Time is flying by! I cannot believe I only have 6 days left in Spain. This past week has been memorable to say the least.
The second half of that last day in Madrid I spent in the city of Toledo. It was exactly what I thought of when someone mentioned the medieval times. Narrow alleys, cobblestone roads, an old gothic cathedral. It was beautiful. And extremely quiet. A hard 180 turn from what I had been experiencing in Madrid. It wasn?t until we took a taxi to the Mirador del Valle that I realized how compact it was. Across the river from the town, we could see just how much life and business and history was packed into its relatively small walls.
The day following our return to Barcelona, we took a class trip to the ancient and bright town of Girona. We walked around taking in the beautiful medieval architecture of the walled Old Quarter. We toured the cathedral here too. Of course. And found some of the oldest architecture and paintings we had seen yet. Along all of this, the King of the Franks, Charlemagne, chair was here. It?s cool to see and be close to things that historical figures like him were sitting on hundreds of years ago. Lunch was provided for by an extremely delicious and traditional restaurant that knocked it out of the park. I had the white asparagus and duck fillet, paella, and traditional chocolate and aioli dessert.?
We bussed from here to Tossa de Mar. This small coastal town traces its history back over 2,000 years. The older part of town, filled with ramparts, towers, and cobbled streets sent us back in time and were impressive feats of architecture. We were shown a statue of Ava Gardner, an actress, whose role in the movie Pandora, put Tossa de Mar on the map. I?ve never seen it but this town deserves all the recognition it gets. I loved it and the gelato that I walked around with.?
Another highlight of the week was our cooking class. We got the opportunity to cut, slice, dice, and chop ingredients to make some traditional Catalan dishes. I was so excited for this. We cooked Croquetas, a type of breaded dumpling with a ham, cheese, and dough filling, and Patatas Bravas, which we seasoned to perfection and dipped in our homemade Brava sauce, as an appetizer. For the main course we made a meat and vegetable paella and a seafood black rice dish. I had a lot of fun cutting up the Cuttlefish. For dessert, we made a version of Catalan Cream with caramelized apples. All of this paired with Coca Cola, Fanta, and bread made for an incredible meal that we shared over a great conversation with Dr. Panina.
This past weekend was another one for the books. A few of the guys and I took a trip to Granada and Sevilla. Our transportation and rooming was memorable to say the least. In Granada we visited the Alhambra, a beautiful fortress remaining from the time the Moorish empire held southern Spain, and walked around the town with a mandatory cone of gelato. In Sevilla we visited the Real Alcazar of Sevilla, an intricate remnant of Sevillas time as a capital of the previously mentioned Moorish empire. We toured the breathtaking Cathedral where we saw Christopher Columbus was buried and climbed up the Giralda, an iconic bell tower that overlooks the city. We visited the Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza which hit home for me and where we learned about the passionate art of bullfighting and it?s history. And finally to cap off the trip we visited Plaza Espana at sunset, enjoying a local guitar player and bubble maker creating the best vibes. I?m sad that the end of my time in Spain is so near, but equally as motivated to look back on all that I?ve experienced and also to finish the trip off strong in Barcelona. Visca Barca!