spanish social customs
spanish food
spanish language for beginners
| Monday
January 8 meeting
presentations |
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| Melissa
Fender |
Toledo |
| Brittney
Ross |
Seville |
| Monday
February 5 presentations (11:45 am Beall 7) bring the following: a) photocopy of passport b) parent-signed NCSSM school-sponsored activity form c) student/parent-signed contract for miniterm travel behavior |
|
| Valyce
Davis |
Madrid |
| Natalie
Singleton |
Spanish
Culture |
| Jeremy Steinman | Ronda |
| Monday
March 19 presentations: 11:45 am, Beall 7 what EVERYONE MUST bring: 1) $54 for tips; checks should me payable to 2) your parents' emergency contact numbers (home and cell) and email address |
|
| Brenton Vasconcellos | Granada |
| Adam
Stegall |
Cordoba |
| Lauren
Iannotte |
Consuegra |
trip itinerary |
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| Day | Date | Description | City | ||||||||||||
| 1 |
Thursday, March 29, 2007 |
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Departure for Madrid Overnight Flight |
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| 2 |
Friday, March 30, 2007 |
Arrival in Madrid. Bus to Toledo. Arrival brefing. Afternoon and evening activities organized by group leader. Dinner. what really happened.... the route to spain was pretty eventful and exhausting (mentally and physically!), but we did make it.... if you want the long version, it's here having finally arrived in Madrid, we met our helpful and friendly guide Ruth and the other two groups that are touring with us (a group of 7 from Whittier, California and a group of 16 from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania) hopped on to a bus, and arrived in Toledo about an hour later.... By then it was nearly 9 pm and we tired but hungry and ready for dinner... (and no one asked to stay up late!) |
Hotel Casona
de la Reyna Carreras de San Sebastian, 226 Toledo 45002 Spain Telephone (local) 925 282052 Telephone (from USA): 011-34-925 224900 hotel location map interactive Michelin map |
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3 |
Saturday, March 31, 2007 |
Morning sightseeing with a local guide. Optional afternoon excursion to Aranjuez. Dinner and overnight in Toledo. the whole story: The morning was spent with the excellent local guide in Toledo.... We arrived first at an artisan sword- and damascene-making establishment, (Toledo is the sword and knife capital of Spain), had a whirlwind tour of Toledo's immense cathedral, (the chapel has 20 El Grecos plus works by Velazquez, Goya, Caravaggio visited the small chapel of St. Iledefonso (patron saint of Toledo) -- which houses El Greco's Burial of Count Orgaz, and also saw El Greco's house/museum (unfortunately closed), and the former synagogue of Santa Maria. We split up for lunch (in order to try authentic Spanish food), and different groups spent the rest of the afternoon shopping, (instead of 42-Euro visit to the palace at Aranjuez) visiting the Santa Cruz museum (which had an excellent exhibit onthe Reign of Visigoths in Spain plus 10 more El Grecos and a medieval zodiac tapestry), or just exploring the manageably small town of Toledo. Dinner was at the same place the previous night, and not particularlly exciting, but this time (thanks to Diane) we at least had flan. |
Toledo as above |
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4 |
Sunday, April 01, 2007 |
Morning
drive to Consuegra to see the
windmills. Continue to Granada. Afternoon and evening activiites organized by group leader. Dinner. the whole story: We left Toledo at about 9 am to drive by bus to Consuegra and the windmills. The weather was cloudy and at times rainy, but not when we were at the windmills. After a roadside stop (think turnpike food) for lunch, we spent another 90 minutes on the bus until arriving at Granada before 3 pm. We are staying adjacent to the Alhambra (which we tour tomorrow morning), and which is higher than the rest of the city.... There was time before supper for a tour of the city which included more shopping and a visit by some to the Granada cathedral, the burial place of Fernando and Isabella, the Catholic Monarchs who funded Columbus's trip to America... a buffet dinner, at the hotel, was unimpressive.... some students and jk walked back down to the town later that night.... unfortunately, damp weather caused the Holy Week processions scheduled for Granada on Sunday night to be canceled. |
Hotel
Alixares Alixares Del Generalife Avenida Alixares del Generalife, Granada E-18009, Spain hotel location map Telephone (local) (95) 822 5575 Telephone (from USA): 011-34-95-822 55 75 |
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| 5 |
Monday, April 02, 2007 |
Morning sightseeing of Granada with a local guide, including the Alhambra and Generalife Gardens. Continue to Mijas for a visit. Drive to Ronda where you visit the bullring. Dinner and overnight in Ronda. the whole story: We did tour the Alhambra, unfortunately mostly in the cold rain.... the rain stopped, of course, just after we finished the tour, but we were on to Ronda.... The route took us to the southern coast of Spain (the Costa del Sol), filled with more high-rises than Miami Beach or Waikiki.... for lunch out tour guide to us up to Mijas, one the "white towns" that sits on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean after lunch it was on to Ronda, another of the white towns, which has one of the oldest active bullfighting rings in Spain.... we saw the ring and the associated museum and then Ruth led us to two of the bridges for which Ronda is famous (see the photos) tomorrow morning we leave for Sevilla.... |
Hotel Reina Victoria Calle Jerez, 25 Ronda Spain hotel location map Telephone (local) (95) 287 1240 Telephone (from USA): 011-34-95-287 1240 |
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| 6 |
Tuesday, April 03, 2007 |
Morning drive to Seville
for a visit and free time. the whole story: we left Ronda at 9 am and set out for Sevilla.... on the way, we stopped at Arcos de la Frontera, still another of the white towns... we hiked up to the Plaza Cabilda, where San Pedro & Santa Maria churches are, and which looks down over the countryside and the town.... in truth, there wasn't too much to do there, but it was a pleasant day so far we arrived at Sevilla around 2 pm, and the rain arrived with us.... we got relatively soaked visitng the Place de Espana, and got further rained on when we had to walk about 10 minutes to get to our hotel (because of exceedingly narrow streets) there was some mix-up at the techno-hotel (where some never did figure out how to turn on the shower), so that caused further delays, and by the time everyone had a room and we were guided to the Sevilla cathedral & Giralda for city orientation, it was past 4 pm when we were turned loose for lunch.... a blessing in disguise (see below) we were told to be back at the hotel by 6:15 pm because one of the Santa Semana processions (St. Nicholas of the Candles) started from the church directly across from the hotel & it might well be impossible to get back afterwards... of course, all the students made it back, but the adults didn't quite, although both successfully waded through the wall-to-wall crowds and were back by 6:30 pm..... the procession started about 7 pm and everyone (except JK) had front window seats overlooking the procession (the Candelaria) from the second or third floor of the hotel (JK was at street level.... see pictures) unfortunately we were scheduled to have dinner at 8 pm and then go to a disco (boat !) at 9:30 pm, and although we left for dinner at 7:45 pm, the procession crowds prevented us from getting to the restaurant until 9:30 pm (despite tireless attempts at procession circumlocution by our guide).... needless to say, we missed the disco boat to the disappointment of (nearly) all.... even the trip back from the restaurant to the hotel was interrupted by the (same!) procession, and those of us still awake at 1 am heard the trumpets of the procession's return to the church even later |
new
hotel! Hotel Petit Palace Santa Cruz 18 Munoz y Pabon Seville 41001 Spain hotel location map Telephone (local) (954) 22 1812 Telephone (from USA): 011-34-954 221 032 |
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| 7 |
Wednesday, April 04, 2007 |
Morning
sightseeing of Seville with a
local guide,
including entrance to the Cathedral and Alcazar. Afternoon and evening activiites organized by group leader. Dinner and evening flamenco show. the whole story: a perfectly blue cloudless sky greeted us in the morning... we were guided through the Alcazar (the Moorish palace and gardens later appropriated by the Christian kings) and the Sevilla cathedral (3rd largest in the world after the Vatican and St. Paul's in London), which everyone climbed to the top afterwards was free time ... after window shopping along Sierpes and dinner at Boreas, a few of us visited the Museum of Fine Arts, which had a special exhibit of , in addition to the permanent collection of many Zuburans, Murillos, El Grecos, and Velazquezs, a post-dinner rousing flamenco performance ended the evening (well, actually a 40 minute walk back to the hotel around midnight did) |
Seville, as
above |
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| 8 |
Thursday, April 05, 2007 |
Morning drive to Cordoba for sightseeing with a local guide, including the Mezquita. Fast train to Madrid for dinner and overnight. the whole story: we left a partly sunny Sevilla at 9 am (and we didn't have to drag our baggage back to the bus!) on our way to a supposedly sunny Cordoba unfortunately the rain met us there, although most of our visit to the Mezquita was a relatively dry one, since it was "inside".... the free time preceding and succeeding the Mezquita tour was a bit wet, though at 3 pm we left for the high-speed train that would take us from Cordoba boarding the train was an adventure that had to be meticulously planned (we had 4 minutes to load 80 pieces of baggage and 38 people onto a train through 1 door) but it was successful Madrid was not rainy (!) although cloudy and chilly.... after an unusually excellent dinner (which included lamb as the main course and baked alaska for dessert), we were treated to another dessert of churros and chocolate in a corner of the Plaza de Mayor in partial recompense for tuesday's ordeals of course, our route to and from churros had to circumnavigate a procession.... |
Puerta de
Toledo Glorieta Puerta de Toledo 4 Madrid 28005 Spain hotel location map Telephone (local) (91) 474 71 00 Telephone (from USA): 011-34-91- 474 71 00 |
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9 |
Friday, April 06, 2007 |
Morning drive to Madrid for sightseeing with a local guide, including entrance to the Prado. Afternoon and evening activiites organized by group leader. Dinner. the whole story: after a quick trip to the Reina Sofia (Guernica and much other good stuff), we met back at the hotel for a stop at the Bullfighting Ring followed by a tour of the Royal Palace.... Diane and John visited the Thyssen (modern art) and then searched unsuccessfully for an Escher exhibit (closed, of course, for Good Friday, as was the promised Prado) in the rain... back to the Puerta del Sol for a paella dinner at a nearby restaurant |
Madrid as above |
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10 |
Saturday, April 07, 2007 |
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return travel to USA |
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| ACIS
Andalusian Fiesta |
spanish social customs spanish food spanish language for beginners |
Spain info
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more culture in Granada
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more culture in Sevilla
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more culture in Cordoba |
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the art of Spain
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additional
Madrid culture
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