Taking IB art students to Barcelona.

Last year I submitted a proposal to take IB visual art students to Barcelona as a way to supplement their learning in the classroom. The idea is to immerse students in a setting that will stimulate their thinking and creativity. The principals were supportive of the idea and I spent the next several months solidifying the itinerary. The outcome was better than anticipated. Everything went smoothly from the flight to navigating the city and beyond. The students hit the pavement running and really embraced the experience. 

There are several behind the scenes individuals to thank for making the magic happen: Principal Redmond (and Joyce) for the green light, Nate and Mick in the Athletic Department for doing all the paperwork like visas and such, the other chaperone-Ms. Blue Waters, Ana was supportive about spending our break with 5 students (Call it training in raising teenagers) and helped out a little here and there and even our friend Monica tagged along for a couple of our outings. Below is the evidence. 

We arrived in the late afternoon. After dropping our bags off at the apartment, we made a quick exit to the Gothic Quarter for a walking tour. It was by chance we found a gastronomic festival in front of The Cathedral, though the kids called it the "bread festival" due to all of the loaves of artisan bread they consumed. 

One of the stops on the walking tour was a school bombed by the fascists during the Spanish Civil War. Note the pockmarks on the wall.  

We visited La Sagrada Familia the following morning. 

The students were in awe of Gaudi's vision. 

Students had mixed feelings and reactions on deciding if they preferred the aesthetics of La Sagrada Familia or The Cathedral from the previous evening.

We decided to walk back to our apartment via local neighborhoods. Good thing we did as we encountered a street fair with lots of food, vendors, and activities.

This looked like fun. 

"Ara es l'hora" The rallying cry for the Catalan separatist movement that marched in front of our apartment.

Since almost everything was closed on Sunday, the beach sounded like a way to spend a late afternoon. 

At the metro.

A dose of Flamenco culture was needed.

At the bottom of Ramblas. 

The  Palau Robert has several nice exhibits.

 The Suñol Foundation was kind enough to give us a tour of their most recent exhibit: Perfect Lovers.

One of best ways to see is a city is on a bike. Several students stated biking was their favorite part of the trip. 

Riding along the beach provided ample opportunities to throw a frisbee around and do some climbing. 

Bikes can also take you through alleys.  

Agbar Tower near Glories. The surrounding buildings make the area an architectural hotbed, a must see for aspiring architects.  

Mercat Del Encants in Plaça de les Glories Catalanes has mirrored ceilings and is basically like what you would call a swap meet, flea market in the states.  

Installation street art. 

One day was dedicated to Figueres in the north-about a hour via the fast train. The Dali Museum is located there and it was the perfect opportunity to get out of Barcelona and experience the Costa Brava. 

The museum has several floors and much to see keeping visitors engaged.

The Catalonia Toy Museum down the street from the Dali Museum has a decent collection of creepy dolls. 

A thirty-minute bus ride from Figueres will take you to the quaint beach town of Roses.


Ciutadella of Roses is worth a peek.

They might not let you take photographs inside the Picasso Museum, but they will in the gift shop. One of our student's unintentionally wore her own Picasso shirt. 

The Frederic Mares Museum houses the collection of one man who one student stated: "Mr. Bob, did he have OCD?" 

MACBA also provided us with a nice tour. Giant stuffed bear Art. 

Political Art.

One room had an interesting video that engaged our students in a lengthy discussion about beauty. 

Ms. Laura made us a delicious soup one evening. 

Hangout out with my homies at the Catalonian National Museum.

Home decoration ideas.

Who remembers this scene from the bible?

I can get into these type of religious paintings.

I got busted taking pictures at the Caixaforum. Note the guide telling me "No Photos!"

Someone near our apartment was a little disgruntled with her or his bank's ATM.

Our last supper. 

A little bit of Cairo, Figueres, Bracelona, and Cava country.

It was time for Ana to discover Barcelona over Christmas break. So we headed out of Alex with Kortlucke-Ortegas in tow to the land of jamon y vino. Over the 10 days we ventured on a train north to Figueres for some Dali, south to Sitges for fun in the sun, and the hills for lessons in cava.

The only bad part of the trip was losing my camera, laptop, Ipod, etc.Thankfully Ana had a camera so we could at least document part of the experience.

Before Barcelona there was our classy Cairo hotel.

Toilet flushing device of our hotel room.

A little bit of Zamalek art.

Record shopping in Barca

 Seeing The Meat Puppets was a nice early gift from Santa.

Sin gluten pero una wudy con queso!

A 5 hour plane ride sure builds up an appetite. Our first meal on land and it was a monster one....this was only for starters.

El has the best life ever...it mostly consists of playgrounds.

I would love to walk through Egyptian customs with hoof poking out of my backpack.

Hello Dali!

A bowl of good olives, life doesn't get much better.

After Dali was the toy museum in Figueres

Faster dude!

Man on stilts for sure!

Mom, I want the Catholic school play set for Christmas.

Toys our parents never bought us.

It was Ana's turn to see the Sagrada Familia.

If we could make a salad like this in Egypt, we would be staying.

The way Gaudi left his desk when he bought the farm.

We took a train up to Vilafranca del Penedès for a cava tour at Pinord. To make sure the bubbles didn't go straight to our head, we had lunch. For 8 euros you get this delicious plate, a salad, dessert, and a bottle of house vino (skip it, pay a couple of extra euros for the upgrade). Set menus and chowing with the locals is the way to go.

Xavier at Pinord was very kind to give us a 2 plus hour personal tour of the facilities. It was quite an education learning about the cava making process.

The story was that the original owner would ride his bike to work.  We sampled a type drink that was invented by Pinord called vino de aguja.

Sampling vino from the barrel.

The 5 Euro bottle we sampled was tasty but the 11 euro bottle we bought was fantastic!

More products.

Door ideas for the home.

It is always an adventure when you step off a train in a new town, it's nice to have corks to point you in the right direction. Sant Sadurní d'Anoia is the center of cava production. One should note that when visiting cava country be aware of holidays and many wineries are closed for lunch (1-3 pm) and not the normal siesta times of 2-5 pm.

Conde de Valicourt was our best find in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia. The small winery is run by a husband and wife team. The wife, Alicia, opened up the shop and a bottle for us with a plate of crackers! Yes, expect to get plate of crackers or potato chips at tastings, strange but true. Pas de Sucre Brut Nature Gran Reserva is a 4 year old cava and one of the best we tried. It is 100% sugar free after the cutting of the neck. The husband bottles each bottle of their very limited production. They only sell in small shops and at the winery. Our kind of place. 

After sipping cava at Conde de Valicourt it was lunch time. Alicia sent us to a place down the road. We walked in one door and the server asked if we wanted cloth or paper napkins. I asked "what's the difference?" He replied "one Euro for cloth." I told him paper was fine. He told us to walk next door. We did and when we opened the door we were greeted by the same server. I chuckled and his eyes shot daggers at me. The wire art on the wall of the paper side was lovely. We had the place to ourselves while the cloth side was lively.

Then there is the cava giant, Codorníu. We took the guided tour and learned that if they put all their bottles side by side it would be 35 km long. The grounds were amazing and if you need a lovely place for a future wedding, its yours for the renting. 

Endless cava caves.

Museum of the former cava bottling equipment.

Ana's new lamp. The relief in the background has a couple of bullet holes from the Spanish Civil War.