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Advanced Spanish Class Travels to Spain

LHS Advanced Spanish Class travels to Spain
Posted on 06/14/2016
Spain

Ms. Meier and her students were accompanied on the trip (which included stops in the cities of Barcelona, Valencia, Granada, Fuengirola, and more) by alumna, Kelli Hall, LHS Class of 2006. The days of their trip are chronicled by Ms. Meier here: 

Day 1 (Sunday the 12th): After an eight hour flight from Atlanta where we were all seated in the same row (pretty cool!) we arrived in Barcelona around 8 am. We met our tour director Nicolas and his assistant for the first few days, Javier, and headed to the hotel with the Atlanta group that was on our flight. After changing and freshening up we went by tram into the city center for a walking tour down to the Plaza Cataluña where we left the other group for lunch. Two of my friends that I met while studying in Germany, Sergi and Arturo, went to lunch with us and were a big help explaining things on the menu and practicing Spanish while we ate. We had tapas for the first time.  After lunch we went to a beach called Icaria where we enjoyed the Mediterranean Sea, the sand and some of us even played beach volleyball while the others napped and relaxed. For dinner we ate as a whole group at a restaurant in the port area and met the other groups from Tennessee and Minnesota. We finally arrived back at the hotel around 10 pm which meant we hadn't slept for over 32-ish hours but the girls did great staying cheerful through the tiredness! 

Day 2 (Monday the 13th): This morning we ate breakfast in our hotel and then took a four hour bus tour of Barcelona with stops at Montjüic (a mountain with spectacular views of the city), Parque Güell (a famous park designed by the artist Antonio Gaudí with magnificent colorful tile work), and the Sagrada Familia - the church designed by Antonio Gaudí that was begun in 1888 but is only 56% completed today. After the bus tour as a giant group, we split up for lunch and we went to a restaurant where we ordered the typical lunch in Spain called menú del día which is a starter, a main course, a drink, and dessert for all around 12€. Many of the girls commented that it was the best food we have eaten so far! Then for the rest of our afternoon free time we got ice cream, walked around the old Gothic quarter (the original part of the city), and went souvenir shopping on the famous street Las Ramblas. We ate dinner as a whole group and had tapas again- many of the same from the day before but this time with a typical Cataluñan desert- Crema Catalana. After dinner we headed to our Flamenco show which was simply amazing!! We were right next to the stage and really got to experience the music and the dancing first hand.

Day 3 (Valencia): Today we had our first long bus travel day which was about three hours from Barcelona to Valencia. We experienced our first Spanish rest stop/gas station along the way and arrived right on time to see the Dolphin show at the Oceanografic, the largest aquarium in Europe. We saw many other sea creatures there too and ate hamburgers for lunch (not very Spanish of us but it was already 2 pm by this point) before heading on the bus into the city center of Valencia. On the group walking tour we walked past some deaf people because it was apparently National Sign Language Day in Spain that day and I, of course, freaked out and talked to them for a bit and the girls were so good to put up with me :). After exploring the city and doing some souvenir shopping we headed to our hotel to check in and have dinner there. We split up after dinner to either stay in at the hotel or explore the park around the hotel and were able to go to bed early and catch up on much needed sleep.

Day 4 (Granada): Today was the second of our long travel days, this time about a six hour trip which included three stops. First we stopped at another rest stop where I found ham flavored Pringles for the girls to try! Then we stopped for lunch where some tried paella and we had a nice amount of time to relax and hang out. Finally we stopped at a small town outside of Granada called Purullena where we visited a house that's in a cave which is common in that area. The owners were the sweetest people and the man's family had lived in the house for over 6 generations and now owns three houses in that mountain which they connected to include museums on the second and third floors. We also had some great panoramic views of the area at the top. Finally we arrived in Granada where we took a group walking tour of the city and then had some free time to explore. We all started by enjoying ice cream in the hot weather and it was some of the best ice cream I have ever had!! Then we did souvenir shopping and walking around until it was time to meet the bus again and go to the hotel for check in and dinner. After dinner we went out to explore the city (more just the 8 of us) and I took them to my favorite place in Granada- a neighborhood called El Albaicín which is famous for it's white houses, Arabic tea houses, and neat shops. The neighborhood is built on a mountain and as you enter you continually walk up an incline but the best part is making it to the San Nicolas lookout at the top with breathtaking views of the Alhambra - the Moorish palace we will be touring tomorrow. We listened to people performing Flamenco music at the lookout and took some great pictures before walking allllll the way back to the hotel. Today was the second day we have gotten over 19,000 steps and the lowest has been 15,000 so needless to say we are staying active! :)

Day 5 (Thursday the 16th): Today we spent most of the day exploring the city of Granada. We began by participating in the EF city challenge which was a picture scavenger hunt in the city center of Granada. The girls had to ask for directions in Spanish and ask people to take their picture in Spanish at various landmarks in the city. They did great and were first to finish but ended up getting only third place because they didn't complete the extra credit parts which pushed two more groups above their score. They still had a great time though! After the scavenger hunt we went to Plaza Nueva and all had lunch together. We had a typical Spanish lunch (time wise) that took about an hour and a half and we had pizza, pasta and finally churros con chocolate!! It was a wonderful, relaxing and delicious lunch. After lunch we went as a large group to visit the Alhambra which is a fortress from the Arab empire that ruled Spain until 1492. Granada was the last city to be reconquested by Ferdinand and Isabel and the Alhambra was their fortress/palace. We saw the beautiful gardens called Generalife, many ornate doorways and windows, former housing areas for soldiers and servants, and a new addition from the 1800's of an amphitheater area built by Charles I of Spain. Our most favorite part was probably the majestic views of the Albaicín, the old Arab neighborhood we had walked through the night before to be able to see he Alhambra at night. It was so neat to see it all of the white houses from the other direction! Then we had a two hour bus ride to the city of Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol. We arrived right before dinner so after checking in and eating we had free time which we used to go to the beach (only a 5 minute walk from the hotel!), watch UEFA cup soccer, and relax by the pool. 

Day 6 (Friday the 17th): Today was our free beach day and we loved it! Instead of our usual 6:30 or 7:00 am wake up call we slept in and had breakfast at 9:00 am after which we headed to the beach!! The sand was different than we were used to (rockier) but still soft and the water was also different- way colder!! The city of Fuengirola faces the Mediterranean Sea and only a few of us were brave enough to actually get all the way in the cold water. Most of us just stuck our feet in and that was enough ;). After a few hours and lots of sunscreen at the beach we headed to lunch where we had yummy sandwiches and found the most adorable candy store! I bought some Spanish chocolate, a Spanish nougat candy called Turrón, and real Spanish chupachups for the girls which we all tried and shared later at the pool. In the later afternoon some of us went back to the beach and some of us relaxed at the hotel pool. Then we had dinner and free time to go back to the beach, swim at the pool or watch Spain play in the UEFA cup (they won 3-0, woohoo!). 

Day 7 (Saturday the 18th): Today after breakfast in Fuengirola we headed to the city of Sevilla. Once in the city center we immediately noticed several similarities to KC as they are sister cities: the Giralda tower, the fountains, and carriage rides being offered around the city. After a short walking tour we had time for lunch and the girls got to try Patatas Alioli and Gazpacho- the potatoes were definitely the favorite. Then we had time for more delicious ice cream before we met the large group for our guided tour of the Cathedral of Sevilla. It is a gothic cathedral with very high ceiling and magnificent arches and an impressive collection of gold and silver artifacts, as well as an astonishing altar piece made of gold and hundreds of figurines depicting stories from the Bible. What they will probably remember the most is seeing Christopher Columbus' grave. It was sent back to Spain after the Dominican Republic and Cuba won their independence and it has been kept in the cathedral ever since. We also got to go to the top of the Giralda tower and have great views of the city of Sevilla. Then the local guide showed us around the old Jewish quarter of the city with narrow white streets. Finally our bus took us to the Plaza de España which was built in 1929 for the Iberoamerican fair as an exhibition for Spain. It is a semicircle with benches showing a map for many cities in Spain as well as a representation of one of the important events in the history of that city. The benches are made of tile and are beautiful! This plaza was also used in one of the Star Wars movies as the planet Nabu. In the afternoon we had free time to go shopping and explore the city before heading to our hotel which was about 30 minutes from the city center. In the evening we had pool time and then enjoyed a delicious and long dinner before going to bed early because the next day we had a 6 am wake up call!

Day 8 (Sunday the 19th): Today was the earliest of mornings yet but somehow we made it to breakfast by 7 am and on the bus by 7:30 am! We headed to the city of Córdoba where we first walked across El Puente Romano (a Roman bridge) and then had a guided visit of La Mezquita de Córdoba (the mosque of Córdoba) which was built by the Moors when they had control of the peninsula and the city of Córdoba was one of the biggest cities in the world at that time- bigger than Paris or London even. The mosque was immediately consecrated as a church when the Catholic kings, Ferdinand and Isabel, took control of the city again and for that reason the mosque was not destroyed. It is the only mosque that still stands in Spain from that time period. Later they built a church in the center of the mosque but left all of the arches around in tact. It was an amazing sight to see! After the mosque visit our guide took us on a short walking tour of the city where we also walked through the old Jewish quarter and saw more white houses and this time lots of flowers on the walls of the houses too. After the tour we had freetime for lunch where the girls got to try Salmorejo and Flamenquin and many of them had paella again. Not all of these dishes have been their favorites but they are doing a great job trying everything! In the afternoon we embarked on a three hour journey to Madrid with a stop at a Don Quijote museum along the way. Once in Madrid we checked into the hotel and then walked to dinner at El Museo del Jamón (the ham museum) which actually ended up being one of their favorite meals despite several people not liking ham as the main course was chicken and it was delicious!! In the evening we all did a rooftop tour of Madrid during which we walked through the city center and went up on three rooftops to enjoy incredible views of the city at night. The last one was definitely our favorite as we had free time to enjoy the sights, relax on couches, and some of us even saw a shooting star which was exciting. We got back to the hotel around midnight and it was still decently light out and there were still people in the streets even on a Sunday night- they sure have a different rhythm of life here. We were exhausted by that time and headed to bed to gear up for our last day in Spain tomorrow!

Day 9 (Monday the 20th): Today was our last full day in Spain and it was one of the most jam packed as there is a lot to see in Madrid! We started with a tour of the Prado Art museum where pictures are not allowed so you´ll have to ask your girls to describe the paintings they saw and liked and/or didn´t like. The two most famous we saw were Goya´s painting El dos de mayo and El tres de mayo as well as Velásquez´s Las meninas. After the art museum we walked to an area called El Barrio de las Letras which is the literature quarter and had quotes from famous Spanish authors on the streets. There we had free time for lunch where we split up and were able to do some souvenir shopping as well. In the afternoon we walked through La Plaza Mayor to get to El Palacio Real (the royal palace) which was the former residence of the Spanish Royal Family but today is a museum and is used for formal events only. The palace consists of 2,800 rooms but we only visited maybe 50 which are the only ones open to the public. Pictures are not allowed inside the rooms so you will have to ask your girls to describe the rooms that they liked the most. My favorite this time was the dining room which has a table that can seat 144 people. Yes, that means that the entire LHS student body could sit at that table. I´ll see what I can do to organize that as a school outing :). After our guided visit of the palace we took a panoramic bus tour of the city pointing out many other famous and important sights that we weren´t able to reach on foot. We were so tired by this point in the day that many of us dozed off (Profe included) but it was nice to not have to walk for a bit and to see many other important sights in Madrid. After the bus tour it was time for our bike ride through El Retiro Park! It took about an hour and a half and I was able to sneak some pictures while riding (not easy for an uncoordinated person like myself :)) but there was so much to see in the park! Highlights were a lake where you can ride boats, a glass house from a World Fair, a statue and monument dedicated to one of the Spanish kings, enjoying the breeze while riding, and eating ice cream! After the bike tour we headed back to the city center where we had a half hour of free time for souvenir shopping before dinner. Our last dinner as a large group was at a Tapas place called Toro Tapas. We had a nice time and were able to recognize each group and their teachers and thank our tour director. Before heading back to the hotel we spent the last of our Euros buying souvenirs (can you tell this was a common theme today? :)).

Day 10 (Tuesday the 21st): Today was not only the first day of summer but also literally our longest day as we started with a 7:00 am wake-up call and didn´t get home to KC until it was about 2:00 am the next day for our bodies. We started the morning with a last breakfast at the hotel and saying goodbye to our tour director, Nicolás (see last group photo). We were blessed with no problems on the flights and survived the 9 hour trip from Madrid to Atlanta as well as getting through customs which took at least an hour. Nothing too exciting to tell- just lots of free movies to watch and lots of time sitting.

(Emily Meier is the foreign language instructor at Lutheran High School. In January of 2015, she took her Advanced German students on a two week trip to Germany.)

Pictures of the trip may be viewed in the Knight Life Photo Album under the School News Tab.