From June 15-24, 35 of our chorus plus 13 spouses or friends, toured the Basque and Catalan regions of northern Spain. We gave 4 concerts, one in Bilbao, one in San Sebastián, and two in Barcelona. As part of the Carolina International Chorale (CIC), we sang Dvorak and Vierne accompanied by Matthew Brown on the organ, followed by four
a capella spirituals. Sue Klausmeyer directed the music. Here's a link to our singing
Who'll Be A Witness.
I was studying Spanish to prepare for the trip, but found out that they speak Basque in Bilbao and San Sebastián. In Barcelona, they speak Catalan, which is reminiscent of Spanish but a little different. Basque, on the other hand, bears no resemblance of any Latin-based language. Our tour guide, Sergi, was born near Montserrat, north of Barcelona. Our driver, Andres, was born in southern Andalusia.
Below is a blow by blow with pics.
Air plane booking was dreadful and I will NEVER book the plane with the tour in future. Been burned 3 times on this, so lesson learned. First, they sent 3/4th of us from RDU and the rest from Charlotte. I volunteered to go from Charlotte knowing that most folks would not want to do that. Nine months ago when I first saw the bookings I told World Cultural Tours that 1 hour was insufficient time to change planes in Madrid. I told them again after I returned from Andalusia in October, and I told them again three weeks ago when they gave us the etickets. Obviously we did not make the connection for our flight to Bilbao and no one at Iberia in Madrid would help us. We all stood in a long long line at Customer Service to be rebooked, but missed two other flights to Bilbao while in line for 2 hours. Finally, a supervisor came over to us and tried to help. All flights that day were booked and they would put us up for the night and catch a flight the next afternoon. Unacceptable, because we had a soloist and the organ virtuoso with us so rehearsal and first performance were in jeopardy. Finally, Iberia agreed to bus us to Bilbao that night. We arrived close to midnight, 36 hours after leaving home. We barely made our connection in Miami for the Madrid flight - we had to pull an OJ sprint through the airport. I carried on my bag, but the rest of the folks did bot get their luggage until the next day because they did not make the connection.
Bilbao --
Situated in the Bay of Biscay on the Atlantic coast, Bilbao is a port city up an estuary. It is a ship building and salt-producing town. Since I missed the first day of tour I did not have free time to go into any museums such as the Guggenheim. We received a short bus and walking tour of the city then had rehearsal and our first concert. They nicely postponed the "welcome" dinner to lunch on Friday.
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| Giant flower topiary in shape of dog outside Guggenheim in Bilbao |
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| Bilbao Cathedral |
Donostia-San Sebastián --
Just two hours from Bilbao, we found ourselves in a fabulous beach resort city in the Pyranees close to France. The Basque name is Donostia meaning man from the Roman port of Ostia, which refers to San Sebastián. It became popular around the turn of the 20th century when the Queen of Spain made it here summer palace. A lot of the buildings outside of the old area, are In the style of Art Nouveau. The houses have fabulous mirabeau's which are glass enclosed balconies so they can have a "beautiful view" from their apartment. We had a walking tour of the town that also included a pintxos tour followed by a rehearsal and performance that night. Pintxos are little slices of bread with decorative food on top, held together by a wooden spear (larger than a toothpick). They are pronounced peen-chose, and their Basque name comes from the wooden spear. It's not really the same as tapas because tapas includes other small plate foods that do not necessarily sit on bread. The local bars in the old section have lots of platters filled with various pintxos so you just pick up what you want and pay accordingly.
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| Summer Palace in San Sebastián |
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| View from royal palace |
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Drummer statue depicting the tradition of competitive
drumming between the city chefs and military |
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| Pintxos in San Sebastián |
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| Pintxos in San Sebastián |
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| Pintxos in San Sebastián |
Sunday, we had lunch at a gastronomic men's club in the old town. Instead of belonging to a sports club or traditional men's club, these clubs provide a place where the men can socialize and cook for each other. No women allowed, but we had two wives who set the table and served the plates. They hire a professional dish washer. There was Spanish ham, bread, and cheese with wine as we gathered and socialized, followed by sit down courses of hake with a parsley sauce and a few sliced potatoes; entrecôte streak sitting atop roasted red bell peppers; and dessert of a milk curd made in a big pot of sheep milk and sugar that cooks in a bigger pot of water. You top it with more sugar when you eat it.
Free time afterwards had my roommate, Vicki, and I walking along the beautiful beach and sitting in the sand. A few of us went back down town for a gourmet dinner on our own. I had pork that was way delicious followed by a cheese plate for dessert.
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| Sue leading us in "Amen" at the gastronomic club |
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| Two-story carosel at San Sebastián |
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| San Sebastián |
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| San Sebastian tree |
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| Vicki and Cathy in San Sebastian |
Barcelona --
The next four nights were in Barcelona. We took our tour bus all day to get there; out of the Pyranees and into the desert of Aragon before reaching the Mediterranean Sea. We stopped for a wine tour on the way and then lunch in Zaragoza. We visited the cathedral there where they revere a stone column on top of which the Virgin appeared to pilgrims indicating that they should just settle there. The faithful were kissing or touching the back of the column.
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| Wine Vineyard barrel storage - prisoners from the Spanish Civil War were held here |
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| Cathedral in Zaragoza |
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| Virgin of Pilar |
We had a group dinner in Barcelona on the harbor where Sim and I had our farewell dinner on our Andalusia tour last October. Way too much food....Spanish hams, Catalan bread with tomato scraped on it, salad Nicoise, steamed shrimp, calamari, muscles, seafood paella, almond cake, and traditional Catalan creme (brûlée). Of course all the wine or water you could drink. It was the Summer Solstice with the full moon so a very special evening.
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| Summer Solstace moon |
Tuesday we had a walking tour of the gothic area, had a rehearsal and a performance in the Cathedral of St. Eulalia built in 1298. She was a local early Christian martyr, age 14, where the Romans put her in a barrel with metal spikes and rolled her down the hill until she would renounce, but alas she never did and died from her wounds.
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| Barcelona Cathedral |
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| Barcelona Cathedral |
On Wednesday, we took a tour of Gaudi's
Sagrada Familia that has been in construction for almost 100 years. Sim and I only saw it from the outside last time, but the interior is more spectacular than the exterior. At noon, construction noises ceased so we could perform our four spirituals. Biggest crowd we had! In the afternoon I went up to tour Gaudi's apartment building,
La Pedrera. I very much enjoyed seeing the rooftop chimney structures, the attic, and a furnished apartment of the day. I walked all the way back to the hotel via La Rambla, stopping for some sushi around 5 pm. Dinner in Spain starts around 9 pm and ends around midnight. Some of us ate dinner at the place we ate the night before, near the hotel. Basilica had delicious Mediterranean cuisine.
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| Sagrada Familia |
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Ceiling of
Sagrada Familia |
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Nave windows at
Sagrada Familia |
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Lord's Prayer in multi languages at
Sagrada Familia |
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| Chimneys at Gaudi's La Pedrera |
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| Courtyard in La Pedrera |
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| Attic in La Pedrera |
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| Kitchen in La Pedrera apartment |
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| Hall in La Pedrera apartment |
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| Staircase in La Pedrera |
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| View from apartment in La Pedrera |
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| Dinner at Basilica with our driver, Adres |
The final day in Barcelona we took an all day tour of
Montserrat, a Benedictine abbey on a high hill north of Barcelona. We heard their boy choir sing and watched the faithful walk up and touch the little black Madonna and child statue that was miraculously found there in 888 AD hidden in a cave. I bought some Spanish cheeses to bring home from the vendors outside. The site is also famous for the place of
St. Ignacio's conversion. He stayed there for a year or more thinking up the founding of the Jesuit Order.
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| View from Montserrat |
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| Statue at Montserrat |
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| Little Black Madonna and Child at Montserrat |
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| Montserrat meaning serrated mountain |
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| Statue at Montserrat |
Our farewell dinner was at a very fancy restaurant in the north part of the city where the swells reside. It was sucking lamb. They brought us large bowls filled with lamb carcass including shins, feet, tails, backbone, but precious little chunks of meat - no rib or leg or even shoulder meat. The crispy skin was very tasty!
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| Farewell dinner restaurant |
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| Farewell dinner |
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| More farewell dinner |
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| Flowers at farewell dinner |
We had a short and loud night as they were celebrating St. John the Baptist night with fireworks and cherry bombs until dawn. We had the traditional sweet bread with almonds and candied fruit on top for dessert. Early transfers to the airport and 3-legged flight home plus a drive from Charlotte. Adam and Nic gave me rides to and from the Charlotte-Douglas airport (2.5 hours). It was very special as they became engaged on the tour. They clearly spent their free time in a productive way.
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| Adam and Nic |
