Wandering around town visiting Hogueras

I stuck around and had lunch downtown after the Mascletà today, figured it would be the perfect excuse (since I was already out of the house and joyfully ignoring the piles of boxes waiting to be unpacked) to wander around and visit a few of the Hogueras. My dad decided to keep me company and we meandered around for a while (and ducked into the delightful respite of a movie theatre's AC for a couple of hours, lol!), admiring some monuments, dissing others, enjoying the wit displayed in some of the captions... Care to join me as I go through some images of this tour? ;o)

First up, an Hoguera from the "special" category (i.e. big spenders) that I had walked by on Monday while they were finishing it up: H. Seneca-Autobuses.

It had a very fishy motif to it, so you know I liked it! Check out the mermaid attracting the sailor:

And this other mermaid (or is she a siren?) whose voice enchants the tourists who come to our shores:

Working our way around the monument, a submarine representing the Ministry of Finances is accompanied by two divers: the tax inspector and the job inspector. They're fishing around for the "submerged economy"!

And how about this kid trapped in a net?  It says "many kids hurry out of school to get on the web and chat with their friends". Sadly true!

Then there's this poor fellah sitting on the throne, the one place he's supposed to escape from his worries... but the news just makes him want to take a $hit! :p

And of course, another mention of the sufferings of the victims of the anti-tobacco laws... people who are still "submerged" in their vice and hounded by the sharks (the law):

Just around the corner someone had set up another "ninot del carrer":

Mermaids seem to be popular this year! Here's another one dominating the internet-themed H. Avd Loring - Estación (3rd category):

I loved this ninot! He reminds us that today's thieves are internet pirates (there's been a lot of discussion about some laws against internet piracy and illegal downloading this year):

The Hoguera del Puerto (harbour, "special" category) was as usual very impressive!

It's called "Alicante y el embrujo de la noche" (Alicante and the Enchantment of the Night") and won 4th place in the category.

The theme seems to be holidays in Alicante, and the rays coming out of this lady's hair each have a month inscribed in them, with an image corresponding to some holiday or fiesta that takes place in that month:

For Christmas they've chosen the King and the Constitution (he gives a speech on national TV every year on the 25th/12):

Here we've got a mention of the Hogueras (Nit de la Cremà = when it all burns down!) and Carnaval right behind it:

Our visit coincided with that of the press! This lady and her camera crew from Canal 9 were walking around the Hoguera and talking about it live on TV:

The children's hoguera from the Puerto was the big prize winner in the Categoría Especial!

Isn't this family of festeros adorable?

Here's how it looks from the back:

Just across the street is the H. Explanada (3rd category, placed 2nd), whose theme has to do with painters this year!

She's striking a lovely pose:

A reference to anonymous paintings... and the police chasing illegal immigrants.

Finally, on our way up through the Barrio (oldest neighbourhood) we came across another 3rd category one: H. Monjas - Santa Faz.

They're celebrating they're 80th anniversary.

I really enjoyed seeing this fireman! They're very important for a successful (and safe!) Nit de la Cremà!

On our wait up to catch the tram home, we wandered around the Cathedral to visit the Virgin and see the result of this year's flower offering (see images of the parade from 2 years ago, or visit a different blog talking about this year's "ofrenda").

Those carnations sure make for a lovely mantle! And they smelled lovely!

We did see a few more Hogueras than those I've shared with you... but they just weren't inspiring enough to photograph! Except for the "official" one in front of City Hall which was absolutely GORGEOUS!!! And deserves its own post so you'll have to wait a bit on it! :p