Granada

Day four and five have been spent in Granada, Spain. Yesterday, the students had a chance to visit the last Moorish palace during the 15th century, La Alhambra which means the red walls in Arabic. The students walked through the palace and fort which was build in the 8th century. The students also had a chance to visit the room where Colombus met with Queen Isabel to discuss financing a trip to the new world in April of 1492. Afterwards, we visited the center of Granada where the students had lunch, visited the Cathedral where the Catholic queen and king of Spain are buried and then ate ice cream in Los Italianos where Michelle Obama visited and ate ice cream in the last year. Later on this evening, the students and teachers both learned to dance el flamenco. The ladies danced with success while the boys made the flamenco more interesting! After our lesson with the instructor, she then performed flamenco for us during a dinner and flamenco show. The food and  the performers were absolutely amazing! We had a chicken and pork dinner followed by a  tiramazu dessert. This was followed by a sunset view of La Alhambra where the teachers took pictures with the students that they had in class! Our next stop is Valencia!

Madrid and Sevilla day 3

After another early run with Pete this morning the group went on the AVE train which is the high speed train in Spain. This morning we took a two hour ride to Sevilla which is in the southern part of Spain. After arriving at the hotel we ate lunch in the near by plaza where the students had a chance to order in Spanish. After lunch we met our your guide carmen for a tour around town. The students climbed la giralda which is a tower with a beautiful view of the town. Then they entered the cathedral and saw the incrdible structures and the tomb of Christopher Columbus. From there we continued our tour to the alcazar which was once a moorish palace in the eleventh century. The students then had shopping time around the cathedral before eating a three course meal in the Cabildo Restaurante. To end the day we listened as the Spanish defeated the Portuguese in the semi finals while we were enjoying a 90 minute boat ride on the gualdaquivir river. Oh by the way it was 42 degrees c. today which is 108f. !

madrid day two

Pete and I started the day with a 25 minute jog from the hotel on the main road Gran VIA. After breakfast the group went on a city tour of Madrid stopping at the plaza de toros, plaza de murillo and plaza de colon . The group also had a nice visit to the prado museum where the saw velazquez, murillo, goya and el greco. We had a wonderful tour guide who explained the paintings very well. Afterwards we took a stroll through the retiro park where students strolled in the shade while others took a rowing trip in the lake. After eating lunch the boys went to the hotel while the girls got some shopping done on san antonio. In the evening we took a walk to the royal palace where the student had a chance to see where the monarchy used to live in Spain. I think their favorite part was the armour room! Finally we headed to two local tapa restaurants where we sampled 6 different types of tapa like calamare, peppers and tortilla espanola. I would think the highlight of the day was going to the chocolateria and eating real chocolate and churros. We walked back to the hotel enjoying the Spanish atmosphere from music to local performers in the plaza del sol. Sadly but this was our last day in Madrid.