Ellis, who is a good friend and fellow dancer of Jacob's and Nicholas's from back home, came to visit us, thanks to the generosity and courage of his parents in sending their 14 year old son on an international trip on his own! These boys enjoyed every waking moment together in Barcelona, including a full week of dance camp at their studio. One day, we told the boys we were going to take them on a short trip, but that it was a surprise. We hopped in a rental car and drove a bit over an hour to the castle of Cardona. This place was a spectacular sight. Nicholas had done research on "paradors", which are castles turned into hotels and run by the Spanish government, and this one in particular was on the list for a possible visit. This being our last month in Spain, we decided to really do it and spend a night there.
After arriving in the late afternoon, we explored the castle in the 98 degree heat, attempting to stay in the shade. First we climbed the tower for the view.
Inside was mostly hotel rooms, but there were a couple areas the still looked "castle-ish".
Goofy teenagers
Jacob uses the spot to execute an enemy...
View from the castle (there are 360 views)
From the castle, we saw below a community swimming pool in the town and decided to get cool from the intense heat. A group of teenagers heard the boys all speaking English and talking Spanish among themselves, identified them as Americans. Ray, although not a fluent Spanish speaker (he and I are still trying!), understands Spanish pretty well and told the group of teens that our boys speak Spanish. They immediately swarmed Jacob (Nicholas got out of there quickly) to speak to him. Cardona is a very tiny town, and they don't get too many American visitors, so they were very interested in speaking with an American...especially one their age.
Ray used his limited Spanish to chat with these engage kids, too. They invited Ray and the boys to an indoor 4-on-4 soccer game (in a small gym right ear the pool). It started at 10:15 that night, and they said the whole town would be there. We did end up going to the game...it was fun to experience the activity of a small Spanish town.
Having more poolside fun
The boys in their hotel room
Besides the castle, the other tourist activity in Cardona is to a visit the salt mines. Mining stopped in 1990, but there is still excavation going on from the earth taken out of the salt mines, which was put into giant piles (like massive hills!) next to the mines. They take salt that is used for chemical materials. Below are a few too many photos of our tour of the mines.
On our way to dinner one night
Susan the blond woman on the left, organized a farewell gathering of our Barcelona friends. We had a picnic in the park, then when it got dark, those of us who were remaining jumped into the sea for a midnight swim. Such fun!!!
Not all of our friends could make it, but here is the wonderful group that did!
And a silly photo!
Farewell to our beautiful friends in Barcelona! :,,(
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