Day 17, Tuesday May 15, 2012

Hmm, busy day today. We started out with a guided art tour of the town of Reus, famous as the birthplace of the Spanish architect Gaudi. Our guide was an art history major, Carmen.

First we had a look at some modernist architecture...the example being the Reus sanatorium.

 Tons of work went into this pavilion.

 Carmen continuing her Spanish art history lesson.

 Crazy tile work.

 Every room was spectacular.

Next we went downtown and climbed the bell tower.

 Great view of various parts of Reus, including this chapel roof that has been crowded out by surrounding buildings.

Next, we went to the Gaudi museum, which was excellent. Gaudi's main claim to fame, as far as I can tell, is the creation of the Gaudi arch, an archway that does not require a buttress to stay up. This is a mirrored pic of a suspended series of sandbags which show weight distribution for this church design.

After saying goodbye to Carmen, we had some lunch at an old converted hardware store.

Next was a trip to the market and then back to Catacurian. We took an afternoon walk through the vineyards and olive groves around El Masroig.

Then, on to cooking class. The main dish tonight was a vegetarian paella.

This turned out to be the most delicious thing we ate on our entire trip. So good.

Alicia's brother, Carlos, joined us for dinner. He has his own small winery, but we continued to drink bottles from Carlos' winery, which we visited yesterday. Delicious.

I enjoyed talking with Carlos. He taught me a lot about the Spanish Civil War. A very interesting conflict, which saw the fascist south subdue the democracy-minded Catalonians.