Wow, the heat must have really ratcheted up in thew few weeks since I was there!

Barcelona would be wonderful for shopping! If I had all the money in the world, I'd definitely head there for a new wardrobe and house furnishings.

Isn't that the truth memejis - it's been so much fun wandering in and out of shops (and making sure I don't drool my gelato on the expensive clothes lol).

TWO TOURS AND THE FINAL DAYS

I posted separately about this one but it was truly the highlight (or one of them) of our trip and such a powerful experience I will share it here as well - skip if you read the other post:

We had looked at doing a tour in Madrid, but the timing didn't work out and I'm glad we held out for this one. Nick Lloyd (a former Brit, now Barcelona resident) from Iberianature.com leads the 4+ hour tour http://iberianature.com/barcelona/hi...-in-barcelona/

The cost was 25E each and well worth every penny. We met our group at Zurich cafe at the top of the Ramblas - the ten plus people on this tour were all British or American, but he said he gets people from all over the world, many with personal connections to the struggle. One thing that was very nice in this heat was that there wasn't a lot of actual walking - maybe within a five square block area. We would walk to a location where something had happened, and then he would tell the story, show pictures and share the stories of the real people who took part. His passion and knowledge are extensive and he cares deeply that the world should know what happened here and why. He covered the background, the political currents and factions of the day, the progress of the war and why things happened, and showed oodles of photos. Every once in a while we would go to a cafe where the owner clearly was holding the space for him, order coffee or whatever and sit in the cool while the talk continued. At the end he shared the heartbreaking stories of what happened both to Catalunya and Barcelona and the people who fled over the pyranees only to end up in concentration camps in France, and the members of the International Brigade, a fourth of whom died in the war, and 3/4 of whom were dead by the end of WWII. It is a chilling story, and one I believe that has important lessons for our times (IMHO)

SAGRADA FAMILIA

After Parc Geull yesterday we came back to the hotel, changed out of dripping clothes, found lunch (unfortunately found the same restaurant as a large family having a birthday party which annoyed me as it ate up my shopping time - grrr) rested, and then headed to Sagrada Familia for the 6 pm entrance.

I was glad I follwed Fodorites advice to visit late in the day - the light streaming through the windows was exquisite, and I'm sure it was much less crowded than it would have been. It is of course unlike any Cathedral you will ever see elsewhere - I found it amazingly spiritual, beautiful and moving. The sacredness of the space felt very pure to me (perhaps because it has never been used to preach hatred and violence as so many others have been). I've visited a number of cathedrals throughout Europe and been deeply moved by their beauty - but I think this was my favorite. (by the way, it is going on 100 years of construction - they hope to have it finished by 2026).

of course I lost all that lovely spiritual energy in the battle for a taxi to get back to the hotel - should have taken the subway :(

we ate at a middle eastern simple place near the hotel - we didn't want a long prolonged meal and it was fine.

This morning we met with Lydia from ToursbyLocals who drove us to Gerona and then Besalu (with a stop for lunch by a crystal clear volcanic lake). The tour was advertised as treasures from the Sephardic Jewish past, but really covered much more. She is extremely knowledgable about Catalunyan history and we had a fascinating conversation which really helped us understand a lot of what is happening today. Gerona and Besalu are both lovely cities that date back to roman times (Girona) and the middle ages Besalu, and we loved wandering through the streets. highly recommend - uh oh, time for our last Barcelonan dinner - more later.

and our final Barcelona dinner at Irati - a Basque restaurant near Maria Del Pi church - great service - suckling pig and country pate was excellent - and my last gelato :(

tomorrow we set out on our last adventure - a driving tour through bits of Aragon towards Madrid. Probably won't be checking in again until we are home.

THE FINAL DAY - we are back in Albuquerque at a pretty ratty airport hotel, catching a little rest before driving home tomorrow. Trip home on American airlines was pleasant and blessedly uneventful (although they were once again threatening to divert the plane - this time because it might be too hot to land lol!)

But I do want to share our final day as it was I think pretty unique. We had originally planned to take the AVE train from Barcelona to Madrid, but we knew from past trips that if we did that we would be too keyed up by travel logistics and heads in the next days flight to really do anything and enjoy it once we arrived. We had been warned that the drive between Barcelona and Madrid was long and boring and not worth it, but we read some trip blogs about options in between so started exploring. We also knew we didn't want to try driving in the big cities so I reached out to a couple of Barcelona guides from Tours by Locals. We settled on Miquel Angel because he was very enthusiastic about the idea and put a lot of time and energy into planning an itinerary and ran some pretty creative ideas by us (several didn't work out because of logistics, but I appreciated the initiative).

He picked us up promptly at our hotel - first stop was the monastary of Poblet - the largest active one in Spain I believe - that dates from the 12th century. It was beautiful and the history was fascinating.

aside - throughout we talked history which was a passion for all three of us and learned so much about the different currents that run through Spanish history - way more than we would have gotten from museums or guide books. Also a lot of insight into current Catalan political issues (vote coming up in Oct on whether to separate from Spain).

We then went to Zaragoza - town in Aragon dating from Roman times - had lunch - unfortunately the castle we had planned to see was closed for lunch - but we stopped at the Cathedral instead which was a treat - the only Rennaissance Cathedral I have ever been in (and please forgive my spelling - I'm tired:()

The most powerful moment of the day though was the town of Belchite. It was the site of several battles during the Civil War, and bombed by both sides and by the end there was nothing left of what had been a thriving rural community (at one time home to Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities living together in peace). We met a local guide there, a young woman whose grandmother was 4 years old at the time of the battle and who was forcibly relocated 400 miles away (the survivors had to walk the whole way). She told us the town's story, showing us where everything had happened, the ruined churches, the destroyed buildings, where the mass graves were, the wall where 200 men of the village were shot by the Nationalists, the atrocities committed by both sides. At the end Franco forbade the townspeople from returning to the town, using it as "anti-red" propoganda, and after his death the townspeople decided to leave it as a warning to humanity of the cost of war. It was a devastatingly powerful experience.

After that we were too rung out to continue on to the monastary of Piedra as planned, so we went on to Madrid (I found most of the drive lovely actually), stayed the night at a surpisingly nice airport Hilton (although the bathroom was really weird - maybe that's cause they gave us an upgrade).

and so here we are - going through a bit of culture shock though it is nice to be back in a place where I know the customs and foodways. But I shall miss that cheery Ola and all the lovely people we encountered on our visit. I shall post pictures once I get them organized.

Wonderful report, it´s so good to see your opinions on our habits, meals and way of living. Next time you´ll have to visit the North of Spain...so different from what you´ve seen on this trip!

Gracias a ti Mikelg and todos las personas muy sympatico por una vieja fantastico

y gracias también a te, Laura!

Eskerrik asko, Laura!!

Great TR! Thanks!

Thanks Joan and all for your kind comments. I think you should be able to access pictures from this link - I'm not to familiar with shutterfly. Let me know if not. and eventually I may even figure out how to label the pictures so you can tell which part of the trip they are from lol.

https://lauraandstavespain2017.shutt...m/pictures#n_5

Laura, you make the photo link private so we can't access your photos

Duh... Make = made! Sorry!

Hi, Laura, your Shutterfly site is private and Shutterfly asks for your email and password. Obviously don't do that:) I am not sure if Shutterfly will let you make just one folder public; I have never tried to do that.

If not, you could either upload to a new Shutterfly account, or another photo site--I have also used Photobucket and I think they allow just one album to be shared or public. Mixbooks might also allow this, as they feature collaborative photosharing.

Thanks Laura for your detaild report. The heat sounds like kt was horrid but you prevailed! I live in AZ and found it so much easier to understand the Spanish in Spain than the rapid SouthAmerican/MexicanSpanish I hear at home. I studied Castillan Spanish in high school and college so it was more familiar..

oh dear, I was afraid of that - I will try again after we get back from a family wedding next week. It's a shame fodors doesn't have it's own photo sharing option -

and HappyTrvlr - I grew up in AZ too - whereabouts are your from? - not to give away my age or anything but Arcadia High, class of '76 lol