New Years Eve in Valencia

I heard that Plaza del Ayuntamiento in downtown Valencia would be packed at midnight, but when I began riding toward downtown at 10:30 pm, the streets were nearly barren. I rode down one way streets whenever it was quicker, because there were no cars on the roads. It's ordinarily difficult to navigate a bicycle on the crowded streets in Valencia, so this was a surprise. 

Plaza del Ayuntamiento has been packed as Time Square whenever I ventured that way, so I expected a huge crowd on New Years Eve, but when I arrived there were only a few dozen people. Everyone must have been in the pubs properly celebrating with alcohol and tapas, because an hour later it was shoulder to shoulder. 

There is a tradition of eating twelve grapes at midnight, one for each chime of the clock on City Hall. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any grape salesmen open late. I stood in my language-barrier bubble as people crowded in around me holding wine glasses full of grapes. 

Admittedly, the video below is not very exciting, but I thought you might like to see what happens in Valencia on New Years Eve. It's why I rode downtown, just to see what happened. Actually, that's largely why I'm in Spain in the first place.