Spain
5 MAY
Departed for Spain in the evening.
6 MAY
Arrived in Calella and settled in. We explored the tourist mile and ate in the hotel.
7 MAY
LINKS: Barcelona; Sagrada Familia Church; Gaudi (architect)
After breakfast we got in the bus and drove to Barcelona where we had a bus/walking tour of the city with our tour guide for the week - Hank (who was originally from The Netherlands). We saw the Sagrada Family Church which is still under construction as it gets funding and was designed by Gaudi. We saw quite a few other buildings that he designed that were all very interesting and definetely unique. We walked down Las Ramblas, which is filled with markets and performers to the Hard Rock Cafe where I had a drink and back to the harbour where we were to meet the bus and where there was a monument to Columbus. Interestingly, Barcelona is a planned city, you can see in pictures where all the blocks are perfectly rounded squares. We drove to the top of a hill with wonderful fountains that overlooked the city before returning the hotel. After supper, there was entertainment in the lobby. First there was a wine drinking contest where you had to swallow wine continuously until you couldn't anymore, and the one who did it the longest was the winner. That was followed by flamenco dancing and singng by two very good dancers (and the hotel waiters!
8 MAY
Today was a free day which was spent exploring Calella some more, going to the internet cafe, drinking much Sangria and walking along the beach.
9 MAY
After breakfast we got on the bus for a trip to the Monastary of Montserrat. The scerney is beautiful here, with the monastary nestled in the unusual rocks of the mountain. The monastary itself in very intersting to walk through, and ladies, if you want to start a family, touch the sphere of the Black Madonna which is suppose to bring good luck in fertility. After we were finished walking around the monastary, we drove to Tordera where we had meat and wine food served by medieval wenches and jousting at "Medieval Night" at a castle there. That was followed by Flamenco dancing and a night tour around Barcelona to see all the lights of the city before returning to the hotel.
10 MAY
Today was another free day which was against spent exploring Calella some more, going to the internet cafe, drinking much Sangria and walking along the beach. Although mostly the last two!
11 MAY
LINKS: Lloret de Mar; Tossa de Mar
After breakfast we drove to Lloret de Mar where we walked along the boardwalk and did major shopping. We dumped our stuff in the bus and headed to a boat which we cruised down the coast on to Tossa de Mar. We walked through the ruins which were very intersting and wound our way through old and very interesting streets> (doing shopping along the way, of course) to the where the bus was meeting us. Once on the bus we drove our this small farm house in the middle of the country for wine tasting!! Yum. Then it was back to the hotel and relax before dinner.
12 MAY
This was our last day in Spain and we spent it doing lots of last minute shopping! There was a market in town today, so we worked our way there and worked our way back - in the pouring rain! - stopping at an English pub to dry off and get something to drink. At the hotel, we started packing, but went back out in the evening, after the rain stopped. We decided to have dinner at a resturant in town for our last night instead of at the hotel. We did some very last minute shopping (including another suitcase - we have quite a collection!) and drinking and then went back to the hotel to finish packing and go to bed!
13 MAY
We got up early and after breakfast, got on the bus back to Germany.