Dia 6: Madrid

Our last full day in Spain we spent in the capital, Madrid. We walked around the city the entire day. We saw everything from the Museo del Prado to the Reina Sofia, where modern art is. We walked through the Parque Retiro and heading towards El Palacio Real. The Palace is so huge! And there were so many guards and people wandering around, along with all the street vendors. From there, we headed towards the Plaza Mayor, where we stopped to have lunch. From there, we went to the Plaza Europa where the famous statue of a bear eating from a strawberry tree is. I have no idea why, but it's the symbol of Spain. Then we headed up the main street in Madrid, La Gran Via, where is very cosmopolitan, full of movie theaters, shops and strangely, a restaurant called Nebraska.

Tarea:

1. Go to the websites for the Museo del Prado and the Museo de la Reina Sofia. Find five major works in each museum.
2. Research the legend of the bear eating from the strawberry tree.

Dia 5: San Sebastian

From the south of Spain back up to the north, we arrived in San Sebastian, a city on the coast of the Bay of Biscay in El Pais Vasco. While apart of Spain, El Pais Vasco has its own unique heritage of the Basque, a proud people who are primarily fisherman (some of the best in the world) and speak their own language of Basque.

San Sebastian is a beautiful, multicultural city. It had a gorgeous beach called La Playa de la Concha, or Shell Beach, because of its unique shape. Just off of this beach is the famous sculpture, Combs of the Wind, by Eduardo Chillida. Supposedly, one can hear music through these "combs" when the wind blows through them; however, the ocean is too loud to hear any music whatsoever.

The town of San Sebastian is wonderful. We crashed a wedding in a beautiful Gothic cathedral; made friends with some Basque fisherman; watched human sculptures and followed a small celebration through the streets. While I'm not really sure what it was for, they definitely had giant dancing puppets called gigantes.

Tarea:

1. Research the history of El Pais Vasco.
2. Research the traditions of the Basques.

Dia 4: Malaga

We arrived in Malaga by bus from Granada around midday. We went straight to the beach to have some fun unwinding. The Mediterranean Sea was so warm, so blue and the sun was sparkling. We ate possibly the best seafood ever imagined on the boardwalk for lunch. The seafood had been caught that same day!

Later on, we went to the Picasso Museum. Malaga is best known as the birthplace of Pablo Picasso, one of Spain's premier painters. He is best known for his cubist paintings, especially for his mural of Guernica, during the Spanish Civil War.

Tarea:

Write 3-4 pages on Picasso. Cite his life, his inspirations and the importance of his most famous works.

Dia 3: Granada

We arrived in Granada before dawn. Our bus dropped us off in the main part of town and we ran through the plaza and up several long hills to get in line for our Alhambra tickets. The Alhambra is a collection of Moorish palaces, the remains of the longstanding Arabic influence in Spain. Granada was the last Moorish stronghold. The city was purged of the Moors in 1492 when the Catholic Kings, Fernando and Isabel, rode in and overtook Granada. Now the Alhambra stands as a network of seven palaces with amazing mozarabe artwork...and they only let a limited number of people in per day, hence our running towards the gates.

We spent several hours roaming aimlessly around the Alhambra, taking in everything from the aritectqure to the Generalife gardens. After our siesta, which we greatly needed, we did a tapas crawl for dinner. Because there are so many hours between a traditional Spanish lunch and dinner, most bars have little snacks called tapas, coming from the verb "tapar" which means "to cover" as they used to be used to cover drinks to keep out the bugs. Granada has one of the last neighborhoods that serve tapas free with a drink. So we had everything from tortilla patatas, to a plate of green olives to a small biscuit topped with ham and oregano. Tapas can be anything from seafood to vegetables but it's always just a taste.



Tarea:

1. Research the history of the Alhambra. Write 2-3 pages on the history, the important people and the artwork.
2. Research tapas recipes. Bring in at least three.


To see what kind of dance is most popular in Granada, watch the video below.

Dia 2: Barcelona

From Pamplona, we went west through the Pyrenees to the city of Barcelona, in the region of Cataluna. Barcelona is a very international city with signs both in Spanish and in the regional language of Catalan, which is like a cross between French and Spanish. The city is best known for its famous artist, Anton Gaudi, whose art can be seen throughout the city in different buildings and parks. His masterpiece work, La Sagrada Familia, is still 50 years away from completion.

We strolled Las Ramblas, which is a streetlong marketplace of everything from live chickens to paintings. At the end of Las Ramblas is a monument to Cristobal Colon, which shows him pointing to the Americas. We walked over to the Gothic Quarter, which is a confusing old neighborhood of twisting streets and corners which eventually opens up to La Sagrada Familia, the gorgeous Gaudi work.

That night we attended an FC Barcelona-Osasuna game which had a packed stadium and a riotous crowd. FC Barcelona won that game. To learn more about Spanish soccer, check this out: Spanish Soccer

Tarea:

1. Pick one team from the Spanish Soccer link and research them. Write 2-3 pages on the team, its history and its fans.
2. Research the works of Anton Gaudi. Bring in your research.

Dia 1: Pamplona

Today, we arrived in Madrid. I met my group in the airport, Las Barajas, and we took a bus up north to Pamplona, the first city on our tour. The landscape of the north is beautiful. It ranges from the plains surrounding Madrid to the mountains of Navarre. We stopped about halfway at a restaurant on the side of the highway for a traditional Spanish meal of fish, wine and fruit. The restaurant even had a live peacock!

After the five hour bus ride, we arrived in Pamplona, at the Public University of Navarre, where we began our tour of the city. Pamplona is the capital of the region of Navarre, which was annexed with Spain in 1512. The city is most famous for the festival called Sanfermines, or the Running of the Bulls. It takes place in July over a period of eight days where the Pamplonians celebrate their patron saint, San Fermin.

We took a bus to the heart of the city, La Ciudad Vieja, and explored the beautiful gothic cathedral. The streets of this area are narrow and made of stones. Where the bulls run, you can see marks on the street from their hoofs. From there, we explored the Ciudadela, the old fortress that used to keep invading armies out of the city. Now the walls still stand and it is used to connect La Ciudad Vieja to the more modern neighborhood of San Juan.

Tarea:

Research and define the following terms:
1. Las Barajas
2. Pamplona
3. Navarre
4. Sanfermines
5. San Fermin
6. La Ciudad Vieja
7. La Ciudadela
8. San Juan