Blogs from Girona, Catalonia, Spain, Europe - page 3

Lou contemplates: In his book 'Homage to Barcelona', the author Colm Toibin gives a compelling recount of the siege on a number of buildings in the city during the Civil War. When we were walking in Barcelona near the Cathedral we came across a square where the massive blocks of ancient stone surrounding a doorway were pock marked with bullets and chunks of stone had been blown away. It was really energetically draining to just stand and observe the space- we had a deep sense that ‘shit had gone down’. Some spaces are really charged with their past. It seems that Spain is a country that contains many stories about the defense of space and identity across the ages. When we were on the train platform waiting to go to Girona we noticed the two differing ... read more

Visitamos a la Tarraco Romana como anfiteatro, circo, y el museo arqueologico. Today we visited La Tarraco Romana. We went to the anfiteatro, circo, and the archeology museum. The anfiteatro is where the gladiators would fight either each other or animals in front of an audience. They had rooms called “vomitario” which is where spectators were allowed to throw up if the sight or smell of these battles was a little too much to handle…we definitely don’t have those in America. The circo is very small after years of erosion. We only saw one section of it because the rest has been destroyed. The circo is where they had chariot races so it used to be a huge circular arena. img=https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151391296749428&set=a.10151383260394428.570513.693919427&type=3&theater Even though the circo was almost all gone, what did... read more

This past weekend I attended the IES study journey to Costa Brava. I really enjoyed this vacation because IES did a very good job of planning this trip. Costa Brava is the northern coastal region of Spain, located north of Barcelona. The cities we visited in Costa Brava were: Figueres, Cadaques, Girona, La Jonquera, and Collioure. I really enjoyed the weekend because the sites we visited were fascinating and rich with history. I also got to visit France for the first time when we went to Cadaques! The weekend started on Friday morning at 7:30 A.M. in Plaza Catalunya. All of us IES students met outside of the Hard Rock Cafe to board our buses for Costa Brava. As soon as I got settled in my seat I could tell that I would have a great ... read more

On the 20th of September 2010 I went to India to work as a teacher volunteer for 6 months in Vedanthangal (a village in the state of Tamil Nadu, South India). I came back to Spain in March and, after some time just to catch up with my friends and family, I’ve been travelling a bit around Spain and Europe with my boyfriend Paul (Australian who is in Spain for the first time). We went to the north of Spain (Camino de Santiago), Formentera, South France, Switzerland and some small trips in Catalonia. India is in the air all the time since Paul arrived here because he’s in love with this beautiful country but since last week something is changing in me..... I can see again those colourful saris contrasting on black skin; I can hear ... read more

So headed up to Costa Brava for the weekend- was a 1 and a half hour drive – I taught the girls how to play pea knuckle wars- bad move. Felt like 1000 games later we arrived yay! Pals is a beautiful old historical town- the beach house was in a beautiful complex- typical Spanish houses all white and stone and concrete- it then had a really nice big pool to share with the other 10 houses in that part and another pool on the other side for the other 10. We decided to head to beach and took a picnic lunch- but was so windy and even cold! Felt very strange wearing jeans and jersey at the beach- although quite Spanish ☺ It is starting to get really hot so normally walking around Barcelona in ... read more