One of the memorable moments from our 2022 visit to Valencia was stumbling across the Our Lady Of The Forsaken Festival while trying to go for a drink (never made it to that bar…). Our 2024 stay started before Easter, i.e. Holy Week, and we figured the old town would have an even larger event. However, the seaside towns dominate the Valencian Easter proceedings (La Semana Santa Marinera de València), so on Good Friday we took the Metro to Cabanyal.
We didn’t know precisely where to see things but had read that Calle de la Reina was a central spot, so we set off in that direction. Along the way we saw two small processions.
As we got close to Calle de la Reina we could hear the buzz of people, and coming around the corner we could see the street was lined with families and chairs. A little after 9pm one group after another marched through with all kinds of Biblical costumes – roman legionnaires, Herod and Salome, John’s head, and hooded penitents. Some were barefoot! Many of the groups were proceeding with statues too.
We stayed for about an hour, but it looked like things were going to go for a while longer.
Side note: the metro was easy enough but time consuming as trains were every 20 minutes earlier in the eve, and 30-40 mins later.