Travel Update: Lourdes, Barcelona, Valencia and 7,000 Images Later!

Good Morning Everybody,

Whew!  We have really been rockin’ this trip since I last checked in with you.  Check out the map to the right – it shows our travels so far. Photo count after 25 days  – just over 7,000!!

We had planned to land in San Sebastian and spend a few days in one of Spain’s most visited tourist destinations.  Well, it was a bit TOO visited for us and we blasted out of there after only 20 hours from checking in. Our accommodations were less than spectacular and the street noise right outside our second story window was meant for more party type twenty year-olds.

No problem though.  After a slight modification in travel plans we headed to Lourdes, France.  You know – one more day, one more country.  Boy, do we love traveling through Europe.  Our visit to Lourdes was fantastic.  Lourdes is one of the great pilgrimage cities of the world with about 1,000,000 faith based visitors a year to see the holy grotto of the Virgin Mary as it appeared to 14 year old Bernadette.

Saint Bernadette is one the Catholics most revered saints.  Her story was told in the 1943 Academy awarding winning movie, “The Song of Bernadette.”  After being there in person, it is definitely on our “watch” list.

Regardless of your faith, this is a must see destination in Europe. The masses (see above photo) of Christian faithful pouring into the main square after the 9 p.m. candle light parade is awe-inspiring!!!  Our one day stay was way to short.  Lourdes is definitely on our “return visit” list.

Next it was off to Barcelona, about 5 hours away, with a beautiful misty mountain drive through the Pyrenees along the way.

We arrived into Barcelona about 3:00 p.m., got settled into our very nice apartment near the historic Gothic district, and prepared for a week of eating, sleeping, and living photography with around 20 other like minded individuals. Barcelona is one of our favorite cities in all of Europe and we were really looking forward to our time there.  This vibrant city provided a perfect background for our Master Class.  Below is a photo of the class instructors, (Clay Jarod and myself) class attendees, models and a few spouses captured at the very prestigious 5-star El Palace Hotel, one of the premiere hotels in the city complete with it’s Caelis restaurant, a Michelin rated restaurant.  Yes, we do eat well during our International Master Classes

The cool thing about this year’s Master Class is the fact that we had attendees from around the world including India, Taiwan, Canada, Ireland, Nigeria, Brussels, and the US. It was an awesome week.  I’ll plan on getting a post up in a few days featuring several images from the week – you’ll love it!

________________________________________________________________

Hey gang, that’s the quick update for today.  We just arrived in Valencia, Spain’s third largest city after Madrid and Barcelona, late yesterday afternoon and this looks to be one happening city.  It kind of reminds us of a more compact Barcelona but still bustling with cafes, shopping, history, and gleaming new buildings.  We are here for four full days and are heading out in just a hours to begin exploring.

Stay tuned.

Adios for now, David