Spain and Portugal 2017

Kyle and John This was the last full day of our trip and it went a little like this: We woke up, a few of us went to the weight room, ate breakfast and hopped on the bus for our panoramic tour of Lisbon.  First stop was St. Geogres Castle which was preceded by a herculean march up one of Lisbon's 9 hills. The castle was originally built in the 16th century though was used as a site for military fortifications in following centuries.  Our next stop was to the Jeronimos Monastery along the Tejo River. We only stopped for a short time but long enough to enjoy the architecture. Our thirst top was even short and was to watch a tower along the river. Then came lunch which was the best lunch. The Time Out market is home to dozens of different restaurants with foods from just about everywhere you can think of. It had sushi, burgers and Portuguese food as far as the eyes could see.. The last stop we made was the village of Sintra to see the summer palace which had more animals on the...

Dylan and Jason E,  Paige and Jess After we got an early start from a 7:30am wake up call, we packed our things and headed to Lisbon for the last part of our tour. On the way, we made a restroom stop at a gas station in the middle of nowhere.  After buying food and water, we headed back on the road to the capital city of Portugal.  As we approached the 25th of April bridge that lead us to Lisbon, Raquel explained to us our a bit of Lisbon history and why the bridge was named what it was and why it also looked so much like another bridge we've seen in the U.S. As we arrived, it was freaky not knowing a word anyone was saying after being able to communicate in Spain. After we had lunch, we had free time and most people like myself rode the "tuk tuk" for a tour of Lisbon. Also, I (Jason) went to the cathedral that was not fully rebuilt after the earthquake of 1755 and it was a really interesting Cathedral with an unfinished roof. Upon returning to the hotel, we had time ...

Today was a travel day for us. We had a chance to sleep in a bit as we were headed to the town of Mérida today. After our two-hour ride, we walked 10 minutes to the Roman amphitheater and theater which was built even before the Colosseum in Rome.  It was an incredible place as we had a chance to learn where the word "arena" comes from in English as well as the difference between a regular theatre and amphiteatre (amphi meaning 2). Here, Jess and Paige had a chance to try out their vocal chords singing in front of various groups Twinkle, Twinkle! After our visit, we went for lunch and here is where so many of the kids started to eat the menú del día. This is a three-course meal and requires about 90 minutes to eat!! I think one of the most memorable activities was taking a trip to the supermarket. The kids had a blast buying treats and looking at all the cultural differences between our supermarkets and ones in Spain (Parents, I think you can get them to go with you to run er...

Abigail Lynn Gooding Jackie Elizabeth Giles Collen Anna Ross Sooo our day in Sevilla started off in the breakfast hall with a wide range of meat, cheese, eggs, and sweets to choose from. Then we met downstairs at 9:30 and boarded the bus with our tour guide Carmen for a panoramic tour of the Sevilla.  En route to the plaza de España, our guide pointed to the various pavilions from specific countries during the 1929 word fair in Sevilla. Despues de la plaza de España, we visited the Jardines de Murillo which used to be the private gardens of the princess. Then we walked to the LARGEST cathedral in Spain. Fun Fact: Only members of the FAMILIA REAL can get married there. also, it is the oldest palace in Europe, being built in the 11th century. The bell tower (la Giralda) provided a fantastic view of Sevilla. We then proceeded to lunch where we ate more paella and tapas which was sooo good. After lunch was freee time which included shopping and buy...

Maria and Corinne  Today we woke up at 6 and went down for breakfast at 7 in our hotel at Madrid. we packed our things and took a very comfortable bus to the train station.. we saw turtles in the pond and looked at the botanical garden that they have at the Atocha Train Station in Madrid. Finally, we boarded our 2-hour journey to Cordoba on the AVE (Alta Velocidad Española).. there we had a guided tour of the mosque (turned Cathedral) and then turned and then toured the narrow streets prior to lunch. This Mosque was built in the 8th century and continued to grow until the King and Queen of Spain regained control of Cordoba in the 13th century.  After a tour through Córdoba, we took a two-hour bus ride to Sevilla. On the way, there were huge cutouts of bulls in the fields. after we arrived and settled into our hotel, we took a swim in the rooftop pool! For dinner, we ate Paella which is a Valencian dish. On the walk to the hotel, we went up the big mushroo...

Sarah, Allie and Jess After waking up at 8am, the group enjoyed a delicious breakfast of fresh pastries, fruit, eggs, bacon, and more. We departed for our first activity of the day; a bus tour of Madrid with our tour guide Mati.  During the tour, we were able to stop briefly at the plaza de toros, which is a famous bull ring. It holds 35,000 spectators and is the largest in Spain. We were able to take pictures with the statues of famous bullfighters and the Dr. Fleming who they have a statue for because of his discovery of penicillin .  Our tour ended at the Prado museum fora guided tour of  many of the museums incredible paintings by painters such as Velazquez, Goya and Morillo which many of these, the students had seen at one point in school. Next we had an hour and a half to explore the center of town for lunch. Sara, Allie, and I found ourselves at an adorable little café where we indulged in fresh fruit smoothies and tried tortilla española. Afterwards, we wen...