Plank Road: Toy Soldiers

We wanted to explore the old area of Valencia today, so we walked to the heart of the old city where two placas meet, the Placa de la Virgen and the Placa de la Reina. We decided to have a café, so after avoiding the café people who solicit tourists, we made the rounds and noticed where the old people chose to frequent. Our thinking was that the wise old people would choose a non touristy establishment.

Maybe chocolate is the elixir of youth or something, as we ended up in a chocolate shop. We were the only people in the place that ordered a café con leche, the rest had chocolate con churros. This undeniably decadent looking snack, is a café cup full of dark chocolate to which they dip the churros, which are deep fried, long tubes of dough, they receive several in one order. As if that wasn’t enough, some people doused the churros with sugar prior to dipping.

After our café con leche, we went off to visit the L’Iber Museum of Toy Soldiers. As one that has an interest in military history and has the stunning collection of four, Britains Knights of Agincourt ( I cannot do the collecting thing) the Toy Soldier Museum was the highlight of our day.

The museum is housed in a beautiful Gothic palace, the former residence of the Marquis of Malferit. The entry is through the gorgeous patio with the typical outdoor staircase to the main level.

The museum only displays a small portion of the collection which numbers more than a million toy soldiers. Some of the displays are of battle scenes, the Battle of Almansa, a battle between the Hapsburgs and the Bourbons during the War of the Spanish Succession, has more than 9,500 figures on display.

A lot of the toy soldiers are Spanish guards, but they also have the Battle of Waterloo and the Napoleon retreat from Russia, where the Russians pummeled Napoleon’s army. I vaguely recall writing a paper on the battle in university, a long time ago, gah!

The collection also covers Spanish colonialism, with battles against the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas. There are also Roman Legions, Visigoths, Celts (with tartan trousers) and Alexander the Great’s defeat of the Persian, Darius.

After we left the Toy Soldier museum, we continued our walk through the old centre of Valencia, visiting a few old city gates. There were some brass bands playing in the centre of the city and the density of people increased significantly as the day wore on.

Tomorrow we take an early train to Barcelona for the final few days of our travels in Spain. Every region is so different with various customs and food. Valencia is the city for real paella, as the paella rice is grown just outside the city. Paella pans are sold all over the place, our apartment is equipped with a paella pan as well. But there is also a lot of crap food here, the stuff of American fast food chains and they seem to do a fairly brisk trade.

They like to set off firecrackers here, of course, the ultimate fire extravaganza, known as Las Fallas, takes place on March 15th. They build figures and then set them ablaze in the streets. The whole thing begins on Tuesday, when they set off firecrackers every day. Today, in the Placa, parents were throwing down ball shaped firecrackers for the little kids to stomp on. There are quite a few firecrackers exploding tonight as well.

La Lonja de la Seda (The Silk Exchange)

Placa de la Virgen with Cathedral in background and a fountain representing the Turia River in foreground, Neptune reclines in the centre of the fountain