White Nights that have taken pace in other European cities, such as Rome, Paris, Madrid and Barcelona in recent years.

On the 31st of March, from 8pm, for over eight hours several of the major thoroughfares and plazas, and particularly the Rio Turia, Valencia's wonderful Park, will see over thirty spectaculars. From theatre to music to dance to acrobatics and fireworks. It's all to celebrate the beginning of the America's Cup, which takes place from April to July in the port.

The historic centre of Valencia, For much more information on the event and all things Valencia. www.thisisvalencia.com/newinvalencia.html

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Up to 2 million visitors in Fallas to watch some of the most incredible firework displays, both day and night.

Yes, daytime fireworks, or Máscletas, a display of noise and smoke mainly, so loud you are advised to keep your mouth open to avoid bursting your eardrums!

To see examples of a Mascletà, click the link, if you are not at work, turn the volume up to experience them properly!

www.thisisvalencia.com/fallas-thefirewo.html

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The 15th of March sees the beginning, in Valencia, of what has to be one of the most spectacular and exciting five days in the whole of Europe.

Fallas is the most extraordinary festival, celebrated only in the Comunidad de Valencia and mainly in the city itself. Supposedly originating from a time way back when carpenters would chuck out old offcuts of wood into the street and set fires to welcome spring - the festival has grown into a feast for all the senses.

www.thisisvalencia.com/fallas-intro.html or for a really in depth look at Fallas www.thisisvalencia.com/news4.html

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