Gail Shelton spoke to the Kiwanis club July 30 about her recent trip to Spain. This was her 18th trip with Go Ahead Tours. She is a tour coordinator for them. She began with them when she was teaching and taking trips with her students because they had educational trips for students. Later on they added adult trips under Go Ahead Tours. Spain was not on Shelton’s bucket list (she’s been to a lot of European countries) but several other people were interested so she decided to go there. The trip was originally scheduled during COVID but was cancelled.
The group flew into Barcelona which is on the northeast corner of Spain. They rode the high speed train to Madrid. From there they traveled to Seville and then to Costa del Sol where they visited several small towns. At each city they went out to other destinations. Most of the time, they traveled on a 55-passenger bus. There were only 17 people on the tour and 9 of them were from our area.
Shelton talked about the unexpected things. There is a lot of ancient history in Spain including Roman ruins in Cordoba. It was settled by the Romans in 218 BC. Originally it was settled by the Moors who were Muslims (you can see Africa from Gibraltar). In 1492 the Christians took over and made churches out of mosques. On the outside they look like mosques but on the inside they have the traditional Roman Catholic decor. It was beautiful architecture and tiles in many beautiful colors and patterns. The food was not Mexican food but a lot of fish and seafood. The served a variety of small dishes with many different kinds of food, tapas, chicken and beef and the food was not spicy. Businesses were closed from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. for siesta. People got up late and stayed up late. In the evening it was cooler so there was outdoor dining but the locals eat later, around 9 to 10 p.m.
58 million tourists visited Spain last year. Most tourism professionals speak English. Spain is the top producer of olive oil in the world. The group visited a family operation that grew olives, harvested them and turned them into olive oil. There are also 47 UNESCO sites, medieval towns that had been saved and looked like they did in the 1400’s.
80% of the population is Roman Catholic. In Barcelona they visited a church La Sagrada Familia, a church that has been being built for over 100 years and they are still not finished, maybe by 2030. It has had several different architects and each one has put their own stamp on it. It was traditional on the outside and modern contemporary on the inside. Different areas showcased different types of decor. The stained glass was not a picture but different shapes put together. On the east was it was blues and greens representing heaven and on the west side it was yellows and oranges representing hell.
Shelton passed around the books she had made with drawings, photographs and writings of what they saw. The books are available at The Pea Patch. Her next trip will be to Egypt in March 2025. There is still time to sign up.