Woodberry in Spain

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Vueling!

Today we had fit in a full day before our flight for Seville left at 7pm. We walked more of the gothic quarter, saw the beautiful church Santa Maria del Mar, and headed to the Ciudadela park and its zoo. We ended the Barcelona portion with a fine meal at Quinze Nits just off of La Rambla. We grabbed our bags from where the hotel was storing them and headed to the airport for a seamless flight on Vueling airlines. We taxied to the meeting spot for the boys to meet their new mothers.

Barrio Gotico

Santa Maria del Mar

Quinze Nits (and plenty of tomato bread)

Vueling (at least some guy felt like posing)

Mama!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Hitting all the symbols

We covered a lot of ground on day 2, taking in probably the big three of works that symbolize the city: La Sagrada Familia, the iguana in Parc Guell, and the Palau de Musica Catalana. Normally we tour this incredible theater but this year we saw a flamenco concert in it. We also saw Mont Juic, the Olympic Port, and had dinner at the delicious Cerveceria Catalana.

Hiking up to Guell, view of Sagrada Familia

The most famous bench in the world at Guell

Quick pic at the iguana

Thanks for the outdoor escalators

Fearless leaders

Mont Juic Fort/Castle/Prison/etc.

Teleferico down to port

Walk along city beach to Olympic Port

Black rice and seafood paella for lunch

Sagrada familia

These funny gargoyles explain the Catalans well

a mixture of gothic and modernism

At Cerveceria Catalana

Pimientos Padron

Pulpo Gallego and langostinos on skewers

Solomillo Montadito

Tomato bread

Pictures don't do the Palau de Musica justice.\

Rambling back to the hotel through the Gothic Quarter

Sunday, June 10, 2012

No rest for the weary

We all made it to the airport on time to find our first leg of the flight delayed. No problem because our layover could accommodate this delay, as well as the second leg having it own delay. We then found that 5 of the boys did not have bags arrive with them in Barcelona, but we were given a 99% chance that they will get to our hotel tomorrow. We took taxis to the hotel, stored our bags until the rooms would be ready, set out to get cellphones, walked the Rambla and set off for lunch. Their first meal in Spain was in the Boquería market. Each student was given money and sent off to order their own food in the middle of one of Europe's biggest food markets. First we bought them some Jamón Ibérico de bellota (ham from acorn fed Iberian pigs) from one of the best brands, Joselito. We returned to check into our rooms, shower, and head off to Passeg de Gracia to see some of Gaudí's famous architecture from the outside and a tour of his Batlló from the inside. We then came back for a bit of rest before heading to dinner at Asador Aranda. A full serving of sausages, lamb and salad filled us well. The boys impressed with their love of morcilla, the blood sausage.