Valencia welcomes spring with its most colourful and famous festival. Gigantic papier mache monuments, known as fallas, with effigies usually representing celebrities or politicians in a satirical way, are set up on streets and squares throughout the city and burnt to a cinder in spectacular bonfires on the last day of the celebration. The Flower Offering to the Virgen de los Desamparados, when thousands of falleras and falleros in traditional costumes parade through the city, is also a sight to behold.

Día de la Comunidad Valenciana, which commemorates the liberation of the city from the Moors, brings along one of the most peculiar and charming Valencian traditions. In a kind of “alternative Valentine’s day”, men give their loved ones a special gift of marzipan figurines of fruits and vegetables wrapped in a silk scarf known as the mocadora.

Rotterdam Central Station (Team CS, 2014) is one of the most iconic architectural sites in Rotterdam. The roof over the tracks is covered in solar panels and the striking hall roof points towards the city centre. A number of historic elements from the former station building (1957) by Sybold van Ravesteyn have been re-used, like the original clock in the front façade and the letters spelling out ‘Centraal Station’. In the main hall you can find several shops, information about public transport and the Rotterdam Tourist Information. If you’re looking for original souvenirs, don’t miss shopping at ‘Love Rotterdam. Gifts, Food & More’. The square in front of the stations is a popular starting point for many walking and biking tours of Rotterdam's architecture.