Heading home, October 28

Waking after only 3-4 hours' sleep, everyone brings their luggage and instruments downstairs, past the musical mural in the hotel lobby. The management has kindly opened the breakfast buffet two hours early so we can get a quick bite before our 6:45 departure. Almost too sleepy to appreciate it, we find another musical mural in the dining room... We've just spent a very short night in a very appropriate hotel!




















Going outside to load into the bus for the last time, we see the aqueduct and the city are beautiful before dawn too.

By the time we complete check-in at Barajas Airport, including a long wait to have Sarah S's cello loaded as special baggage, it's just about time to board our flight to Frankfurt. In Frankfurt, we have a layover of 4 hours, so some shopping gets done in the duty-free stores, plus a lot of sleepy sitting around at the gate for our Toronto flight. Calum and Nurhan appear to have invited Andras' cello to join their conversation with Praise and Andras, while Sarah S and EunA just wait patiently.

There are hugs and congratulations at the Pearson baggage claim, then everyone goes their separate ways. But only until time to rehearse for our November 12 concert at Glenn Gould Studio... so hasta pronto!

Segovia, October 27

The ride to Segovia from Tarragona is a long one. Emily and Xiaohan find a cute way to break it up at one rest stop, and at another we all enjoy a serendipitous view of a castle just down the hill.












Fortunately we arrive with a couple of hours to spare before getting ready for the tour's last concert. Segovia is a breathtakingly historic and beautiful place. There isn't time to visit the famous Alcazar Castle where Queen Isabella approved Columbus' proposed voyage, or Europe's largest concentration of Medieval churches, but we can can pause for a quick coffee with a view unique in the world, in a large plaza at the foot of the  2000-year-old Roman aqueduct that bisects Segovia -- 20,000 un-mortared granite blocks erected into a span that's 2,500 feet long and 100 feet high and built so well it can still carry water today. 

Walking to the concert lets us see a bit more, and reveals a delightful feature of Segovia's general streetscape, a particularly prominent local characteristic comparable to Pontevedra's many protruding glassed-in balconies, Burgos' elaborate sidewalk tiles and Tarragona's paving-stone mosaics... Segovia's old city is full of buildings faced with gracefully incised tiles that create tapestry-like patterns over the entire surface. 

The concert hall is on the far side of the cathedral plaza, which becomes even lovelier as dusk falls.



The hall is the Teatro Juan Bravo, named for a hero of the 16th-Century Castillian Wars. Its pretty white/red/gold interior provides a nice setting for our last concert in Spain, and we're delighted to find that among the capacity crowd there is a large group of students ages 8 and up from the local conservatory.

Marc has arranged a special experience for our last dinner of the tour. Our omnivores enjoy sharing a whole roast suckling pig prepared and served in regional style. Our vegetarians choose a different entree, but join in enjoying the atmosphere of the fourth-generation hunting-lodge inn. Everyone applauds the chef as he finishes reciting a traditional verse about the roast before serving it.  




Many toasts are offered during the bittersweet evening that ends the successful tour... Marc thanks the orchestra; Nurhan hails our musicians and Marc and Kevork, who returns thanks to Marc and the orchestra; Mig circles the room to shake hands with every member of the orchestra; Tony expresses appreciation on behalf of the orchestra...  It's already 1 am, but even after the astoundingly rich crema de catalunya dessert, and in spite of the accumulated fatigue of combining intense performing and eager sightseeing, no one wants to leave. But we do -- the staff of the inn have already stayed far longer than their normal hours, and we have only 5 hours to re-pack and catch a little sleep until time to leave for the Madrid airport.

Tarragona, October 26

Arriving in Tarragona at 8:30 pm and tired from packing in as many last adventures in Barcelona as possible, everyone decides to stay in the hotel and go to bed early. But the food and companionship are so fine everyone stays downstairs until midnight. Sarah B shows off some toys she's taking home for her children, and quite a few "children at heart" enjoy playing with them for a while!








The next morning the bus drops us downtown for the day. Trying to decide which lovely street to wander along first: Sarah S, Julian, Sarah B, Xiaohan, Emily, Tony, Kevork.












Some people go to the beginning of the wide pedestrian park that runs down the middle of the city's central avenue, where a statue honours the region's unusual favourite sport of competitive human pyramids, then stroll through the busy flea market that occupies much of the park. 












Others go straight down the avenue to the "mirador" over the Mediterranean. That's Marc and Nurhan's choice. The sea is incredibly beautiful, and in spite of the fall weather that has city residents as well as the rest of us wearing jackets, some intrepid souls go down to the beach for a swim.

Tarragona is known for its well-preserved Roman sites, including an amphitheatre right next to the sea, a stadium up the hill in the old city, and a hilltop fort with an impressive tower still standing.










The old city's picturesque streets wind between buildings dating from the Middle Ages, and in some places are themselves a special Tarragona art form, paved in mosaic patterns made from small stones.

The Teatro Metropol was built in 1907 by Josep Juhol, a disciple of Gaudi's,

whose influence is visible in curves, irregular angles and tiled surfaces.

After the encores demanded by the audience, as in every city on the tour, we pop out the stage door and down just half a block to a restaurant with terrific pizzas and a kind staff willing to accommodate 18 people at 11 pm. EunA, Tony and Calum will join Marc and Nurhan's toast in a minute, along with Mig and Ani and others farther down...
Xiaohan, Emily, Praise and Julia sit beneath a pair of concert-goers who have chosen the same restaurant.






When the "Rustico" Sarah B ordered arrives, it's a bit intimidating! Andras stands by while Sarah discovers that her ring of pizza contains mainly a big tunnel of hot air inflating the upper crust above a normal amount of filling. 






After a super meal, our most helpful driver Pablo stops by with the bus to take us back to the hotel, a little farther from the centre here than in our other cities.

Barcelona, October 23-25

Today is a travel day. Everyone wants as much time as possible in Barcelona, so we're off to an early start, in spite of staying out late after last night's concert in Burgos -- we had dinner at a restaurant Marc recommended for its authentic regional game specialties. (That alarmed our several vegetarians... but fortunately some other options were available!) We're all loaded in and on the road by 8:20 AM. We climb away from Burgos through a ridge of sharp crags, then on through dry, chalky hills with scattered orchards and a few crops wherever water supplies permit. 













A late-morning rest stop offers a nicely treed oasis. Tony and Julian go look over a valley of vineyards, and Calum does some calisthenics a la Cirque... now we know why it's no problem for him to carry his bass around!

As soon as we check in to our Barcelona hotel, everyone dashes out to the nearby metro stop to go explore the city. Many exit the metro at the monument to Columbus on the harbourfront at the foot of Las Ramblas, then head up the magnificent avenue towards the old city, visiting the colourful Las Ramblas market and finding a tapas snack on the way.

With part of Sunday free until the pre-concert soundcheck, and an evening departure scheduled on Monday, there are parts of three days open for sightseeing. Colleagues re-group to visit many famous sites according to personal priorities... Gaudi's whimsical architecture in Parc Guell, his radically-sculptural apartment building and controversial, still-unfinished cathedral La Sacrada Familia, the Miro museum, the beach and more.













































Regular neighbourhoods far from tourist centres like Las Ramblas mix new and old in wonderful ways; we encounter constant delights and surprises. 




















Martin's wife Agapi joins the tour here; she and Martin will stay on together for a few extra days in Spain and Portugal. They join Julian for breakfast opposite Emily, Xiaohan, Praise and Sarah B in our Barcelona hotel's especially pleasant breakfast room.

Our concert takes place in the Sala Martorell, one of two halls in the 10-year-old L'Auditori complex, renowned for its superb acoustics.

The orchestra poses for a group picture on the way in together with Carmen Picanol, the warm and energetic head of the management agency that has arranged the tour. 


Then we go find the stage door; Sarah B, Xiaohan, Emily and EunA are on their way in. 

Marc and Carmen and Carmen's husband Lluis get together at the entrance to the lobby to go over a few last details.














Near L'Auditori are two more buildings that should be on every tourist's list, one of the world's most spectacular office buildings and the lovely neo-Classical Teatro de Catalunya. Tony squeezes in a quick look at both just before the soundcheck.
























No wonder L'Auditori has great acoustics: there is warm, beautiful wood everywhere, throughout the hall itself as well as its use for the main decorative element throughout the building. 





















The concert is a great success. Nurhan and Marc accept applause together after Marc's performance of his Mendelssohn concerto as Emily, Andras, EunA, Sarah S, Martin, Calum and Julian look on...  










By the end of the evening the audience showed such enthusiasm there were four encores!

At 7 pm on Monday, we retrieve our luggage from the hotel and board our bus for the short drive down the coast to Tarragona. Mig leads the way across the street; Emily and Praise are close behind.

Sarah S has already put her suitcase and cello on the bus; she's joined on the sidewalk by composer Kevork Andonian, who has joined the tour for a few days to hear the orchestra perform one of his works. They're in front of the bakery that has probably added at least half a kilo to most of us during our wonderful days in Barcelona.