Barca Game and a trip into the heart of Cataluna

I had a pretty busy weekend. On Saturday I had planned to get a bunch of homework done, but we ended up having guests over at the house and I spent most of the day eating and talking with them.

Saturday night we went to the FC Barcelona soccer game against Valladolid at Camp Nou. We got fairly good tickets, about half way up behind one of the goals. The game was a blow-out, but I think that was a lot more fun to watch than a close low-scoring game. Eto'o, one of the young stars on Barcelona, scored 4 goals in the first half of the game. Then, in the second half, Henry and Gudjohnson each scored to make the final score 6-0 in favor of Barcelona. I'm glad I was able to go, since this was one of the last home games of the season and I won't have other opportunities to do this before I leave Spain.

On Sunday we took a trip to the mountains. My host-sister Ingrid, her cousin Oriol, and my friend Noe all loaded up in the car to go see some of the Catalunian countryside. We had originally talked about going mushroom hunting, but we opted for a whirlwind tour of some of the pueblos and natural sights in the region instead.

First, we drove to Besalu. This is a very old town, much of it from the 11th century. On your way into town you cross a gorgeous bridge called the "Pont Fortificat." Below the bridge there is a very still river, and the surface relected a perfect mirror image of the bridge. It was awesome to see. Inside the town we stopped in some of the bakeries, butcher shops, and stores to stock up on some sandwich meats and cookies and such.

From Besalu we drove to a very peculiar town. The town is built on top of a huge volcanic cliff. The houses were built right up to the edge of the cliff, which has a sheer drop all the way down to where the fields are. This town is called the "Cinglera Basaltica de Castellfollit de la Roca."

From the cliff town we went to the Volcanic National Park. First we left the car at one place and took a hike for about 2 hours through some gorgeous forest. It was the perfect time, as it was sunny, cool, and the leaves were all changing colors. The colors all reminded me of Colorado when the aspen's change colors, but this was different because we didn't see a single pine tree the whole time (and these weren't aspens either). We ate a lunch of sandwiches and oranges and then got back into the car to go to another trail head. There, we went on a little shorter hike that took us to the base of Volca de Santa Margarida. This is a volcanic mountain who's entire side was blown out by a volcanic eruption. You could see all the way to the core of the mountain, and see the strata layers of the terrain. Very beautiful.

From the volcano, we drove into the town of Santa Pau. We walked around the center of town for a little while, taking in the medieval plaza in the center of town, and having coffee at a cafe on the plaza. We also bought some white beans (I don't know what they are called but they are typical of the region). The aren't lima beans or anything like that--they look just like a normal black bean except they are white.

It was getting dark as we left Santa Pau, but we still wanted to make our final stop in Banyoles. This is a town built around a large lake. The thing is, nobody knows how the lake fills with water. There are streams running out of the lake, but none running into it. I suppose it is filled by underground waterways, but the rumor is that at night the mayor hooks up his garden hose to fill it up. We got there after dark, so we couldn't see much except what the moonlight showed, but we didn't see the mayor filling the lake up. We did, however, get stuck in rush hour traffic on the way home, so we didn't make it back until after 9pm.

This trip was great because all of the places we visited are only accessible by car. I would not have been able to take public transportation up there, or get there any other way. I can't even rent a car here until I'm 23. But it was great to see part of Cataluna that I wouldn't have gotten to see otherwise, and to spend some time with part of my host family in the process.

Click here to see my photos of the FC Barca soccer game:

Barca Games Nov 8 and 12

Click here to see my pictures of our day-trip into Cataluna:

Trip to Interior of Cataluna Nov. 9