Feliz Día de los Reyes Magos

Friday, January 6, 2012

As I mentioned yesterday, today is a holiday in all of Spain. That means that the church bells that have been ringing almost non-stop for the last twelve days will once again sound only on Sundays. That will be a welcome relief to these ears.

Yesterday was essentially a day to recover from the previous two days of partying. After a late start we made it to the Central Market before it closed. After stocking up on fruits, vegetables, olives, canned tuna, ham and cheese we wheeled our shopping cart back home. Once we put everything away, we turned our thoughts to lunch. We decided to pay another visit to El Refugio.

It was 3:30 when we walked in and seated ourselves at the table close to the bar. The menu of the day offered some interesting choices and so we made our choices from it. I ordered a salad that featured a variety of lettuces, cucumbers, radishes, feta cheese and grapes. Susan ordered a crujiente that was filled with some wonderfully seasoned duck. For my main course I ordered a Thai curry with langoustines and Susan ordered a lamb kafta. Both were well presented and very tasty. Dessert was a brownie and a pear tart. We ended our meal with coffee and some of the ginger flavored orujo that we had ordered our last visit.

When we left the restaurant at 5:00 Susan headed off to Zahava’s house because the two of them had a movie date. They were off to see “The Iron Lady” with Meryl Streep. They were going to see it at El Cine Babel, which shows all films in their original version. My goal for the late afternoon and evening was to do a lot of nothing. I finished the book I was reading, Siete días en julio, and I watched the Glee Concert film. For the DVD they had added a number of interviews with fans and I would have enjoyed the film more had they been left out so that the rhythm of the concert was not constantly interrupted. In between those two events I decided to go to FNAC and look at printers.

The streets were mobbed because the Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos had just ended. The cabalgata is a traditional parade that always takes place on the Eve of Epiphany. The Three Wise Men parade through the streets along with a number of floats and carriages. The Wise Men throw candy to the spectators who numbered in the thousands this year. Here is a link to some of the photos from yesterday’s event http://www.lasprovincias.es/multimedia/fotos/ultimos/90740-reyes-magos-recorren-valencia-0.html.