Valencia will make way for thousands of the worlds most influential and budding technology experts Campus Party kicks off on July 26 at the City of Arts and Sciences.  Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, will officially open the seven-day event, which is hailed as the biggest online meeting for innovation, creativity, digital culture and electronic entertainment in the world. It’s at Campus Party where the youth of the technology industry can share their creations and interests, participate in workshops and gain insight into new technologies and communications through presentations hosted by the key innovators of the digital industry.

Now in its 13^th year, Campus Party is the trendsetter for many disciplines such as electronic entertainment, robotics, software creation, digital culture, modding, security and networks and digital creativity. Human-robot interaction is a key focus this year; engineers from Spanish company AISoy Robotics will present to the world AISoy1, a new type of robot for in-house use that can feel, learn, play, listen and talk to humans.  Bram Vanderborght from the University of Brussels will discuss how robot applications can make life easier, and Bob Allen from Silicon Valley will be informing guests about the robots they are developing in OLogic Inc.

Campus Party has grown into a necessary calendar appointment for members of the tech community, and last year more than 6,000 visitors attended the Valencia event, held in the City of Arts & Sciences.

Campus Party Valencia Director, Miguel Angel Exposito said: “Steve Wozniak’s support of Campus Party confirms again that our event is recognised as one of the most important and influential for the technology sphere.  Each year we continue to bring the best worldwide professionals to Valencia to share and impart their knowledge with the future generation of technology professionals to listen and take from the knowledge and experts’ experiences with them”.

Campus Party in Valencia will be held from July 26 to August 1 in the Museum of Sciences Principe Felipe within The City of Arts & Sciences.  This modern, 21^st-century design museum is surrounded by over 13,000 square metres of water curtains and has built a reputation for hosting activities and initiatives related to the evolution of life and the dissemination of scientific and technological information.

For anyone interested in attending the Valencia Campus Party or would like more information visit:  www.campus-party.org and the Valencia Tourism website for what to do and where to stay while in Valencia: www.turisvalencia.es

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

For further press information:

Megan Whiteside
McCluskey International
Tel: 0208 237 7979 or email valencia@mccluskey.co.uk

About Campus Party

Campus Party started in 1997 as an event for internet enthusiasts but today has grown into an event for anyone interested to be informed about computers, new technologies and communications. There are four annual editions of the event in: Valencia, Sao Paulo, Bogota and Mexico City.

See Steve Wozniak’s announcement about Campus Party:

About the City of Arts & Sciences

The City of Arts and Sciences is a cultural entertainment centre with stunning architecture and great capacity to entertain, teach and excite by promoting public participation.

Situated along almost two kilometres of what was formerly the bed of the River Turia, with a surface area of 350,000 square metres, the City of Arts and Sciences is a huge open space.

Offering cultural and intellectual leisure, it has given Valencia the best centre of this type in Europe.

The outstanding role of its architecture was made possible thanks to the work of two Spanish architects of international renown, who have contributed the very best of their work to this area: the Valencian Santiago Calatrava, who designed the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, the Hemisfèric, the Príncipe Felipe Science Museum, the Umbracle, the Ágora, and Félix Candela, designer of the unique roofing of the main Oceanográfico buildings.  Visit the official web of the CAC www.cac.es

Attend one of Europe’s top festivals, be wined and dined on a VIP tour of Valencia, and meet famous footballers including David Villa.

Valencia Tourism has launched ‘Ninotizate’, an online game based on the city’s world famous Fallas Festival. The game will allow players to design a papier-mâché ‘ninot’ in their own image, with the winner’s design to be specially constructed and paraded around Valencia before being burnt to a crisp!

From 15 March, more than 700 ninots – huge papier-mâché effigies up to 20 metres high, showing satiric or humorous caricatures of celebrities, politicians or the hottest issues of the year – are displayed in the streets of Valencia and then set alight in dramatic bonfires to celebrate the coming of spring on 19 March.

The festival also includes scores of other cultural and religious events, from concerts and dances throughout the city to street markets and food vendors selling special Fallas doughnuts!  The streets are filled with marching bands and parades including a two day procession of 150,000 Falleras (elected representatives of the Fallas) that make their way to the cathedral for a flower offering to the Virgin Mary.

And of course, not forgetting, Las Fallas has some of the most spectacular and noisiest fireworks displays in the world!  Hundreds of kilograms of gunpowder are burnt each year, in a combination of daily mascletas (midday firecracker displays) and evening shows such as the Nit del Foc (“night of fire”) on 18 March.

The game can be found at www.vlcgame.com/ninotizate/uk, and the prize of a trip for two to Valencia includes: flights, 4* hotel accommodation, VIP guided tours around the city and around the Fallas, Bioparc, City of Arts and Sciences, as well as meals in some of the best restaurants in the city.

The winner will have their own ninot, will be able to participate in the construction of the ninot and will see how it is burnt with the whole Falla on the 19^th of March.

The game can also be accessed through Valencia Tourism’s Facebook page – www.facebook.com/visitvalencia.

The full prize is as follows:

SUNDAY 14 MARCH 2010

Departing from United Kingdom (Gatwick), on flight operated by EasyJet. Arrival in Valencia on Sunday evening. Transfer to hotel by Taxisvip.com Accommodation at Barceló Valencia Hotel (4 stars). Winners will receive a 3-day Valencia Tourist Card which includes unlimited travel within the city and discounts at participating businesses.

MONDAY 15 MARCH 2010

Open-top bus tour on the Valencia Bus Turistic to introduce visitors to the city of Valencia. This will be followed by a walking tour of the city’s historical centre. Colon Market, where visitors will taste Horchata and fartons – a typical Valencian drink and pastry. Mascletá (14:00) at the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. Dinner at La Pappardella restaurant. Afternoon: Visit to Bioparc Valencia, the city’s newest natural zoo, with lions, elephants. gorillas, lemurs,… a piece of Africa, right in Valencia. Evening: Visitors will be taken to see the PLANTÁ (setting up) of the NINOT at a Falla Especial (special category Falla).

TUESDAY 16 MARCH 2010

Free morning. We recommend the visit to the CITY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES including: Hemisféric (IMAX Cinema), Principe Felipe Science Museum, Umbracle and Palau de les Arts. Visit to the OCEANOGRÁFIC Aquarium to see its 45,000 marine species (including sharks, walruses, dolphins and beluga whales, among others). Visitors will board Albufera Bus Turistic and be taken to the Albufera Natural Park, Spain’s largest lake, where paella rice is cultivated. Tasting of a traditional paella at a typical family restaurant, and then a boat trip -provided by Albufera Parc. A visit to several Fallas from the Sección Especial (Special Category). Dinner: Spanish tapas at La Buleria – followed by a Flamenco show. Nighttime fireworks display on Paseo de la Alameda.

WEDNESDAY 17 MARCH 2009

Bike Tour around the historical centre and Turia River park, arriving at the City of Arts and Sciences with Valencia Guias. Visit to Valencia Club de Fútbol, training session, visitors will have the opportunity to meet EURO champions Villa, Silva, Mata and Marchena. Dinner at A Tu Gusto Restaurant. Free afternoon: we recommend seeing the Ofrenda – the offering of flowers to Our Lady of the Forsaken. Nighttime fireworks display on Paseo de la Alameda.

THURSDAY 18 MARCH 2009

Private visit to the City of Porcelain and LLADRÓ Museum. Mascletá at the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. Lunch at LA Lola restaurant, next to the Miguelete tower. Free afternoon: we recommend seeing the Ofrenda, or the offering of flowers to Our Lady of the Forsaken. Night time NIT DE FOC fireworks display on Paseo de la Alameda. Supper at Sargantana Restaurant.

FRIDAY 19 MARCH 2009

Free morning. Visitors can relax and visit their last Falla before the monuments are burned. Mascletá at the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. Official Saint Joseph’s day lunch at the Palacio de la Exposición, with the “Falleras Mayores”, their courts of honour and delegates invited by the Valencia City Council, courtesy of the Junta Central Fallera. Traditional Correfoc (parade with fire) along Calle de Colón. In the evening, visitors will attend the cremá (burning) of the winning ninot from the Special Category Falla.

SATURDAY 20 MARCH 2009

Free day for shopping, visits, etc.

Barceló Valencia Hotel (4 stars). Guests check-out and transfer to airport by Taxisvip.com. Return to UK on flight operated by EasyJet.

Turismo Valencia reserves the right to modify itinerary and substitute, add or cancel any of the scheduled visits and activities.

Valencia is easily accessible from the UK with daily flights from London by Clickair, and easyJet.  easyJet also flies to Valencia from Bristol whilst Jet2 operates from Leeds Bradford.

For further information on Las Fallas and where to stay during this fiery fiesta visit the Valencia Tourism website www.turisvalencia.es.

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Press Enquiries:

Vanessa Ip
McCluskey International
Tel: 020 8237 7979
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Email: Valencia@mccluskey.co.uk