9/10/10 On the Road...

Today we left for our 5 day trip across the north of Spain!  We all met in front of the University at 7:30 and piled onto the bus.  Tons of people had stayed up all night out at clubs partying, but I wanted to be awake for the bus ride to see the sights.  As soon as we got out of Barcelona, the towns were few and far between.  We drove on a highway and views included lots of uninhabited land.  A lot of the land was being cultivated, and there were rows upon rows of olive trees or grape vines, or various other plants growing.  Occasionally, a town would pop up in the distance.  Most towns had a distinct church in the center, but couldn’t have been home to more than a few thousand people.  I was surprised by just how rural it was.  Oh and lots of wind mills!

            The trip was supposed to take 13 hours (which it did), but it was not 13 hours of driving.  Apparently, there are rules that the bus drivers have to take a certain number of breaks during their drives.  After about 3 hours of driving, we stopped at a rest station for 45 minutes.  There was a long line for the bathroom, because another tour bus had pulled in just before us.  I met a few ladies on the bus who were from New Jersey and they were doing and art tour in Spain, painting and drawing at all of their destinations.  After another 3 hours of driving, we stopped for lunch in Taragona.  The town was one of those random ones, not too touristy, since you can only get their via bus.  I ate the lunch that my mom packed for me (two boccadilos, strawberries and and an apple) with Morgan in the park.  Then we wandered around the town.  The church in the town was of the mudejar style (meaning that the Muslims built it for the Christains).  Morgan and I decided that we wanted to see the church on the hill, so we navigated through some side streets and made our way up to it. 

After our third leg of the trip, a bunch of us played frisbee on a piece of grass by the rest station.  Playing frisbee made me miss my good old neighborhood days on Blake Farm.  I accidently hit a Mercedes Benz in the parking lot, and everyone had a good laugh that I picked the nicest car in the parking lot to hit.  We set off for our final leg of the trip and the highway was parallel to El Camino de Santiago.  El Camino de Santiago is a path for religious pilgramiges, and it goes across the north of Spain, and it starts in various locations throughout Europe. 

            We arrived in Leon just before the sunset and after settling in, we walked from the hotel into the center of town.  The cathedral was gorgeous.  It was illuminated and with its gothic style with many spires pointing upward made it unlike any other church I had ever seen.  

The group split up to find dinner and I wandered around with Morgan and Michael trying to find a cheap place to eat.  We had a stipend for the weekend which was manageable, but I definitely will chip in some of my own money to eat quality food.  We found a place that had three courses, a bottle of wine and bread for 12 euros each.  We ate outside and I enjoyed a salad with chicken, risotto and coffee flavored flan (muy deliciosa!)  We stayed there for about 2 and a half hours. 

There is definitely an upside and downside to the restaurant system in Spain.  The upside is that the tip is include in the meal, so you don’t have to calculate when you get the bill.  This allows for long leisurely meals, because the waiters don’t rush you out, so they can get more business and earn more tips.  The downside to this is, they don’t work for your tip.  You can’t expected to be greeted by a happy, smiling wait staff, because they get paid the same no matter how nice or mean they are.  After this meal, we walked back to the hotel and went to bed.  It got more chilly in Leon than in Barcelona… I had to break out the jeans and fleece.  Tomorrow we start our art history tours in Leon!