Hello!
Welcome to our first newsletter of 2008

I know, we promised them every two to three weeks and its nearing the end of February but the news in Valencia, has been a bit like busses, none for ages and then they all come at once!

So now there is a huge amount happening in the city , And it's not just in Valencia - the spotlight falls first of all on Castellon this month, It is their lovely Fiesta Magdalena. One week of celebration starting this Saturday 23 February.

This Sunday 24 February, is the first official act of Fallas 2008 - All day celebrations climaxing at 8pm with the Crida.

Valencia is host this month to two international televised events, one sportive and one musical.
The World international Indoor Athletics Championships roll into town in the first days of March. And MTV hold the first of four annual Winter Music Festivals at the City of Arts and Sciences.

The great Sorolla exhibition, which is a must see, but very heavily booked is still on at the Bancaja Centre Cultural and now there are other times to see these great works

Lots of excellent live music, classical, opera and rock.

Sorolla
Sorolla is Valencia's most famous of sons .

A revered artist throughout the world, one of his last great works was a massive commission for the Hispanic Society of America in New York. It was to be a series of huge canvasses depicting life in Spain,Visión de España. This commission filled his last years and by his own admission 'exhausted' him, He completed all but one of the canvasses and returned to his home in Madrid, where he died a year later in 1920, whilst painting a portrait in his garden.

This huge series of paintings has been flown over along with many other of his works to mark the complete refurbishment of the Bancaja Cultural Centre in Plaza Tetuan for what has proved to be a huge success. So successful is th exhibition that though it is free admission and you have to book your place to visit, there are long queues throughout the day of people trying to see the paintings,. It is already fully booked until the end of its run on March 31st. The Gallery has now offered a new way to get to see them, White Nights. On Friday and Saturday nights the gallery is open from 11pm to 7am in the morning(last entry 6am). Great! But don't go expecting to waltz in, there are still queues and apparently the best time to go is around 3am!
However, our Barbara took friends from the UK the other day and at our recommendation joined the queue at around 2.30pm, (Valencia's Lunchtime) they only had to queue for 30 minutes and though it was cold, the gallery had thoughtfully provided them with very pleasant music to listen to whilst they waited to enter, and the time flew by!

http://obrasocial.bancaja.es/cultura/exposiciones/sorolla-informacion.aspx - for more information

Valencia Is becoming more and more well-known thoughout the world, Mention the city just a few years ago to most people and they would look blankly at you and try and guess - Italy?

That, of course, is changing. The City of Arts & Sciences first bought the world's renewed attention to Valencia and now it is to star in an MTV spectacular.

MTV have signed the City of Arts & Sciences for 4 years for the MTV Winter Festival. It kicks off on the 05 March with The Cure, supported by HIM and Los Angeles band From First to Last. It will be filmed by MTV and beamed to a potential 207 million viewers around the globe!

it should be a great night and the concert is free! So if you are in Valencia and want to go, better get there early.
You readers in the rest of the world, why not join us from your living room by tuning in to MTV!

More information www.mtv.es

12th IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championships
Valencia is hosting the 12th IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championships from the 7th to the 9th of March at the newly refurbished Velodrome by the Feria De Valencia. It is apparently completely sold out, so the only way to see it will be on Telly too! Double World indoor champion, Meseret Defar, will lead the Ethiopian team.
The venue Palau Velódromo Luis Puig has recently been refurbished to the tune of 3.4 million euros. Originally built in 1992 it is now said to be one of the very best indoor athletics facilities in the world.

Overall area: 12,025.73 square metres
Athletics track:200m ring
Material: chipboard of rubber with polyurethane
Facilities:
1 cycling track
1 athletics 200m track
1 warm-up area for athletics
1 weightlifting area
1 maintenance gymnastic area

More information
http://www.rfea.es/competi/2008valencia

Castellon Fiestas de Magdalena
23 February to 02 March

In the city of Castellon this weekend the Festival Magdalena begins. Sunday is particularly important as the morning starts with the solemn procession of 'pilgrims' carrying canes with green ribbons attached, who walk down from the Ermita Magdalena to the city. This walk, known as la Romería de les Canyes and the Fiesta are said to have originated to celebrate the moving of the city from the Magdalena hills to the Plain on which Castellon now stands, in 1251.

It is a week-long celebration with all sorts of entertainment, fireworks-a-plenty of course, parades, the highlight of which is the Gaiates Parade on Sunday 24th after the pilgrims have returned to the hills, concerts, bullfights, street parties, paellas and even an ofrenda in the grounds and gardens of the church of la Mare de Deu del Lledo.

It is well worth the visit , particularly if you enjoy a more leisurely and parochial fiesta than Fallas.
For the full timetable click here

Films in English at the cinema in Valencia
ANOTHER GREAT month for VOS in the Cinema.
ESPAI
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
Musical based on the songs of the Beatles
BECOMING JANE / CONOCIENDO A JANE AUSTEN
A biographical portrait of a pre-fame Jane Austen and her romance with a young Irishman
ATONEMENT / EXPIACIÓN: MÁS ALLÁ DE L
Based on the British novel by Ian McEwan
INTO THE WILD / HACIA RUTAS SALVAJES
Sean Penn's film about a man who gives up everything to live in the wilderness of Alaska
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN / NOS ES PAÍS PARA VIEJOS
The latest Coen Brothers, nominated for 8 Oscars
ALBATROS
SWEENEY TODD
Tim Burton's latest with Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman
SAVAGE GRACE
Julianne Moore in this story of the murder of Barbara Daly
THE OXFORD MURDERS/ LOS CRIMENES DE OXFORD
John Hurt stars in this elegant thriller
CASSANDRA'S DREAM
Woody Allen Directs Colin Farrel, Ewan MacGregor, Tom Wilkinson
BABEL
IT'S A FREE WORLD / EN UN MUNDO LIBRE
The latest offering from Ken Loach
THIS IS ENGLAND
A troubled boy growing up in England who is befriended by Skinheads.
JUNO
This comedy about a young girl and her pregnancy has become a surprise hit.
IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH / EN EL VALLE DE ELAH
A career officer and his wife work to uncover the truth behind their son's disappearance following his return from a tour of duty in Iraq
THE DARJEELING LIMITED / VIAJE A DARJEELING
3 American brothers who have not spoken to each other in a year and set off on a train voyage across India
IRINA PALM
Marianne Faithfull as a grandmother trying to raise the money to pay for her grandson's medical bills in a very unusual way!.

These films are on at The Ciné Cité Espai and at Babel and Albatros, to see trailers of all these films and information on times and venues - click here

Crida
March is traditionally a busy and crazy month in the city, Fallas frenzy takes hold on the first of the month with the first Mascletas and the streets being prepared for the marquees and the Fallas monuments.

However The Crida is the event that officially marks the start of Las Fallas . It all takes place this Sunday 24 February at 20:00h.

The beautiful and historic Torres de Serranos becomes the meeting point for the fallas commissions, each of them carrying its own banner.

Be sure to get there early as thousands of people will gather to see Valencia's Mayor, Rita Barbèra read the "pregón" and to see this year's Queen of Fallas, the Fallera Mayor! She will be there with her Court and the officials of the city for this proclamation that that Fallas is officially beginning. Then you can expect to hear 'Valencia', the regional anthem for the first of several hundred times over the next few weeks. The evening will end, as usual, with a Castillo - fireworks at their best, after all, this is Valencia!

Make a day of it if you can as all day around the city centre there are events from around 7.30 in the morning!

If you want to know more about Fallas(15-19 March), Arguably Europe's Most Exciting Festival, and Mascletàs click here. The full timetable for Fallas is here, the timetable for the fireworks is here and, of course it is bullfighting time too, so the timetable for that is here

You can also download our handy print-friendly pdf guide to Fallas, All you need to know. Click on the Fallas poster to download

Opera and More at the Palau de les Arts
It would seem that all their troubles are now over and the season continues with some excellent concerts and the current Opera production Handel's Orlando Next up is the Marriage of Figaro.There are occasionally tickets available on the day.

Advance News - Rock Concerts in Comunidad Valenciana
The Police have announced a Valencia date at the Levante Football ground on July 02, 2008
The Mayor of Benidorm announced that Lou Reed will appear at the Plaza de Toros on the 26th July as one of his 3 concerts in Spain. Nothing official on Lou's website yet, so let's hope this is not the same as Prince's intended (or not) visit late last year.
The Mayor announced, by the way, that the Lou Reed concert is to be one of 18 planned star concerts this summer in the city by the sea!

FIB BENICASSIM 17-20 July
LEONARD COHEN has confirmed that he will be appearing at this year's Benicassim Festival, FIB, aling with MY BLOODY VALENTINE, SIOUXSIE, BABYSHAMBLES, RÓISÍN MURPHY, JUSTICE Live, AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB, Beirut, David Duriez, Eef Barzelay, Erol, Alkan, Joakim, John Acquaviva, Metope, Metronomy, Micah P. Hinson, Moriarty, These New Puritans, Richard Hawley, Robert Babicz, Supermayer, Tommie Sunshine, We are still waiting to hear if the rumour that Bob Dylan is coming are true!

VIP tickets for FIB Heineken 2008 are now on sale. They are sold exclusively at fiberfib.com and their purchase guarantees you parking space, camping area, access to the Escenario Verde, grandstand and VIP Lounge, welcome pack, etc.

33rd AMERICAS CUP
Still no real news on the America's Cup Front. We await the final proclamation brom The New York Judge. For all the latest news as we get it, our sailing correspondent, Mike O'Neill.Click here!

Barbara O'Neill
New Column from our Barbara, informative and fun as always - go here

CLASSIFIED ADVERTS
Slightly delayed, our classified ads, they will be up soon so, if you have something to sell, swap, or want to let the world know about keep an eye on the site

WE ARE CURRENTLY UPDATING OUR LISTINGS
So if you think we should add something let us know, and anyway we love to hear your feedback.... info@thisisvalencia

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Valencia , coming up to Fallas - it's all in this issue of thisisvalencia Newsletter Number 1-08.

thisisvalencia.com
everything you need to know about valencia -bars - restaurants- sightseeing -museums and galleries -
city of arts and sciences -america's cup - fornula one grand prix urban circuit - las fallas - Magdalena