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Virgin de los Desamparados is one of two Patron Saints of Valencia, the other being San Vincente Martir.
The Virgin is also know as Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados - (Our Lady of the Forsaken) and is honored and celebrated throughout the month of May. The main celebration takes place on the second sunday in May. The night before this beautiful event a concert is held in Plaça de la Verge/Plaza de la Virgin.
The celebrations then move on to the Turía Gardens (old Turía riverbed), where there are firework displays and traditional singing and dancing.
If you're up early on Sunday morning you'll be in time for the open air Mass which takes place at 5.00am. This is then followed by another Mass (Misa de Infantes) at 8.00am.
At 10.30am the statue of the Virgin de los Desamparados makes her journey under a heavy shower of flower petals from the Basilica to the Cathedral.
At 2.00pm there is a mascletá (fireworks) and at 5.00pm the Virgin is again carried amid a blanket of flower petals through the Old Quarter of Valencia.
Any day you visit the Seu-Xerea - (Cathedral area) - you'll find the Virgin inside the Basilica surrounded by masses of candles and flowers.
There are daily services and the lovely singing can be heard when passing the Basilica.
If you don't attend the service it really is worth taking a peek inside. The statue of the Virgin de los Desamparados is suspended from the ceiling and bends slightly forwarded. This accounts for the name the Virgin is affectionately known by - La Geperudeta - the little hunchback.
Plaça de la Verge is one of the most beautiful squares in the heart of the Old Quarter and Barrio del Carmen. It's also known as Seu-Xerea (the Cathedral area) and is very bohemian and always full of tourists, artists, politicians and students enjoying the ambience of the open-air terraces and the delicious wines and gastronomy of Valencia.
If you're in this area on a Sunday lunch-time at around 1.00pm, be sure to visit Plaça de la Verge as every Sunday there's traditonal dancing and music which is definitely not to be missed.
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