If you like rare books, ancient manuscripts, lithographs and engravings, note this fantastic event on your calendar. The old book market of Valencia will open in spring, along with Las Fallas (from the 15th to the 19th of March). This is a great tradition that transforms the city.The Valencia Book Fair is almost here!

This Valencia Book Fair is heaven for all book lovers, the collectors and the curious, with great offers… 41 book stalls will be installed along the Gran Via Marques del Turia, between Calle Pizarro and the Plaza de Canovas. And what kind of book does a bibliophile like? Special books: books recently published, old books, etc. As an example, the Star Wars books, the Irish ghost stories, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Blasco Ibanez… You can get pocket treasures only for two euros and other ones can get very expensive (600 or even thousands of euros).

Currently, the most expensive book is the Codex Leicester by Leonardo Da Vinci, a notebook with original drawings and sketches. It was bought by Bill Gates in 1994 for $ 30.8 million. It also highlights the Apocalypse of St. John (75×60cm and120kg) with over 300,000 calligraphy letters in sheepskins. Now we’re in a digital age, the book markets tend to lose the audience, and the value of books goes up…

The city of lights

At the beginning of the spring, Valencia is born again. When the Valencia Book Fair is over, a new one will start: the fallas festival from March 15th to the 19th. The city fills with lights, firecrackers, parades, colours, music and fallas… This is a popular festival that brings millions of tourists each year to Valencia and turns the city into the heart of fun. Take advantage of these two appointments and visit Valencia, a destination whose gastronomy, beach area and people will guarantee a perfect holiday. For a relaxing time and cheap accommodation, rent Apartments in Valencia and enjoy!

In July 2010, new headquarters for the European space station will be installed in Valencia (Spain). This is a high-power laboratory that will detect breakdown messages and will examine problems of microwave circuits of the satellites and the space vehicles. It is hard to imagine, isn’t it? This is the perfect occasion to learn something about satellites…

Houston, we have a problem!

It is difficult to understand what actually happens in the space. What are these flying machines? They are man-made objects that surround the earth in different orbits. Some follow the path of the Equator, others pass through the poles and some move at the same speed as the earth. The so-called geostationary ones allow us to watch television, for example.

Each one has a special and a spatial function: for example, as meteorological or astronomical observation, mapping, telecommunications… Some satellites can accommodate a couple of scientists, such as the MIR station for example. And for history facts, the first artificial satellite was launched on October 4th, 1957 by Russia and was called Spoutnik 1. From this date onwards, the U.S. and Russia have fought over the first place in space communications. Spoutnik 2 was the first satellite with a living creature launched (the dog Laika). The first American satellite was the Explorer 1, launched in 1958.

Now that you know a little more about what happens in outer space, relax with a blanket watching the stars from a beach in Valencia. If you rent Apartments in Valencia, you will ensure an economic and enjoyable stay.

You can smell the gunpowder in the streets of Valencia. You can breathe a festive atmosphere in the air… Why? Because the Fallas are here! The Fallas are not one of the most important festivals of Valencia only, but also at a national level, and they have been declared of international tourist interest.

Valencia wears its best clothes to welcome this deeply rooted tradition: in fact, it already existed in the eighteenth century, when the Valencian people would burn the famous Ninots (critical or burlesque human figure representations made with combustible materials and, which appear in the Fallas monuments and which are burned at the end of The Fallas in the Gran Cremà – except the winner). This festival has its origins from the burning of shavings and other carpentry remains from the workshops that took place on the eve of their patron St. Joseph’s day.

Throughout March, Valencia becomes alive with lights, firecrackers, fireworks, music and fun. The famous mascletás, the beautiful Falleras, the stunning Fallas, … all of these turn the Fallas in an indescribable event! These days the city is full of people from all over the world who do not want to miss this show which is like no other:

To begin the day strongly, Valencia gets up early throughout the festivities with the despertá, where the fallas commissions wake the neighbours up by throwing noisy firecrackers on the floor. If they’re feeling a bit peckish, the people go to the Casal de la Falla where they are given a warm welcome with thick hot chocolate along with porras and buñuelos (a type of deep fried doughnut) which are typical of these local parties.

Every day at two o’clock, the noisy mascletás are held at the Town Hall Square. These firecrackers are so abundant and they last from 5 to 7 minutes causing a sound that reaches 120 decibels. At night, the fireworks illuminate the sky in Valencia.

But one of the main acts is, without a doubt, the Offer to the Mare de Deu, the patroness of Valencia. Throughout two days the Fallas commissions deliver a flower bouquet to the Virgin and with them they make a beautiful and immense coat. Another renowned moment is the selection of the Fallera Mayor, where a fallera queen is chosen to perform as an ambassador of the festival. This event enjoys an enormous popular acceptance.

The nights of March 18th (La Nit del Foc) and March 19th (La Nit de la Cremá) are the most significant ones of the festival. The first one is the most spectacular fireworks display of the Fallas, lasting around 30 minutes and bringing together more than a million people. Here, about 1200 kg of gunpowder are used, incredible! The Cremá Night closes the festival. Here is where all the Fallas monuments are burned, except the winner, which is stored for posterity.

But the Fallas festival is much more than this! Enjoy the best concerts, cultural events, etc. Valencia awaits you to celebrate all of these days together. Check the program for 2010 (http://www.fallasvalencia.es/programa-fallas) and rent the best Apartments in Valencia to get good accommodation.

Sex is the most popular conversation topic, the one that sells the most and the one that generates more enigmas. Its omnipresence is indisputable, but there is also a downfall of it that is not taken seriously, despite its consequences: sex addiction. We are not talking about having sex several times a day, but about a severe disease.

Sex addiction is a disease

Remember, everything in excess is dangerous! Putting limits on certain addictive behaviours such as drug use or alcohol consumption can be as difficult as stopping a nymphomaniac attitude. In both cases, it is an obsessive compulsive disorder that exceeds the person’s control, who gradually becomes a slave to his own discomfort. If the need for sex has an impact that alters the personal, economical or professional life of the subject, we are speaking about an addiction disorder known as hyper sexuality.

It has nothing to do with a dynamic libido, because here the addict suffers a lot. The addict lives sexuality as a distress, he’s gone cold turkey (he suffers withdrawal symptoms like those you get from the lack of drugs, for example) and he seeks an immediate remedy. Once he has his dose, he feels a deep emptiness and guilt invades him, because he realizes that he can not control it. Therefore he does not get any satisfaction from this behaviour.

Satyriasis: male sex addiction

Most cases of sex addiction are men suffering from anxiety, who are afraid of commitment and have difficulty with social relationships. Satyriasis is a behaviour that leads the man to fantasize constantly with erotic situations: finding prostitutes, consuming pornography on the Internet, spending money compulsively on sex, masturbating by any impulse, etc. In extreme cases, some medications are prescribed to reduce this attitude and can also be accompanied by a psychological therapy.

For women, we talk about nymphomania, but due to a lack of scientific studies, we do not have a better understanding of the situation. But there are associations of anonymous sex addicts, one American and another Spanish one, whose websites include a 12-question test to see if you are hypersexual.
The best is to learn where our limits are. To explore them, takes a short holiday alone with your partner on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Rent Apartments in Valencia and enjoy a passionate stay.

Next March, the cinemas will be filled with fantasy with the return of Alice in Wonderland. Surely that Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), the author of the book (1865), never imagined that he would inspire so many people… After Walt Disney (1951) did it, Tim Burton succumbs to temptation and proposes a 3D adaptation with Johnny Depp in the role of the Mad Hatter. This is a version that promises to be modern and magical! And it also has a soundtrack with top hits singers!

We will meet again with our childhood favourite characters! The Queen of Hearts, Tweedledum and Tweedledee twins, the Blue Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit and all the others… But the story is modernized. Alice is played by the young Australian Mia Wasikowska. She is no longer the quiet little girl reading on a bench with her sister but a 19 year old teenager who’s dancing in a party. Someone wants to ask her hand in marriage, and she escapes through a hole and falls into the Wonderland, where she went 10 years ago, but she doesn’t remember anything… What about you?

The creatures, the forest and the magical kingdom will be processed visually by special effects of the 21st century: Burton will combine live actors with motion capture, and it will be screened in Disney Digital 3D, IMAX 3-D and in film traditional 2D and with the own style of Tim Burton: aesthetic, colourful, disturbing, fantastic… As we like!

The movie will promote two musical albums, one for the background music and one for the final deliveries. Avril Lavigne, Franz Ferdinand, Tokio Hotel and many other famous bands will participate in the second disc, called “Almost Alice”.
Follow also the White Rabbit and discover the new world that offers the talented Tim Burton in his Wonderland. But if you prefer a real wonderful world, travel to Valencia, a city full of surprising places. And for an even magical stay, rent Apartments in Valencia.

Do you know what street art is? Some people say it is an outdoor museum, others that it is just another illegal way to express what people think. This is called graffiti.

This art was born in New York but throughout history it has been extended to many other countries and cities such as Berlin, London, Barcelona, Paris and most other major cities as well. The term graffiti comes from the Roman times and it was used for any painting that was done on a wall or fence. In 1960 this art differed from the usual painting and constituted one of the four basic elements of the hip-hop culture. In 1977 Jean-Michel Basquiat already painted the subway cars in New York and New York’s Soho walls, a neighbourhood where art galleries proliferated. The father of the Pop Art, Andy Warhol, took interest in Basquiat’s graffiti and supported his artistic career taking graffiti all over the world.

The Fourth Poliniza Urban Art Festival 2010 is going to take place in Valencia. All of those interested can see more details at: www.poliniza.es. It will be in Valencia until the 28th of February. Come on, don’t miss it!
If you walk along the Valencian streets you’ll see that the city is full of wonderful graffiti. These are true works of art, especially in the old town. This is a sample of one of the most impressive works. (pon aquí la imagen de arriba) You can find it on the Roteros Street. It is called “Escif” and was painted by a famous Valencian graffiti artist who has works in many countries.

The graffiti has become so popular in Valencia that you can find advertisements where graffiti artists announce themselves to paint a wall in your house or wherever you want. But not everyone sees it as an art. There are people who see it as an act of vandalism, the municipalities in particular, who spent fortunes removing the graffiti from the walls.

To form your own opinion on this subject, I would recommend you take a vacation to Valencia. Take a peaceful walk along this beautiful city and discover this world that gives so much to talk about. Rent Apartments in Valencia to relax and perhaps see one of these wonderful works of art through your window.

For the eighth consecutive year, Valencia becomes a giant stage thanks to its performing arts festival VEO 2010 - Valencia Escena Oberta. From the 10th to 21st February, Valencia will offer a multitude of international and national proposals. The common denominator: the present, the impact of new technologies in our lives, how we relate to them and the current world views.

This year’s creations come from very diverse horizons: United Kingdom, Holland, France, Belgium, Italy, Argentina, Czech Republic, and obviously, Spain. One of the most special features of the VEO festival is that some shows are presented in unconventional places such as parks (Benicalap and Viveros), libraries (Biblioteca del Complejo La Petxina), theatres and other rooms. On February 13th a big lunch will be organized on the streets (in Pont de la Mar).

The program highlights exhibitions like “Mi camiseta, sus zapatillas, tus vaqueros” (My shirt, his shoes, your jeans) by Gabi Ochoa; “Man on wire” by James Marsh and and “Experiencias con un desconocido” (Experiences with an unknown) by the Catalan performer Sonia Gomez. Two theatrical authors, the Argentinian Federico León and the Belgian Tim Etchells who have gained recognition in festivals like Avignon, Edinburgh and Brussels, will also be present. They will touch base on topics such as poetry, imagination, children’s education, the fragility of human emotions, the border between the reality and the fiction… VEO is theatre, cinema, movement, music and performance.

An evening meeting will also be celebrated in two of the most emblematic rooms of the city – Woody club and Excuse Me Club. They are two perfect nights for discovering electronic sounds.

In short, the VEO festival is full of surprises, laughter and emotions, an event that you should not miss. And this is the perfect occasion to discover Valencia, its delicious cuisine, its coastline and its lively evenings. For an economical and relaxed stay, rent Apartments in Valencia.

Many are the people who know the European Surrealism – this artistic movement that was born in 1924 and whose founders were Freud, Breton and Dali, among others. The Italian Futurist of Marinetti and his followers, with his ode to the revolutionary machine, the city and the movement was also important. But few people know that the echo of these vanguard movements travelled through the Atlantic to get into Mexico under the name of Stridentism (1921- 1927). Latin American poets, writers, journalists, photographers and musicians (but not painters) adopted aesthetic attitudes similar to those of the Futurists: they proclaimed the power of the future and the death of all things academic.

Manuel Maples Arce, Salvador Gallardo, Germain List Arzubide, Arqueles Vela and Luis Quintanilla were the major artists influenced by the European tendencies. But if there is a name to remember it will be that of the poet Arce, founder of the movement with the creation of the journal called Actual N° 1: it was a manifesto, an ideology statement, a mockery of the tradition. This was not intended to go in search of modernity, but the idea was that of the Italian Tabula Rasa: to create something totally new.

It was also very important to understand what were their artistic goals, because the art always expresses the concerns of the societies. In fact, Arce was so politically committed that he became the secretary general of the government in Veracruz from 1925 to 1928, during which he published the magazine Horizon.

Mexican Stridentism emerged after a major change: Mexico emerged from a cruel revolution that finished with the 39-year dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. At this time, Europe was horrified by the atrocities of World War One. Despite the industrial contrasts between both continents, the culture crossed boundaries to become cosmopolitan and unite the people under the same spirit.

Aesthetically, Stridentism has influences of Futurism and Surrealism: these are two movements that deny the reality and seek the essence of the human beings in their own way of escape (the revolutionary attitude and the unconscious). Artistically, both proposed a literary revolution, they wanted to break with the old poetic tradition and experiment with new forms of expression. Mexican Stridentism created unfinished poems or images so the reader could participate in the creative process.

If you want to find out more about this literature, take some notes of its major works: La Señorita Etcétera and El café de nadie - two prose texts by Arqueles Vela. Poemas Radiográficos (1922) by Maples Arce is the first book of Mexican poetry with avant-garde language and urban life themes.

How about getting back to nature? Escape for a few days to the sea with your partner or friends, and rent the best Apartments in Valencia. You’ll come back filled with new energy.

“One, two, three… are you ready? Where are you? I’m going to find you, no matter where you are…” Wow, what beautiful memories of our childhood! If you’ve forgotten how much fun it was, we invite you to become the child inside you. Ladies and gentlemen, from now on you will become children again.

How good it would be to be a child again, feeling that you can laugh about everything, enjoying the magic of life’s little details and using your imagination. Who would refuse an afternoon in the snow for hours? It’s so fun! Who does not like the sensation of a tickle? Play creating castles in the sand, race your bike with a friend; eat with a spoon instead of a fork… Everything is valid! It’s like being reborn. This year, don’t forget the child you have inside!

But even adults have their own games, which are different (with other sources of pleasure and fun). There are numerous sex toys, for example! And how many men are mesmerized by a video game, how many have fun playing football with their children or family board games? Over the years, we tend to become more serious, responsible and a bit cold and we lose the charm of the simple things of everyday life.

The adults learn from their mistakes every day. In relationships, how many times have we played hide and seek?

If you’ve never seen the French film Love Me If You Dare (2002), with the famous actress Marion Cotillard, you should see it. In this film, Julien says to Sophie:

Julien Jeanvier: You know… there were lots of things I was game for that you never said.
Sophie Kowalski: Like?
Julien Jeanvier: Eating ants… insulting the unemployed… loving you like crazy.
[they kiss]

To feel like a child allows us to relax, to lose a bit of shame, to have less fear of danger… Laugh about yourself and keep your spontaneity will make you immune to the difficult things in life. How good it would be to have a magic wand and to travel anywhere you wanted! Nothing is impossible…

If you want to relax, we recommend that you escape your everyday life and get away to a lovely Spanish city: Valencia. There you’ll enjoy the best Mediterranean dishes, and the most beautiful beaches. Have fun! And for an even more beautiful stay, rent Apartments in Valencia: they are so comfortable that you’ll sleep like a baby.

Once again, for the second consecutive year, the oldest sailing event in the world will be held in Valencia (Spain) from 8th to 28th February. The success of the previous edition makes the Mediterranean city as the ideal location for this great event of international significance. Its infrastructures, optimal water conditions and a perfect organization, guarantee an incredible America’s Cup for 2010. The admission is free so this is an incredible opportunity to enjoy the sea, the Valencian port and above all this fantastic sports spectacle.

The 33rd America’s Cup will face the Alinghi team (the Swiss team) against the BMW Oracle team (the USA team), champion and runner-up respectively in the previous edition. The Alinghi team will compete with a catamaran, while their rivals will use a huge trimaran. According to the gusts of wind, the ships may reach up to 60km/h!

Both spectators and competitors will enjoy the perfect conditions, which would not have been possible if the event were celebrated in the United Arab Emirates (Ras al-Khaimah), the other proposed place. The Valencian water and wind are so regular and reliable that people call it the Fremantle of the Mediterranean (a port in Australia). The precision, the technology and the strategy are essential for this type of competition, and Valencia meets all these requirements.

Do not miss this event; it is the oldest of all sailing competitions! The first edition was held in 1851 under the name of “The Hundred Guineas Cup”, but since 1870 it is called America’s Cup in honour of the victory of the schooner America.

Take advantage of your trip to Valencia to visit the recreation and culture areas of the city, its delicious restaurants (the best paella Valenciana is a must), and enjoy the most impressive ships.

One of the best options to see the race close up is to go on board on one of the spectator boats so you can enjoy the event better. From the front line! Book your ticket now! You can also watch the teams training from the wonderful port. The onshore facilities are also fantastic.

It is also possible to make catamaran trips, with some explanations of the sport, as a true sailor. A range of emotions and pleasures await you! And now that you are going to Valencia, discover one of the most dynamic charming and chic Spanish cities. And for an even more enjoyable stay, rent Apartments in Valencia.