Valencia, no longer the ugly duckling! This city is all grown up into a beautiful and graceful swan. All eyes are on Valencia, so much so that some people might ask Madrid-who?, or Barza-who? When the names of the other two major Spanish cities are spoken in Valencia, they are uttered in hushed tones, because Valencia's time is now.
There are so many things taking place all at once it seems. The city itself is in renaissance and several of its satellite towns have undergone makeovers so as not to be recognizable from their former selves. Whole blocks of casitas, (little houses) have been torn down to make way for super apartment blocks. In one example, once open land is now home to sixteen thousand homes. We stand back in awe and ask where are all the people going to come from to occupy them, and then, as if by magic all the lights go on and the developers are off to repeat the same thing somewhere else.
One success story involved a block of ultra-modern smart apartments that were being marketed off-plan. The average price was a cool million euros. Reportedly, the project sold out in a day. Hey Valencia, what's going on?
What about all those road works! Did every decision maker wake up on the same day and decide that it was time to get started on his project. There are very few routes free of being dug up, carved out, paved over, and just generally in a nightmarish state. The town of La Pobla de Vallbona is one of the hardest hit. It is difficult to get into, to motor through it, or to get out of it. A lack of planning is what it is, but these things too will pass. I'm sure its not just Valencia, everybody throughout the country probably has a story to tell.
Within one year there have been some exciting events of world importance taking place here. First, there were the preliminaries to the America's Cup. That caused Valencia, a city that normally turned its back on the sea to do an about face. The entire waterfront has been upgraded, and is now a real showplace. Then came the visit of the Pope to the city, and that brought families from all around the world. So many visitors that they had to be housed in schools and other public buildings. A great many of them simply slept outside.
Valencia normally has a full programme of events throughout the year. During the month of March more than two million visitors come to enjoy the Festival of Fallas. This is the erection of massive monuments depicting almost any subject, and at the end of the festival they are burnt where they stand. Last year, one such entry cost in excess of 600,000 euros to construct. It all went up in smoke, believe it or not!
Easter is a favourite time of mine as the Easter Pageant is enacted by various cofradias, (brotherhoods), but in the town of Benetusser they produce a spectacular event in period costume wherein they re-enact the trial of Christ and the Crucifixion with the whole town having been turned into a sound stage.
Out at the racetrack at Cheste it had been a busy year, and talk of Formula One racing coming to Valencia was making the rounds. Then came January 15th, 2007, and the fantasy became a reality . Formula One was quite literally in the middle of town with all the bosses and politicos and Fernando Alonso and the McLaren Team to announce the beginning of yet another new chapter in Valencia's story.
What a glorious event that was, although I don't know the half of it. You had to be one of the selected few invited ones to have sipped the champagne, or cava as it is called here. Otherwise, you got to stand ten-deep along a course to watch the roll out of the new car. Fernando went past us at 150 km/h, which was so fast, if you only had a view between heads you didn't even know what colour the car was. Very dramatic! Even better that having a full-on view as you really felt the speed and power.
Well, what could be better than being able to watch Formula One racing around the streets of Valencia? How about driving one yourself? I know, I didn't believe it myself, but apparently there are some people who call themselves PureSport who can make that happen for you. Now, unfortunately, I'm not being paid to promote their programme, nor am I doing so in the hope of a freebie, (because it would be a hope in vain), but this is so off the wall, not to write about it would be just plain silly.
Fundamentally, this company offers the company perk of all time. The price for a group of 18 is approximately 45,000 euros, or 2,500 euros per person. However, it is an all-day event that immerses the participant in a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so where money is no object those who dare will surely feel they got good value. Oh, and by the way, if you're on your own they can accept singles.
So, sell, sell, sell all you sales groups. As for me, if the folks at PureSport appreciate the mention I would settle for simply getting to sit in the car and having my picture taken. If that happens I will share it with you all. Now that's not too much to hope for, is it?
Copyright (c) 2007 - Eugene Carmichael
