Welcome to the climactic last five days of the weeks-long festival that has hold of Valencia all year round. Las Fallas is a big deal here, and as of November of last year, it’s now an even bigger deal: UNESCO has added Las Fallas to their list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Today, March 15th, is the day that the fallas sculptures themselves need to be in place. There are between 700 and 800 of these installed on streets and intersections throughout the city, some five stories tall. Photographs don’t really do them justice, but we won’t let that stop us.

Yesterday we went to the Exposició del Ninot (Valencian for “exposition of the doll/puppet”). One of the hundreds of figures represented there will be chosen for inclusion in the Fallas museum; the rest will go up in flames Sunday night.

What with the large crowd of figurines…