Méras and much more!

After saying goodbye to Ellen in Barcelona we trained two hours to Toulouse, France.  After a much needed nap on the train we picked up our rental car for the drive south to Méras at the foothills of the Pyrenees.  One of Cara's colleagues at Kealing put us in touch with long time friends of theirs, the Mabilles, who have a mountain home in Méras.  Pascal (dad) worked for a time in Austin for Motorola and the family lived there for about 6 months.  We did not know what to expect with this portion of our trip.  We were hoping to have some time to explore the mountains and relax a bit outside of the city.  The Mabilles made sure our next 6 days were incredibly memorable.  MERCI a thousand times for welcoming us into your homes and at your dinner table.  Our time was split into 4 parts:

• Part I: Welcome and World Cup
• Part II: Road Trip
• Part III: to Grandma's house we go!
• Part IV: Méras Olympics!

Part I: Welcome and World Cup

This is the view from the Mabille's mountain home.  If you look closely you can see the Méras road sign.  Méras is a tiny village of just a few homes.  The surrounding countryside is mostly grazing fields for sheep and cattle as well as sunflower fields.

When we arrived the Pyrenees were on full display!  It was a beautiful view and we were glad to see it because the next few days they would be shrouded in clouds as sporadic rain moved through the area.  When we arrived Bridgett (mom) and Martin (oldest son) gave us a warm welcome and showed us around the house.  A little later, some neighbors from Belgium came over for some drinks and we decided to meet at a bar later to watch the USA vs. Belgium pre-quarters match.

Martin showing his French pride at the bar.  Martin is an engineer working in Paris and a dedicated rugby player which is a huge part of the southern France culture.

Our new Belgian friends (Rømi, Sarah, and her mom) at half-time of the match.  Although the US would lose and be eliminated from the World Cup it was a great game.  Sarah is a soccer player and teacher just starting her summer break and Rømi is a professional basketball player.  She is currently playing in Europe, but did play one year in the WNBA with the Atlanta Dream.  From our friends I was reminded of Belgium's amazing history of beer making, drank a Belgian cherry beer they brought with them, and learned that Belgium has three official languages: French, German, and Flemish (Belgian Dutch).  They were incredibly nice and we were lucky to meet up with them later in the week during the Méras Olympics.

Part II: Road Trip

The next morning we drove towards the Pyrenees in search of some caves and small towns Martin recommended.  Beautiful scenery the whole day driving through sunflower and wheat fields, small towns...think "Beauty and the Beast", and even some caves.  Pictured above is the Chateau de Foix.

View of Foix and the castle nestled in a valley.

Our first cave was big enough to drive through.  Our small two lane country road took us right though the Grotte du Mas D'azil.  We also visited the Riviere Souterraine de Labouiche, a cave with flooded tunnels that you are guided through in a boat.  

The next set of photos will hopefully portray how beautiful it was driving through the countryside.

Part III: to Grandma's house we go!

It rained most of the next day so we stayed home and helped Martin prepare for the upcoming Olympics (see below).  That evening we drove to his grandma's house in a nearby village for a visit and to pick up some supplies.  She had an amazing home built over a canal which leads to the hydroelectric plant they built themselves.  They sell most of the energy to the local energy company.  After a quick tour we sat down to an incredible dinner of southern France's best foods and wine.

The view from the hydroelectric plant back towards their house.

Southern France is known for foie gras de canard (duck liver) and cassoulet which is a hearty stew with sausage, duck, beans, or other meats.  We enjoyed both with french bread and two amazing wines!

Part IV: Méras Olympics!

http://v1ns.free.fr/

link to last year's video

The Méras Olympics is a huge party organized by Martin to bring together his different groups of friends (rugby, work, childhood, and family).  He organizes everyone into 10 different teams and plans around 10 different events to compete in while you are enjoying food and drinks throughout the day.  Teams dressed up according to their teams' color and even brought props and mascots.  It had a similar feel to a fun ultimate tournament like Potlatch.  You are there to compete, but not at the expense of having a good time and hanging out/meeting great people.

 Once the competition is over, tents are set up and the dance party begins.  Martin was awesome enough to invite Cara and I to stay and participate in the Olympics so we delayed our trip to Bordeaux and stayed for the weekend. It was incredible!  

I was a member of team Noir (captained by Martin's younger brother, Gabriel) and Cara was on team Mariner (i.e. sailors).

One of the teams was camouflaged and came with their own tank built out of cardboard boxes.  This gives just a glimpse at how enthusiastic his friends were about this weekend.  

The pink team's mascot.

At the end of the day, Noir tied for first.  Martin offered bonus points if anyone was willing to shave their head so I stepped up to solidify the win for black.  I felt it was the least I could do to say thanks to Gabriel and my other teammates for accepting me so graciously on their team...or it could have been the several beers talking.  Either way, you'll see much shorter hair in all future photos.

On to Toulouse and Bordeaux!

Barcelona, Spain

After an 8 hour overnight train from Granada, we arrived to our final city in Spain.  Daniel "Mammoth" Smith, a friend from Austin, helped us find our lodging for the first night through a local frisbee friend.  He has lived in the city for the last year studying for his law degree and had invaluable advice on how to get the most out of the city.  After a quick nap, we went out to explore Park Guell, designed by Antoni Gaudi, and then to wander through the Gracia neighborhood.

Park Guell was originally designed as a neighborhood for rich Barcelonians in the early 1900s.  It was an unsuccessful endeavor and later turned into a public space.  Gaudi was heavily influenced by nature which you can see in his fluid lines.  He was a genius.

He also loved using mosaic tiles for decoration.

One last beach! This was quite a different experience from our Algarve experience.  The man-made beach was packed with "man."  It was a bit chilly, but we enjoyed people watching and having a break from the city hustle and noise.

Cara and Ellen walking towards the Arc de Triomf.  We felt pretty victorious by this point in our travels.

Gaudi is most well know for his masterpiece, La Sagrada Familia.  This icon of Barcelona has been under construction since 1882.  The outside is covered in intricate detail and is planned to have 18 spires of which 8 are currently complete.

The light inside is beautiful and different sides of the church are lit in different colors depending on the stained glass.

J.C. hanging over the main pulpit.

The huge columns branch out to support the ceiling and spires above.  It feels like looking up into the canopy of a massive forest.

Nothing like a huge pile of meringue!  It was so rich that the three of us could not finish it.

Me and Mammoth after a throw in a plaza in Gracia with our new sweet disc.

One of the best things about staying with locals when you visit a city is finding out about the hidden gems.  On our last day, Mammoth joined us for lunch at La Flauta, one of his favorite restaurants at the typical spanish lunch time of 2:00pm.  You can order off the 'menu del dia' for 13€ and choose a starter and main dish which comes with bread and dessert or coffee and something to drink.  We might have made the mistake of ordering a coke, water, or even beer, but because we were with our local in the know we ordered wine.  La Flauta doesn't insult the locals by giving just one glass, so when you order wine you get a whole bottle yourself.  Of course, we put in the work and made sure to finish all 4 bottles coming our way!  Side note, the food was delicious especially the Catalan cream which was their version of creme brûlée.

Outside the synagogue meyor near the center of town.  This was a small museum in the location of the old synagogue in the Jewish quarter.  Like other parts of Spain in the 15th century the Jews were eventually attacked and then either forced to convert or kicked out/killed.  The synagogue was taken over and lost its identity for many years until it was rediscovered and converted into a museum.

No trip to Barcelona would be complete without a night out dancing at the clubs.  Mammoth took us out to 'Nasty Mondays" at the Apollo.  We arrived to the club too early, 2:15 a.m., so the bouncers had us and the hundreds of others eager to party line up outside.  After a short wait we made it and it was packed!  It was pretty much a typical dance club scene with loud music, spot lights, and a DJ, except it was huge and full of rowdy Euro dudes.  The music was mostly rock, think Foo Fighters, so in between dancing there were several mosh pits.

Grenada, Spain

Rafa and Elena not only hooked us up with a sweet place in Seville, they also got us in contact with a couple in Grenada, Mercy and Karl, who offered to house us in their awesome apartment (with a swimming pool)!

Grenada appeared to be a really livable little city with a college town feel. Besides the throngs of tourists at the Alhambra, it was easy to escape into the rhythm of the city and lose yourself.   

After we arrived and hit up their pool for some afternoon swimming, we met up with Mercy's fiancé Karl (and American frisbee player from Wisconsin) to watch the USA game against

 Germany. Actually, we didn't watch much of the USA game because only one station was playing the World Cup and they were almost entirely playing the Portugal- Ghana game since that was really the one that mattered. Karl went back to work and Mercy took us on a walking tour of Grenada. 

Including the Cathedral, which we hit just in time to hear the afternoon call to mass. 

Then she took us on a walk up the valley to view the Alhambra at sunset. Stunning. 

Mike was still reppin' his USA gear from the game, and we came across another USA fan from California on the hill. USA, USA! 

Caracoles! We have seen snails everywhere but finally ordered them with Karl and Mercy. Down the hatch! I wouldn't say they were delicious, but neither were they bad. Mostly just spicy because of the broth they were cooked in and not nearly as slimy as I imagined. 

Tapas are different in Grenada because in many places you go to a bar and only order beer (for ~2 Euro) and they bring you tapas without asking. You don't get to pick what you get, but it was always delicious. The tapas ranged form bar snacks like peanuts, crackers, or candies to legit tapas ranging in from small to huge. So it's possible to get dinner and drinks for 6-8 Euro (~$10 USD) which is by far the most affordable dining we've come across so far. In the first bar we had one of our favorites which is fried eggplant with honey drizzled over it. Mas tapas y mas cervezas, repeat. On the late walk home, we stopped at one of Mercy's favorite places and got a true late night tapas experience. Huge plates of food with our beers in a standing room only restaurant.  

In the morning, Mike played hero of the trip when he got up early to go stand in line for tickets to Alhambra, the infamous castle/palace of Grenada. Tickets obtained [swoon], he came back and took a cat nap before we went to a gym we had seen the day before to get some lifting in. 

Then we hiked up the mountain to the Alhambra. 

Mike in front of one of the entrances. Another keyhole arch! 

One of the most common pics in Alhambra, but a bit of a different take.

You can tell that this section of the palace was designated for the women because of the shades at the bottom of the windows. This arrangement allowed the women in the palace to look down into the courtyard without being seen by the people down below. (Ugh!)

More cool Mooring architecture and detailed plaster/tile work into courtyards. 

View of Grenada from a palace balcony. 

The Alhambra had really extensive and beautiful gardens. 

The view of the mountains surrounding Grenada from the Alhambra. 

Mercy recommended a place to get churros and chocolate, so that obviously happened. Churros are just fried tubes of bread, and the chocolate sauce is like a warm chocolate pudding that you dip the churro in. Reminded me a bit of chocolate gravy (Arkansas family specialty), but not as good.

Time to hit the big city of Barcelona!