¡Primera excursión!

On Friday, the group had its first excursion outside of León, and it was the fullest of full days. We met first thing in the morning in the Plaza de Santo Domingo (where we'll be meeting to depart for all of our excursions), got some quick café con leche and churros, and hopped on the bus toward beautiful Astorga, each student carrying a homemade picnic lunch packed by their adoring host families (some of which included no fewer than three sandwiches each!). Astorga was full of thrill and wonder, beginning of course with photos taken in front of Astorga's Episcopal Palace, which looks like it was pulled straight out of a Disney fairy tale (photos below). Apart from being simply breathtaking, the Palace's main claim to fame is that it was designed by the world-famous Catalán architect Antoni Gaudí, constructed over a period of almost 25 years. The interior of the Palace contains priceless relics from Spain's monarchic and religious past, some of which are centuries old. Behold the wonder of Gaudí's genius:

Some brilliant Leonés tourists visiting Gaudí's Palace

Gaudí's magnificent Episcopal Palace

I am, however, getting ahead of myself; before actually entering the Palace, we made a stop in Astorga's Chocolate Museum, where we took a highly informative and educational tour of chocolate extraction and production techniques that date back to Spain's colonial empire blah blah blah: far more importantly, WE ATE REALLY GOOD CHOCOLATE. The tour culminated with a chocolate tasting and plenty of time for students to buy hand-crafted artisan Astorgan chocolate, so families, you should all expect edible Astorgan souvenirs at the end of July.

Learning about historical chocolate, desperately wanting to eat current chocolate

After the Chocolate Museum and the Palace (already a pretty eventful day by most Spaniard's standards) we had lunch in Astorga's Plaza Mayor, and then had some free time to wander around and explore the city. 

From Astorga, we proceeded onward toward Ponferrada where the main attraction was a centuries-old castle that was once inhabited by Knights Templar, appropriately named el Castillo de los Templarios. In fact, the present castle is the product of multiple different ancient construction projects that occurred over the course of many centuries, the oldest of which dates back to the 12th century! Students were able to explore dungeons, towers, turrets, and (my personal favorite spot) a reproduction of the ancient Templar Library. Some also visited a local gift shop and bought Templar-related souvenirs. I may or may not have left with a tiny replica of a Templar sword... for protection.

Approaching the Templar Castle...

Conquering the Templar Castle!!

Finally after a long trek through history in the Templar Castle, we made a quick stop in Castrillo de los Polvazares to see an example of a rustic, traditional town in the north of Spain. The town was so isolated and quiet that the arrival of our group seemed to double the population of the town (and quadruple the noise level). It was a beautiful but brief stop, and before we knew it, we were back in León where host families were waiting impatiently to feed the students the typical Spanish serving of way too much delicious food. 

Families, friends, and fans, thank you for following the progress of Team León so far! We honestly could not be happier with this group of students - after the first full week in Spain, these students are acclimating like natural world travelers, showing an intellectual and cultural curiosity that continues to impress the instructors daily. We thank you, as ever, for sharing these students with us for seven spectacular weeks. 

Until next time...

~Mark