What is the Tomatina?

I heard about the Tomatina years ago, maybe 17 and I have always wanted to go. It is a huge tomato fight held in a little village called Bunol around 45 minutes drive from Valencia. It originated around 80 years ago and there are different versions of how it started. The most fun story is of two market stall holders who fell out and started throwing produce at each other. The fight carried on unofficially for several years until the local council gave up trying to ban it and instead they legitimised it. 80 years on it is a fabulous, slightly childish event involving 25,000 people and 125 tonnes of ripe red tomatoes

The Tomatina is held on the last Wednesday in August. Historically it started when the huge ham at the top of a greasy pole was pulled down. However, given that this doesn't happen very often, instead a cannon is fired at 12 to start the fight and then at 1pm to stop it.

Bunol is a tiny village near Valencia with a population of 9000 people. Some of the locals take part in the event, spraying the participants with water from their hosepipes before the event. They sell beer, sangria and paella in the streets leading to the main event and afterwards they are delighted to hose you down. As you walk along the main street, the residents' tall houses are covered with tarpaulins and some of them will look down on you from their balconies with an evil glint and large buckets of water to drench you before the start of the fight.

There are around 25,000 people of all ages and nationalities at La Tomatina and the numbers are regulated as it is so popular. There is nowhere to run if you decide belatedly that being pounded non stop with ripe tomatoes is not your scene after all. You have to enjoy being pushed, shoved, drenched and smacked full in the face with a sometimes hard tomato. The health and safety rules have not yet been translated and it is all very fast and exciting. If you can cope with all the above, it is one of the best and most fun experiences ever.

As the numbers are regulated, you have to buy a ticket from the municipality costing between 15 and 25 euros. A package with transport to and from the village and overnight stays in Valencia, will cost around 200 euros. PP Travel organised our trip and provided T shirts and really good, experienced guides making it a pretty 'slick' operation.

A large bunch of different nationalities board a coach dressed in a variety of 'old' clothes. Scruffy trainers, crocs, flip flops etc, old shorts, bikinis under T shirts and the odd person who hasn't quite got the message in shiny gold skirts or long frilly dresses.

40 minutes later, the bus parks in a dusty car park surrounded by redundant factory buildings - not really the prettiest Spanish village in the area. Leaving your clean clothes on the bus, everyone walks down into village following the long blue line. You pass huge pans of paella, beer and sangria on sale at 10 am in the morning and it tastes so good. Further down into the village and into the 'party zone'. Here is the opportunity for more beer and the only photos you are likely to take in front of La Tomatina poster. Depositing your valuables, including your phone in a locker, the next step is through the line of policemen and into the main street.

The street is already packed and locals are hosing down anyone looking dry, tall, foreign, pretty or wearing protective goggles. We are all soaked in minutes. The atmosphere is electric and really good natured. Eventually at 12, tomatoes are flying at the corner of the street.

The first lorry appears round the corner and the Tomatina team, harnessed to the inside of the lorry are throwing tomatoes hard and fast at everyone and the truck crawls along the narrow street. By this stage, you are rammed against your neighbour, arms in front of you trying to protect your chest. You have no chance of ducking out of the way. The tomatoes start to collect in your neck, your shoulders, elbows and fall to the floor. The truck then deposits around 5 tonnes of tomatoes in its wake and it moves off down the street to continue its barrage of tomatoes.

Everyone, then takes the opportunity to breath out, bend down and gather heaps of tomatoes to throw at everyone else. There are 6 vehicles that come down the street and with each one, you are driven back to make room for the truck and the tomatoes on the floor become softer and sloppier. Yes, with the water from the initial hosing and all the squashed tomatoes, you will be standing in 20 cms of tomato puree. Not for the faint hearted.

Amazingly the hour of the fight passes so quickly and the cannon sounds for the end of the fight.

25,000 people move down to the rather smelly village stream to rinse off the tomatoes and dig out seeds from all their cracks and crevices. The locals thoroughly enjoy hosing off the tourists and eventually, there is time to relax back in the fun zone with beer, sangria and paella. Being in the spanish sun, you dry off quickly, head back to the bus and change very publicly into your clean clothes. By that stage any sense of decorum has vanished and modesty is non existent.

What an absolutely fun day and experience. One of those bucket list trips that is really, really memorable. No photos inside the fight but the images will last for ever