Day 8 Sevilla - Cadiz - Jerez

This was perhaps the busiest day in my time with this program.  We met at 7 in the morning and moved non-stop until 1:30 am.  We headed to the train station to get to Cadiz, the oldest city in Europe.  It is full of watchtowers as its commerce was based in incoming ships from the new world.  The group enjoyed climbing a couple of these towers and seemed impressed with the dark camera which projected a 360 degree view of the city onto a satalite dish while a guide pointed out important sites.  We then headed up to Jerez, a city famous for three things: sherry, horses, and flamenco.  We toured a sherry bodega and took a tourist train throughout the city.  The tour itself was not much to write about but the group loved not having to walk the route and truly enjoyed people watching as we drove by.  The ride back turned into a mini mixer as there was a group of Spanish kids flirting with our group and inviting our kids to dance in the aisle.  We made it back to Sevilla with 10 minutes to get from the train station to a flamenco show that featured the singer, Ana Real, who had come to our class just a few day earlier.  We then followed this up with a Morrocan dinner at midnight.

Day 7 - Sevilla - Italica

Today our guest teacher did a great job giving the students an overview of Spanish Cinema.  He used a trio of laptops to show us the many directors and actors while explaining how Spanish society influenced how the movies were made and how their themes were affected.  In the afternoon we headed to the Roman ruins of Italica, the first official city outside of what is now Italy.  We started with a large meal of grilled pork and then saw the impressive arena and many mosaics.

Day 6 and 7 - Sevilla - Triana

Our first couple of days of classes have included two guest speakers.  The first day was a class taught by a sociologist who explained how "pick-up" lines work in Spain.  The group enjoyed figuring them out and eventually trying them out in real life situations.  The next day we had a professional flamenco singer, Ana Real, come to explain her job and have the students try singing and clapping part of a traditional song from Triana, a neighborhood were many of the students are staying.  After class we had a walking tour of Triana which included some amazing tapas at three different neighborhood bars.

Day 5 Barcelona - Palau de Musica - Sevilla

Before heading to the airport for our flight to Sevilla, we caught a tour of the Palau de Musica Catalana.  It wan an impressive tour and a great chance to see a non Gaudi moderniste building.  No cameras were allowed during the tour, but here are a couple of shots outside.  We got to Sevilla after a bit of a plane delay and all of the madres looked excited to meet their new sons.

Day 4 - Barcelona - Parc Guell - Mercat La Boqueria

After another breakfast on the go, a typical toasted bread with tomato rubbed on it with ham and olive oil, we headed out (and up) to Parc Guell to see Gaudi’s planned housing project that never came to fruition. What remains, however, are some of his great pieces such as a great bench (it’s hard for a bench to be famous unless Forest Gump sits on it but this one is) a few buildings, and some manmade caves. Also, a famous mosaic statue of an iguana remains that is a true symbol of the city and a real scramble to take a picture by. We then took a metro to the grand market of Barcelona, La Boqueria, where the students were given cash and told to eat in the market. Easily some of the best food in Europe is found in this maze of produce stands and restaurant stalls. I took some pictures at the stall where I ate. After lunch we had a long stroll through different neighborhoods and a large park where, during a picture break, some of the boys met a group of girls from the Catalan countryside where I overheard a great lesson learned when they asked them if they were from Spain and they replied that they were not from Spain but rather from Catalunya. They posed for a picture and then their whole group huddled with our whole group and talked for a good 20 minutes in a mixture of Spanish, Catalan and English. We returned to the hotel, the group had some free time, and then we had an early 8pm dinner (so we could get in to the restaurant) at Cerveceria Catalana. I took a picture outside while we waited for our table but forgot to take any inside as the food was too good to think of cameras at the time.  The photos are again out of order, I think I need a class on moving photos on my blog.