Tavertet y Vic con Mar y Adam

Mar, a research student in our lab, and Adam, Mar's boyfriend, took us to Vic, and Tavertet.  Adam is from a town near Vic and was a great local tour guide.  We had a wonderful day with great company, beautiful views, and delicious local food.   

Tavertet

Tavertet is a very small, beautiful town built on cliffs north east of Vic.  The town is populated with a whopping 148 people, and ~40 charming stone houses.  The local church dates back to (we think) 900 A.D.  Because the village is built on cliffs it has some truly amazing views.

An old house

More old houses (and laundry)

In the church yard

A roof

Old stuff in a little museum

A beautiful view

The mountains are foggy

Dave, Mar, and Adam.  Don't fall off!!!!

What a view!

Another amazing view...

Vic

After Tavertet we went to Vic.  Vic is a city in Catalonia with history that dates back to the Roman times.  It is known as "the town of the priests" because of its seminary school and many churches.  It also has a cathedral, which is unusual for a town of its size.  The cathedral walls were painted by the Catalan painter Josep Maria Sert, who also painted a mural in Rockefeller Center.  

Inside the Vic Cathedral...

filled with Sert's beautiful murals 

When we first arrived in Vic there was a large market in the middle of town.  We were lucky enough to see the square both with and without the market.

Adam selling baskets

The square with the market (notice the tower in the center)

The square without the market

While the market was closing down we went to a local restaurant (chosen by Adam) for some classic Vic gastronomy.  Vic is known for its sausage and we had the pleasure of dining at a small restaurant where the family matriarch sits in front of a fire stove in the middle of the dinning room and continuously cooks different meats and sausages.  When it is time for dessert, she warms a flat bread on the fire and coats it in anise flavored liquor.  She then brings the bread to your table, places chocolate bars in the middle, and POUNDS the bread and chocolate with such force that some of the glasses on our table fell over.  It was delicious!

Dave drinking some local wine

And finally, some more pictures from around Vic.

An ancient Roman wall, next to a reconstructed Roman temple

A house with a beautiful facade

The clock tower

Buen Año y Feliz Diá de los Reyes Magos

Happy New Year and Happy Day of the Magic Kings!


The tradition in Spain is to eat 12 grapes as the church bells chime in the new year.  And, in Barcelona, apparently the place to be for New Year's Eve is La Rambla.  Our plan was to make it downtown, find a nice bar near La Rambla, and get some Champagne and grapes.  But, people just celebrate on the street!  And there are many industrious people selling cheep bottles of Cava and little bags of grapes.  We bought a bottle of Cava, but didn´t trust the grapes.   We rang in 2011 in Barcelona on La Rambla.  The street was filled with people and it had a little bit of the Chapel Hill feel (on a larger scale) with bonfires in the street!

Many people on La Rambla just before 2011.

We are ready for the New Year with our bottle of Cava!

Are we on Franklin Street?

January 2.  A beautiful warm day in Barcelona.

January 6 is the Day of the Magic Kings!  Also known as Epiphany, it is the day the three wise men came with gold, frankinsence, and myrrh.  Although Christmas is celebrated and Santa visits Spanish children, the bigger gift giving holiday in Spain is January 6.  On this day, the three kings come in the middle of the night riding elephants and camels to deliver gifts to all the children.  To start the celebration there are parades all over town the night before where the kings make an appearance.  We went to the main parade in downtown Barcelona and stood with the many many parents and children to see Melchior, Caspar, and Balthasar.  We were not able to get the best pictures, but we hope you get the idea.

Children standing on ladders so they can see the kings!

Angels and the Star of David.

A dragon!

Glitter and people flying through the air.

An ELEPHANT!

After the parade we went to find some dinner.  The smoking ban went into effect at the beginning of the new year and this has opened up many new dining possibilities.  We no longer walk by the many smoke-filled restaurants.  We found a very nice tapas place and then went to a non-smokey pub to watch the Barca game. Well, it looks like the holidays are finally over.

A Christmas Lego tree that we found
while walking to dinner.

A Barca foosball table!