This past week I traveled to Spain with my core course to experience Spanish food production and consumption hands-on. We landed in Barcelona at 1pm and hopped on a bus to the Deltebre region, where we would be spending the first two days of our trip. On the way, we stopped for our first meal at a local restaurant serving traditional Spanish food.
We had tempura vegetables, a beautiful salad, paella (they had vegetarian and seafood options), and cinnamon ice cream. It was an amazing first taste of Spain! Then we went outside where there was a beautiful view of the ocean.
After lunch we continued to the hotel, which was in a very rural and remote area. It was a nice ranch-style hotel surrounded by rice fields. We are assigned rooms with one other student in our class, but they do it by last names so I am always with my friend in the class, Tess. All of our rooms were so nice, and they actually had enough room for four people because in addition to the full bed downstairs, there was a loft with two more twin beds.
After checking in, a big group of us went on a walk to explore the town and the surrounding area. It was a beautiful walk as the sun was setting, even though there wasn’t much of a town to see. There was a main road that had some shops that were mostly closed, and a church. We walked to the river, picked some fruit, and met a lot of local dogs and cats.
The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel, and boarded the bus to SEO, an organic rice farm and bird sanctuary. We met with a man who talked to us about what the goals of the farm are, how it is different to be one of the only organic farms in the area, and what it is like to work there. One thing I found really cool was that because they can’t use pesticides to control pests, they purposely have hundreds of bats that live in shelters on their property, which come out at night and control the pests.
Unfortunately, our trip was about a week before the season began so we didn’t get to see the fields flooded with water. But it was a beautiful day and there were nice trees lining our path.
Then we headed to the bird sanctuary, which was an open habitat where a lot of birds come together. They had a wooden structure where you can sit and watch the birds, and they provided us with binoculars. We saw flamingos in the distance, and a huge variety of smaller birds.
Then we wrapped up at the rice farm and got back on the bus to go to lunch at a slow-food restaurant called Deltaic. We sat outside in the sun and enjoyed a seven-course meal. We started with fresh bread with local olive oil, then a pumpkin mouse, hummus and spices on crackers, toast with roasted veggies, a flatbread, and an amazing carob cake. Everything was so fresh and locally-sourced. We also got to choose two drinks, so I had an elderberry fermented drink and a glass of red wine.
It took over two hours for us to finish eating, and then we rushed back onto the bus to head to our next destination: a fish auction. I had never heard of anything like this, so I was surprised by the whole setup. There were people loading buckets of fish onto two conveyor belts which ran through a building that almost resembled an indoor swimming pool interior with bleachers lining both walls. People were sitting inside with a device that allowed them to bid on the fish that were going one by one on the conveyor belt and appearing on the screen. Each fish bucket had a set starting price where it started and then the price would start dropping and going down like a reverse timer. The concept was that of a dutch auction, meaning that whoever clicked the bid first got the bucket. So the strategy is to wait until it is a price you are okay with paying, but not to wait too long that someone beats you to it.
The man who was giving us a tour told us that it is mostly restaurants that buy their fish in this way. They have a representative go and buy their fish. I have a lot of ethical problems with the fishing industry, but this was a cool thing to watch and I appreciated being outside of the direct room since we couldn’t smell the fish. We actually learned that they have been experiencing strict regulations because of the environmental impact of their fishing, so they have sold many of their boats.
The surrounding area was gorgeous since it was right on the water.
Then we had a few hours of free time to spend in the area before we would be taking the bus back to our hotel. We pulled up Google Maps and located the nearest swimming beach and walked about 20 minutes to get there. It was beautiful, and some people in my class (including both of my teachers) decided to go for a swim. The picture below is of my teacher, Morten, sprinting into the very shallow water. The rest of us hung out on the beach enjoying the sun for about an hour before we decided to walk into the town and find some food for dinner.
In Spain they eat dinner around 9pm, so many restaurants didn’t open until 8. It was only 6 when we were looking around so we decided to go to a food market to grab snacks we could make dinner out of. We were amazed by how cheap everything was and we all grabbed chips, fruit, yogurt, hummus, water bottles, and other random snacks. We ended up finding a kebab place and five of us all got falafel and veggies in a pita wrap.
Then it was time to meet back up with our class and we took the bus back to our hotel. Almost our entire class ended up sitting under the cabana outside talking, eating, drinking wine, and playing classic camp games like mafia and telling riddles. It was fun being with everyone outside of the classroom and bonding with twenty of us.
The next morning we woke up, had breakfast at the hotel again, and hopped on the bus to go on a tuna tour! Our class had been talking about this since the first day of school since no one knew exactly what to expect. All we had been told was that we were swimming with massive tuna fish inside of a tuna farm.
We arrived, hopped on the boat, got fitted for wetsuits, and the next thing we knew we were pulling up to the tuna farms. They were huge pools in the middle of the ocean that contained the fish. The tuna were caught in the wild and brought to these pools, and they were 4-6 feet long!
We went one by one walking down the ladder and jumping into the freezing cold water. We were all shocked by how cold it was, but it made sense since we were pretty far out into the ocean. It took about 10 minutes to get numb to the cold.
We were shocked to hear that each pool had about 200 tuna, and the pools were 100 feet deep. They were definitely afraid to come near us and since there were so many of us they were hiding beneath us. It was kind of creepy to realize that 200 6-feet long fish were watching you from below!
We were initially frustrated because we hadn’t seen any tuna. The people working on the boat were throwing dead sardines into the water to get the tuna to swim up to get them. So we were in freezing cold water and surrounded by dead fish.
But then we figured out that if you watch the sardine as it begins to sink and follow it down deeper into the water, you could see the huge tuna come and grab it as it swims by. Using that strategy I began seeing more and more tuna, and I ended up seeing around 10 of them. They looked somewhat similar to sharks because of their size and shape. My teacher brought a Go-Pro and caught this on video:
After a while, we began to get tired of swimming and the cold was creeping back, so we climbed out of the pool. To our surprise, there were three outdoor showers on the boat that were sooo warm and nice as we climbed out. I also happened to have my travel size shampoo, conditioner, and body wash with me in my backpack so I was able to take a full shower.
Then they served tuna and drinks so I gave my tuna to my friends and enjoyed a glass of champagne on the top of the boat in the sun.
When we docked back in town, we had an hour of free time to explore and grab some food. We walked to a local market and we ran into our teacher who was buying massive containers of almonds and olives for our class to snack on the rest of the trip.
We didn’t find anything we wanted for lunch so we headed to a grocery store and bought more snacks. My friend Izzy bought a whole fresh baguette they just pulled out of the oven for only 1 euro.
When we got back to the bus we drove to an organic vegetable farm where a wonderful Spanish woman named Julia met us. She had the greatest attitude and such a contagious laugh and we had so much fun visiting her. Her English was not great, but my friend Ale is fluent in Spanish and helped her translate. She told us about what it is like to be an organic farm in Spain, gave us a tour of everything she was growing, and let us try so many vegetables. We had sweet peas and fennel, and she gave us crates of lettuces, cauliflower and leak to bring back with us. We didn’t have a kitchen the rest of the trip and we couldn’t bring it back on the plane with us so luckily my teacher gave it all to her friends in Barcelona since she used to live there.
When we left the farm it was time to head to Barcelona for the rest of our trip. The drive was a couple hours but it was nice to relax for a bit on the bus. When we arrived, we were shocked to see we were staying at a really nice hotel right in the city center. On our previous class trip within Denmark we had stayed at two star hotels that were really tiny so we were so happy! We checked in, dropped our stuff off in our rooms, and then headed out to explore before dinner. We walked around a cute neighborhood, sat at a bar for a drink, and did some shopping. I went to Barcelona when I was in middle school but I only remembered a little bit of the city. It felt so much larger than Copenhagen and more tropical and warm because of the palm trees lining the streets.
For dinner we met our class at another slow-food restaurant called Rasoterra. They had a special menu for our group and it was another seven course meal. Our first four courses were beetroot polenta with mushroom & vegetable paté, pickled celeriac and avocado mayo, tacos with leek, shitake mushroom, pickled red cabbage and green mole, artichoke with lemon, lentil cream, roasted onion and carrot, and a sourdough bread with tomato and olive oil. For the main course we chose between homemade tempeh with sautéed cavolo nero and smoked white chocolate cream, and a baked brown rice with Catalan spring onions, turnip, and hazelnut romesco sauce. I chose the tempeh and it was outstanding, especially because tempeh is usually very hit or miss, but everyone enjoyed it. For dessert we had miso caramel pudding with parsnip cream which I thought was only okay because the texture was very funky and the sauce on top was bitter. Then we had a surprise extra dish which was a chocolate truffle with wasabi. I liked it at first but the spiciness of the wasabi was too much by the second bite. Although we weren’t big fans of the dessert, the rest of the meal was outstanding.
The meal took a few hours from start to finish so we were exhausted by the time it was over. A big group of us decided to walk home afterwords to walk off the meal, which took another 25 minutes.
The next morning was an interesting one because we were going to a farm to glean. Gleaning is a strategy to reduce food waste on the production side by going to farms and harvesting crops that they decided not to harvest. This happens when something happens in the market that causes the crop to not be valuable enough to offset the cost of harvesting it, or if there is something slightly “wrong” with the crop visually, or if a farmer simply has too much of the crop. This creates food waste because they just plow over the perfectly good food and start growing something else, effectively wasting all of the resources that went into producing that crop.
We met with a man who works for a company called Espigoladors that works to combat food waste by farmers. They find farmers with excess crops and send volunteers to harvest or “glean” the area. They also work with organizations who take the harvested crops and get it to people in need. He gave us a rundown of the organization and explained that the land we were on was not his, but a farmer who had excess chard that he was letting us take.
Then he gave us an overview of the work we would be doing, which included going into the field, harvesting chard leaves, bundling them in bouquets, and putting them in crates. We put on volunteer vests, and paired up because he said that our strategy should be for one person to cut the leaves off and for the other person to hold them and rubber band the bundles once they were big enough.
We started with that strategy for the first half of our time in the field. We had to get really deep into the fields because we needed the biggest leaves which were at the bottom of the plant, and not the little leaves that grew towards the top. We went for an hour straight trading off who was cutting and who was bundling. It got repetitive and turned from fun to hard-work pretty quickly, which I think was an important experience for people who have only ever been on the consumer end of food to have.
Around halfway through we took a quick water break and we were told that we were not harvesting fast enough. Every 30 minutes trucks were scheduled to show up and pick up their crates of chard so it was important for us to meet our quota. He told us that it was going to be faster for us to rip the leaves off from the plant rather than cutting them, so he took the knives back and we tried that strategy. That ended up working well and we picked up the pace for the rest of the day. The sun was hot and we had to reapply sunscreen while we were out there. He told us that in the summer they had to start as the sun was rising to beat the heat.
To make it more fun we started playing music from our phones and some people started telling riddles and thinking games. It was kind of fun to be in the fields, but none of us could imagine what it would be like to do that every day.
By the time the last truck showed up we had just about caught up to our quota. We harvested 500 kilos of chard, which is about 1,100 pounds! We were dirty and sweaty but it was a good morning.
When we got back to the hotel we only had 30 minutes to shower and be back in the lobby, which was challenging since we had roommates and everyone needed to shower. But we made it work and felt much better after showering. Next we took public transportation to lunch at a more modern slow-food restaurant, again with many courses. They also had kombucha and ginger ale that they made in-house, but it was pretty vinegary. Each part of the meal was really good, and my teacher said they were trying to put a modern spin on traditional Spanish dishes.
During the meal I was sitting by my teacher, Camilla, so we got to ask her a lot of questions about her life. She used to live in Barcelona when her son was just born, but she moved back to Denmark when she got divorced. When she was younger she spent time working in Japan and traveling in Thailand and learned about her career path and the other classes she teaches at DIS. We also learned about her current partner, and found out that he had a son from another marriage, so their two sons are being raised as brothers.
After lunch we headed to the Basílica de la Sagrada Familia, the most iconic building in Barcelona. It is a massive church that has been under construction for the past 141 years, and won’t be completed until 2034. It was designed by architect Antoni Gaudí, who died in 1926, but they are still following his original designs in its construction. I went during my last visit to Barcelona and it was one of the main things I remember from that trip because of its beautiful stained glass interior. The height of the building and the wonderful colors that shine inside make it a magical place to visit.
We spent some time walking around and experiencing the glow of the stained glass before heading out. Then we decided to check out some of the other work of Antoni Gaudí. We walked to two different buildings that he designed and enjoyed finding the similarities between these buildings and the Sagrada Familia. We were impressed by how he was able to create the curved exterior, and by all of the intricate designs.
That night we were free to have time for ourselves, and we had gotten tickets for Razzmatazz, a huge club that is famous in Barcelona. We had all heard about it from our friends studying abroad there and knew that Wednesday nights were their main night. It was also going to be Tess’s birthday at midnight so it was perfect. We all took a quick nap when we got to the hotel, got ready for the night, and headed to dinner at a place across the street. They were able to seat us as a table of 10 outside and we enjoyed a great meal. I had an espresso martini and my friend and I split probably one of the best veggie bean burgers I have ever had, and a mac and cheese dish.
After dinner we headed to a bar to pregame and it was a massive space with tons of tables and bars scattered throughout. We noticed right away that almost everyone inside was American and it was a huge study abroad spot. I actually ran into two people I went to high school with who were studying abroad in Barcelona. We got some drinks and sat down and talked for a while, and screamed happy birthday at midnight for Tess. We headed to the club when it opened around 1am, and were instantly impressed with how big it was.
There was a massive space downstairs with a stage where people were performing, and four other floors with different rooms playing different music. There was also outdoor space on each floor where you could get fresh air. We came with a big group but I ended up sticking with SJ and Corena for the night, and we started by checking out all of the rooms. We made our way around and ended up back on the bottom floor with the stage. Apparently Wednesday nights have themes, and this one was a drag wedding so there were people dressed as a bride, bridesmaids and a groomsman.
They played great throwback songs like Cotton Eye Joe and Best of Both Worlds by Hannah Montana, which we loved. We had so much fun and danced until around 3:30am when we walked home. Our hotel was only a ten minute walk from the club which was great.
Tess, Izzy, and Anna made their way back shortly after, but Anna ended up spraining her ankle on the way home doing some drunk karate kicks in the street. She couldn’t walk on it and ended up going to the hospital in Barcelona the next day and got crutches for the rest of the trip.
The next day we got to sleep in a little bit, and then it was time to go to a local winery called Can Calopa for wine tasting. We met with a man who was one of the owners and he poured us wine and gave us a tour of the property. They work with social workers to be able to give disadvantaged people the opportunity to work on the vineyard. Some people don’t have legal documents to live in Spain, and others come from a background where they may not have family to help them. They are able to live and work on the vineyard to grow their skills so they can move on to work other places.
They also have a garden they showed us where they were growing artichokes, peas, tomatoes, and some herbs. They picked some for us to try.
As we continued walking around the property we also got to see their sheep and chickens. We learned that they had to install a gate around their vegetables and the vineyard because they have a wild boar problem. One year they lost more than half of their grapes to the boars.
Then we headed back to where we initially came in and we sat down for lunch. They served us more wine and a board of bread, cheese, and meat.
The view was gorgeous from our seats and I tried all the different cheeses. They taught us to take a clove of garlic and rub it on our toast before adding some olive oil and cheese. Then for our main meal I had the vegetarian option which was an eggplant with cheese that resembled a lasagne. The non-vegetarians had a beef burger. For dessert we had a fudge-like chocolate that was made with coco and olive oil. They brought Tess’s out with candles for her birthday!
Then we got back on the bus and headed back to the city. We were dropped off at the Mercat de la Boqueria, which is the oldest market of its kind in Europe. We were assigned in groups to specific vendors we were supposed to talk to and learn about their history in that space. Ours was closed, so we didn’t get to do that.
But we walked around the explored the market, and I was honestly unimpressed. It reminded me of the market in Budapest that Laura and I did not like at all. There were so many vendors here, but they repeated what they were selling so there was little variety. For example I wanted a chocolate covered strawberry skewer, and there were six places selling the exact same ones. So few of the original vendors were still present in the market and it has become overrun with touristy places. But it was quite a large open-air market. I ended up buying a chocolate covered strawberry and was unimpressed by the chocolate.
Then Tess and I walked back to the hotel, and I changed quickly before running out the door to meet Corena, Claire, and SJ. We had booked tickets to Park Guell, a huge park designed by Antoni Gaudí. It was so much bigger than I remembered it being, and we took a long walk through the different areas of the park. Some areas felt like they belonged in Jurassic Park, while others were made from beautiful tile. We ended at the most iconic spot which is a long curvy bench made with all different colored tiles, overlooking part of the city.
Claire met up with other people in our class, Corena left to meet her friend for dinner, and SJ and I took a hike to get to a great lookout spot to watch the sunset. It was a 35 minute walk and the last 15 minutes were quite steep, but we reached a beautiful and very popular spot.
There were tons of people, many of whom brought drinks and dinner. We managed to get a spot overlooking the sunset side and we took in the view for a while. Ale and Jada were trying to meet us but gave up by the time they got to the base of the hill because the 20 minute climb wouldn’t have been worth it by the time they reached us since the sun was setting. After enjoying it for a while, we headed back down and met up with them. We took a metro back to the hotel, which took 30 minutes since we were so far out. Ale, SJ, and I decided to get dinner by the hotel even though it was 10pm. Then we headed home for the night.
Friday was our last day in Barcelona and our flight back to Copenhagen was later that day around 5pm. We had to be in the lobby at 11am so Corena and I got breakfast at the hotel and then met up with SJ to walk to the beach. It was about a 15 minute walk and the beach was beautiful. There were a lot of people playing beach volleyball and even a lady practicing yoga on the sand. There were some people swimming and we wanted to jump in but we wouldn’t have had time to shower before getting on the bus.
We enjoyed the last of the beach and the sun, and then walked back to the hotel and packed our things. Then the class took the bus up into the mountains to a restaurant called Green Leka. It was a beautiful spot with an amazing view. We met the owner and did a quick tour of the restaurant before settling into our spots at the long table set for us under a tent outside. We heard about the history of the restaurant and learned that they are really into repurposing as much as they can. For example, their tables were made with wood that had been found in the reminiscence of a storm and they had lighting with shades made of laundry machine drums. They also take all of their food scraps and turn them into treats for dogs, which I thought was a really genius idea.
We were able to pick two drinks throughout our meal so I went with their homemade brown sugar lemonade and lemon ginger soda. Both were very fresh and just sweet enough. For our meal, we started with a potato dish that was my favorite, then we had croquettes, fresh bread with tomato, tempura leeks, and finally paella for my main meal. We were able to choose between a fish paella, vegetable paella, and a vegan curry. I was happy I went with the vegetable paella and it was an amazing last meal of the trip. By this point we were all SO full from all of the incredible food we ate along the way. It was also fun to start and end the trip with paella.
The bus took us from the restaurant straight to the airport. Some people chose to stay in Barcelona or travel to somewhere else for the remainder of the weekend, but I was happy to take the free flight from DIS and relax in Copenhagen for a few days.
After security there was an outdoor courtyard terrace in the Barcelona Airport with a Starbucks and another cafe, so I sat outside with my teacher and two other girls in my class enjoying the last of the sun. Our flight was delayed and we got back to CPH around 10pm on Friday night. Since Anna’s ankle was sprained she had a car drive her from the gate to baggage claim which was funny to watch because the cart was towing the wheelchair they used to get her off the plane.
The whole trip was an amazing experience and I loved the variety in our days and the excursions we took. I also felt like we had just enough free time to be able to see some of the city on our own and I had a great time being with my friends in my class.
