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| Castellera |
Now that we are back in the states (at least for a little while), it's time to catch up with the rest of our travels in Europe! First up is Barcelona! We spent just over a week in Barcelona at the end of November (after Morocco). We had the great pleasure of meeting up with Monica and Albert, our 2 new friends we met in Thailand. Monica and Albert were generous hosts during our first weekend in Barcelona, showing us genuine Catalan culture and making our time in Barcelona extra special!
Here's the pics:
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| View looking down from Montserrat, a giant, crown-shaped mountain located a little ways outside the city. If you look closely, you can see a tiny church nestled into the side of the mountain. |
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| On Montserrat- check out the people climbing the sculpture behind us... |
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| Of course, Tony had to climb it too. :) |
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| Looking toward the top of the mountain and the monastery. |
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| Beautiful church on Montserrat |
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| Tony posing for his statue |
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| One more beautiful view from the top- you can really see the little church in this pic. |
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| After Montserrat we ate lunch at a Masea, an old house where farmhands used to live. This is a Catalan salad- note that it's covered in meat! |
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| Happy Tony eating his favorite meal of the trip! The masea specialty is meat grilled over an open charcoal fire. Yum! |
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| One more closeup of Tony's steak... |
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| I had the lamb ribs |
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| Here's one of the fires where they cook the meat. |
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| Turns out our friends Albert and Monica are part of a castellera team! They've been part of building human castles for almost 20 years and we got to see their last performance of the year! It was really amazing to watch this tradition that's been happening for hundreds of years! And... |
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| Tony even got to participate! Tony and Albert all ready to go! |
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| Tony getting ready. The castellars wrap a long piece of black fabric around their waists to act as a weight belt. Also, all of the castellera teams wear light pants, black belts, and red scarves but each team has a different shirt color. |
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| Monica plays in the band. They always play the same song and transition between the verses to signal when the castle is completed, since most of the castellers can't see the tower while they are inside. |
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| Tony and Albert ready to become the "base" of the castle! |
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| Forming the base |
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| The first floor climbing up. |
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| Holding up the castle- looks uncomfortable! |
After the castellera wrapped up (around 1 AM-people stay up really late here!), we headed back to Monica & Albert's for a little snack.....
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| Albert with a full leg of acorn-fed Jamon Iberico |
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| The diet of acorns turns the hoof black. |
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| There's even a special holder |
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Albert carving- yum! I think Tony ate a whole pound by himself that night!
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| The next day we went to visit a seaside town to the south of the city. It's mostly a summer destination so we had the whole place to ourselves! |
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| After a delicious, and filling, paella lunch! |
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| Tony enjoying some Creme Catalan- it's like a softer, creamier version of crème brûlée. |
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| After lunch coffee, biscuits, and spirits. ;) |
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| Tony's first time touching the Mediterranean. |
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| Tony...well, being Tony |
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| Tiny old streets. |
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| Sunset |
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| Tony at Montjuic Castle |
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| That's us! |
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| Overlooking the city... |
