Day 9: Barcelona, Spain

Day 9   Barcelona    7/1/11

We had plenty of time to get ready for the day. After breakfast, we walked down to go to Las Ramblas. Sharon hurt her knee walking home last night and decided to skip the walk and tour of the street. Chris walked us down the street and gave us some information:

•         The name Ramblas is originally Arabic that means riverbed.

•         The street is divided into sections. One section has pets, one has flowers, etc.

•         At the end of the street, there is a statue celebrating Christopher Columbus. Columbus is originally on Italian that went overseas for the Spanish. Chris said that there are at least four cities in Spain and Italy that claim to have his remains.

Chris Mulhorn and Brien posing with one of the living statues
at the Ramblas

After the walk, we had free time and did some more shopping. At 12:45, some of the group met at the market and had a guide (who showed up a half hour late) show them how to shop at the market for fresh vegetables/meat/fish and also showed them how to prepare the food, Spanish style.

The marketplace of Barcelona

The narrow streets of Barcelona

After eating a greek salad, I went back to the hotel and had a hard hour plus nap. At 5:00, those who were at the hotel and were going to the Flamenco dancing optional left. Our performance was at 6:30 and we were treated to some guitar solos before the dancing performance. The soloist certainly could play their guitars in the Spanish style, even doing some improve with their music.

Betsy(foreground), Sharon and June(background)

before the Flamenco dancing demonstration

Steven before the Flamenco dancing

The main event was also impressive with the expressive dancing done loudly on a specially made floor for the dancing. There were three males singing that seemed to be telling a story while the male and female alternated dancing or danced together. I think that if I  were to sum it up in one word, I would say sensual. The dances seem to really concentrate on their dance and each other.

Afterward, we took a bus back to the hotel and made our 8:30 supper. Everyone ate well and then we started saying our goodbyes to the other groups. All of them were leaving early the next day, but due to flight schedules, we got to stay an extra day. We also said good bye to Chris. He did a good job and it was sad to see him go.