The Spaniards love to arrange holidays for any occasion. Chocolate also received separate festivities. In mid-August, in the city of Villajoyosa, located on the Costa Blanca, the Xocolatissima festival takes place — these days, a delicacy of cocoa beans is distributed on the streets. But at any other time, you can try a chocolate from the famous Spanish factory Valor and learn about the history of the popular food product at the Chocolate Museum in Villajoyosa.
Imagine that you are travelling with a child along the Costa Blanca during the Conquest. Ships loaded with cocoa beans go from America to Spain. Residents get used to the unusual bitter taste of cocoa and then begin to create real masterpieces of confectionery art from it. Miniatures help to immerse yourself in the subtleties of the work of the confectioners. Also displayed at the Valor Museo Del Chocolate are vintage machines for processing beans, kneading cocoa mass, and other operations needed to make chocolate. You can see the beans and a real cocoa tree in a small greenhouse in the showcases.
The most modern machinery is shown to you on a tour of the Valor factory. You can see the packaging of the finished chocolate bars and sweets through the enormous windows.
Children and adults love that their tour of the museum and chocolate factory ends with a free tasting. They can buy the sweets they like in the shop. There's also an on-site café that makes excellent desserts, including the traditional hot chocolate churros.
It is not possible to enter the museum without a guide. The guided tour is in Spanish or English, but much can be understood without explanation. During the tour, visitors are also shown a short film about the production of chocolate.
The Valencian Chocolate Museum in Villajoyosa is not the only one in the country. The Chocolate Museum of Barcelona is also very popular (you cannot see the modern manufacturing process but can be a confectioner yourself). There are also two other museums in Villajões devoted to this popular dessert.
