Andalucia

If there's one new Spanish word we've learned on this trip, it's huelga: strike. After leaving Barcelona, we arrived in Granada to find that a major labor strike had been planned. It turned out to be worse than expected, and although peaceful, the streets were completely filled with people, blocking most taxis and buses, and the sound of police helicopters overhead was not infrequent.
Unfortunately, this prevented us from seeing the two main attractions in Granada, the huge Moorish castle of Alhambra and the giant cathedral in the center of town.
The good news is that we got some cool pictures and good stories to tell.
Our trip from Granada to Jerez de la Frontera was certainly not uneventful; after finding out that our train was full, we took a three hour bus ride to Seville and a subsequent bus ride to the comfortable little city of Jerez. Though we got into town late, we had a wonderful dinner and are now preparing to get a good night's sleep. More updates to follow!
Gitaine, Chris, and Eli

Barcelona, Spain

After our long plane ride, we got to our apartment with few complications. We spent the evening getting settled in and then went to sleep. The next day we got ready and ate at our soon-to-be daily bakery. After breakfast we headed off on the Metro to Las Rambles, where we entertained ourselves with people watching and shopping at the La Boqueria. At the end of the Las Rambles was Port Vell where we walked around a little bit. After a filling lunch of Paella, we ventured into the Columbus Monument where you could take the elevator up to the top and look at the entire city. Following the Columbus Monument, we walked back through Las Rambles and ended back at our apartment. + The next day we took the short walk to Sagrada Familia, it was one of the most amazing Cathedrals any of us had ever seen. After Sagrada Familia, we enjoyed a nice lunch, where we had our first Spanish Flan. After our delicious lunch, we took the long Metro ride to Park Guell, where we saw many great street performers and multiple works of Gaudi. We ended our day with the long walk back to the apartment. + The next day we set out to the Barcelonian Cathedral. The Cathedral had beautiful architecture and thirteen snow-white geese. After enjoying the Cathedral, we watched the native Catalonians do their Sardana dance to display their solidarity. We then took the short walk to the Picasso Museum, it had many great works of art but none of us were necessarily art majors. Then we left the area to take a break back at the apartment and waited to see Sagrada Familia at night. It seemed even more beautiful at night. + The following day, we took a day trip out to Montserrat, which is a monastery, high in the Catalonian Mountains. After a short five minute cable car ride, we were up at the monastery, where we enjoyed a fantastic view and savored our picnic-like lunch. After lunch we had to wait in line to see the Black Virgin Mary, which is said to dish out miracles. The line took at least forty-five minutes to get to Mary, where we got to touch a ball she was holding in her right hand. After that, we stopped at the souvenir shop and then headed down the mountain and set out to return to Barcelona where we participated in a dessert walk and got to try all sorts of sweets.+ The next day, we spent the morning visiting multiple Roman ruins and went through the City History Museum and got to see the actual base of the Roman city of Barcino. For the afternoon, we traveled to the beach, where we enjoyed some well deserved down time. After a relaxing time at the beach, we headed back to the apartment, where we packed up our stuff in preparation for our departure to Granada.+ This morning, we cleaned the apartment and said our last goodbyes to our newfound friends. Then we took a plane out of Barcelona to Granada. After landing in Granada, we found our hotel pretty quickly. We settled in and headed out to Plaza Nueva for exploration and dinner. After a variety of different foods we returned to our hotel, where we into to sleep through the street music. More to follow…+