Hello all from sunny Salamanca!
Day 2 (Monday 13th July) – Sepúlveda (historic town) and river kayaking
Another long day. Stop one – an historic small town called “Sepúlveda” in the famous region of Segovia. The place where the Portuguese won the battle for independence from Spain back in 1111 and the only time Napolean set foot on Spanish soil and lost!
Fauve Penketh “Lovely scenery and lots of history.”
Mr O´Brien “As a history teacher, I have thoroughly enjoyed the information that our guides have shared with us, even if it was largely in Spanish. Thanks to the students, I have been kept in the know!”
Next we went for a spot of “river kayaking”. A fantastic active day kayaking in pairs down the river to a lagoon where we paused for a spot of swimming and relaxing.
Ryan Penfold, “The competition to see who could row the fastest was obviously won by me! I particularly enjoyed soaking the teachers along the way.”Patrick McKoen, “Fun in the sun with breath-taking scenery.”
Georgia Bailey, “Kayaking was far more fun than I originally thought with a great team guiding us along the way.”
Jack Milne “One of the most fun and enjoyable experiences I have ever had!”
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Day 3 – Tuesday 14th July
Another long but action packed day!
Spanish lessons
All pupils are put into small groups of between 8-12 pupils with native Spanish speakers. All lessons are entirely in Spanish and all pupils have a booklet with GCSE activities.
Marina Reid-Martin, “Everyone is involved, the classroom is a relaxed, friendly environment. The classes are also really interactive.”
Poppy Harrison, “The teachers are really supportive and encourage you to speak Spanish.”
Isobel Gosney, “I am actually starting to THINK in Spanish!”
Ryan Sparham O´Reilly, “The classes are very entertaining and fun.”
Afternoon by the pool
A spot of relaxing in an outdoor pool. The afternoon is the hottest part of the day. Uninterrupted sunshine with highs of 38 degrees! Lots of hats, sunglasses and high factor suntan lotion washed down with an array of local ice creams and bottles of water.
Erin Nelson, “Nice to cool down under the heat of the sun.”
Isobel Gosney, “Lovely atmosphere, everyone was happy. We all had a great time.”
Tour of the city
Split into two groups, a guided tour of the old city of Salamanca was in store. The pupils were blown away by breath taking views of cathedrals. churches and narrow cobbled streets. The roman architecture was stunning. Again all in Spanish, the pupils had a brief taste of Spanish culture and history.
Lauren Ford “Salamanca is really pretty and interesting”.
Martha Cain “It has been really interesting finding out about the history of the old city”.
Tapas tour
After a small bit of free time in the beautiful “Plaza mayor”, the pupils enjoyed a quick tour of several traditional Spanish bars to sample an array of small tapas. Everyone was left full and content as the local waiters served us “tortilla, chorizo, pan tostado, ribs, huevos rotos, and a local drink of grape juice to wash it all down”. We finished the night taking in romantic sights of the main square with an ice cream in had. Simply unforgettable.
Angus Mackinnon, “My favourite part of the trip so far has been the TAPAS TOUR. I have tried lots of new flavours and tastes and I was left full and happy.”
Megan Ringrose, “I loved trying new foods.”
Joshua Knight-Patterson, “Que delicioso!”
