The Mascletá

The Crowd Gathers Huge Falla

The mascletá is held in Valencia's largest plaza. It starts at 2 PM every day during Las Fallas. People started gathering at about 1 PM. By 1:30, people were packed in so tight you could barely move.

A huge falla with a musical theme sits aside the central plaza.

The Queen Watches EMTs at the Ready

The queen of the Las Fallas celebration gets to witness the mascletá from a balcony, up above the rest of the crowd.

EMT's were on the ready in case of an accident or health emergency.

Huge Falla Watching From the Balcony

Another view of the huge falla aside the large plaza.

Anyone lucky to have a home or office on the plaza gets to watch from their balconies. By the time the mascletá statred, the balconies on this beautiful old building were jam-packed.

Chris and Jim Huge Crowd

Chris and our friend Jim.

This picture should give you a pretty good idea of the crowd. I would guess there were at least 100,000 people packed into the area where the mascletá took place.

Little Girl Little Girl

A little girl whose family was next to us in the crowd.

The girl lucked out and got a good view!

Jim Little Girl

Jim, enjoying himself.

Another shot of our friend.

David and Chris The Whole Family

Me and Chris having a fun day.

Our Spanish friends had a great day, too!

About to Begin Boom! Boom!

The festivities about to begin...

Boom! Boom! One of the loudest noises I've ever heard ensued. Not very good for photographing, but a great time.


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