The month of July comes to an end and with it the Feria de Julio – within which we visited the jazz festival (see article on the next page). In the decade of 1870 the emerging valencian bourgeoisie creates the Feria de Julio with the pretext to follow the precedent “corregudes de Sant Jaume”. With the heat coming the bourgeoisie and middle class abandoned the capital of the river Turia to go to cooler places. The merchants, who wanted to keep the valencians in the city, agreed with the city council on the creation of the annual Feria de Julio in 1970. With the years, the programme of the festival became more and more important and as well parades as expositions, etc. were included.

In august, the city seems emptier, everybody is on vacation – especially in holiday homes in the surroundings of Valencia. The tendency of the rest of Europe to shorten the vacations and escape the every day routine more often still can’t be perceived a lot.

Nevertheless, there are more and more festivals and events going on, with highlights like the cinemas in the port and on the beach of Malvarrosa, the festival “Sagunt a Escena” and the “Feria de Agosto” in Xàtiva, with theatre, music (parades, international folkloric examples, …) and fun activities for all age groups with verbenas (stalls selling drinks with music) and fireworks: a cultural and amusement programme which is not only interesting, amusing and diverse, but is also situated in particularly spectacular surroundings like the roman arena in Sagunto and the castle of Xàtiva.

One of the most famous ceremonial acts in the province of Valencia is the Tomatina in Buñol. Every last Wednesday in august the thousands of people coming from all quarters prepare for the big battle with the tomatoes. Within one hour, from noon until one o’clock in the afternoon, seven trucks unload their charge of 10 tons of ripe tomatoes for quarrel and amusement of the assistants. In 1945, a coincidental confrontation with tomatoes between neighbours in Buñol with the years going by turned into a custom around the time of the major celebrations of the locality. Nowadays, it has become the central and most popular event of the celebrations in Buñol.

So there is actually a lot to do in Valencia and its province in the summer, isn’t there?