The Cabanyal

The Cabanyal is a fascinating area of Valencia, down by the beach and historically is where the fishermen and gipsys lived.  It is a poor area and in parts is very poverty stricken, but there is a very strong sense of community which is very apparent.  But in any other country it would have been registered as a place of historical importance and a planning regulations and building rules would have been slapped on it.

But No... not in Spain until recently.  This was related to me by Spanish people, so they realise the importance of the place.  But unfortunately the damage has been done.

It is full of lovely small houses, many in dreadful states, but many maintained, colourful and covered in tiles.

The place of course now has a dilemma.  In the past houses have been allowed to just fall down, so many of the street have gaps in them.  Over the past thirty years developers have had free reign to do what they like, and have done.  There are some monumentally ugly buildings now not in keep with the rest of the properties.  The locals want to keep their community  but can't afford to buy or do up the houses easily.  The only people who do at the moment, are the ones with money, and they upgraded the house, which are lovely, but of course it is turning into a trendy area and the house prices are going.  Which of course means the poorer people will eventually be pushed out.  I know it is the way of the world and happening everywhere.

Anyway, it is a fabulous place to wander around, poor but interesting and the people are very friendly,

We then discovered Casa Montana.  I had heard of it but we happened to walk past and found a complete gem of a bodega and tapas restaurant.  The best tapas in Valencia, and we came back three more times during our stay.

The wine was served out of barrels, as well as Vermouth, which I love.  You could take in your own bottles and come away with a litre of Vermouth for five euros.  The wine was lovely and two euros a glass and the tapas was delicious.  Then a walk on the beach to walk it off.

During Fallas we went back to the area and it was lovely to see what the locals did during the festival.

Ninots - I will talk about these later

This made me laugh - Give your child a happy childhood, but drive your parents completely bonkers