Front line fireworks

The Spanish really love their fireworks and the bigger, louder, noiser and more war like the better!!

On our last night in Valencia we, along with about 7,000 locals, watched a midnight fireworks display. In three quarters of an hour they let off about three tonnes of fireworks!

It was more like being on the front line than a pleasurable experience. With ash and debris raining from the sky it was rather terrifying.

Even with a police corden keeping the crowds away from the dry river bed , the explosions still seemed uncomfortably close with some rockets only just clearing the nearby apartment block roofs!

The noise was epic. How I would expect standing near a ground to air missile when it detonates would sound! You could actually feel the whoosh of air knocking your legs backwards.

So many fireworks were set off that the actual explosions were obscured by the amount of smoke in the air.

All in all rather a fear inducing experience, and, with sore, ash filled eyes and ringing ears, we finally made our way back to our hotel.

Along the way we saw pretty much the whole city thronging the pavements, tooting their car horns and heading to the profusion of bars and cafes that were still open way into the earlier hours.