Don't be a tourist. Be our guest!

After a real but almost surreal breakfast (because it is sooooo good), we head off to Figueres to the Dali museum.

Dali (with his famous mustache), was born in Figueres in 1904. He has his first exhibit in Figueres, where the musem is now, when he was 14. He was an accomplished artist, a genius, as he called him self. Some will argue that he was crazy and Dali never denied it. Crazy or genius, at least, he is famous and will always be remembered as the father of surrealism.

He designed and created his own museum, dedicated to his art, in his home town, Figueres. The museum opened in 1974 and is considered the biggest surreal object in the world. It is really worth a visit.

After this surreal experience, we drove to Besalu to visit the only mikvah in  Spain, from a Jewish quarter established in the medieval town in the 13th century. The Jews lived in peace with the catholic before they had to build a ghetto in the town. After the ghetto, they were expelled. This is a picture of the medieval bridge of Besalu, restored after the civil war.

Our tour guide was excellent, very knowledgeable and cute.

Doing the visit under the rain made the experience even more medieval said Karen who loves everything medieval.Woody lent her jacket to Karen but the size wasn’t really the same!!!!

No comment on this one!!!!!

Besalu has cute little shops and since it was raining, we had the town and the shops for ourselves. To be protected from the rain, we entered this pottery shop but of course, we didn’t just look. Some of us had to buy..

Rima never stops taking pictures but this time she is in Mary Ann’s box while both of them are in mine…

Tomorrow, is another day, with different adventures ahead.

Join us next year on our Spain trip at www.frenchescapade.com

Who? A special group. All returning guests. Laurie (aka Pr Drabble), Chase, Rima and Karen are joining French Escapade for the fourth time after their cultural tour to the French Alps, Provence and Belgium . Diana, Mary Ann and Woody are coming for the 3rd time and Connie is there for the second time.

They decided to form their own group to come on our new tour, a cultural tour to Barcelona and the Costa Brava.

The tour started yesterday when I picked them up in Barcelona. Two of them, whose names I will not give, had a late wake up (past noon) for a pickup at 12:45… The mark of their pillow was still visible on their faces.

Here is a picture of the group at our welcome reception:

From Left to Right: Laurie, Diana, Rima and Karen.

From front to back: Chase, Woody, Connie and Mary Ann

Today, we went to the medieval village of Pals and had a private guided tour of the village. In addition to the history of the village, we discovered the local specialties such as olive oil, wine, rice, chocolate and ham (I should say Spanish specialties because the famous pata negra itself is a specialty from the South West of Spain). I guess it doesn’t matter because as you see, no-one cares about ham but about …chocolate.

We then went on to the rice mill. The specialty of Pals is the rice. It is the only part of the Costa Brava that makes organic rice. Esther, our guide, was very sweet. Everyone thinks she looks like Valerie (for those who know her).

We finished the visit with a two hour lunch that included many  catalan specialties and of course a paella with the brown rice from Pals.

Stay tuned for more adventure tomorrow in Dali’s world. You can also follow the full itinerary of our cultural tour to Spain on our site at frenchescapade.com

We are now in Barcelona on day 6 of our painting workshop.

Today, we didn’t expect to met the giants. Not the sport team from San Francisco but the giants from Barcelona, the ones made out of wood and clothing.They are part of the Catalonian tradition. They use them on special occasions. They walk and dance in the streets. So Dee and I had the chance to see them perform on plaza Reial.

In the evening, I had a surprise for the group. We were invited at Julius’ house for dinner. We were served an incredible dinner with Catalan and Spanish specialties. It was a real feast.

Julius presented us the fresh fish and sea food he will use for the dishes.

We had a private dinner with 8 different tapas, 2 main dishes and dessert. The least we can say is that we were stuffed but in heaven…

Dee is presenting the Cocal de escalivada, the Catalan version of our pizza.

Karen decided to dress up to go to this very nice place, a clandestine gallery in the Barri Gotic.

One of the main dish was the Catalan Fideua with sea food and aioli. It is the “noodle” version of the paella.

We could barely walk back to the hotel after eating all that food but it was an unforgettable experience.

Join us on one of our tours to either France, Spain or Belgium at www.frenchescapade.com

As the temperature drops a bit, so does the number of students following Keiko. Here are a few more pictures of the people who are still painting. Some got tired and went off to do something else while 4 participants made it through.

From L to R: Diane, Sandy, Dee, Keiko and Valeria:

Shine or rain, Keiko paints her way through:

On the sandy beach, the number goes down even more. We are now down to 3 participants.

There is more than painting on this tour. A little culture too. We went to Figueres to see the Dali museum. It is actually the biggest surrealistic museum in the world. Very impressive and very crazy too.

Tomorrow, we are off to Barcelona. We are leaving this quiet paradise for more a much busier but beautiful place.

Hasta Luego.

All our trips, in Spain but also France, Belgium and Switzerland are listed on our site at www.frenchescapade.com

Yesterday we went to the medieval village of Pals, considered one of the most beautiful villages on the Costa Brava.

On the way, we saw fields of red poppies. The group made me drive through little narrow streets in the country side in order to get closer to the poppies. Well, that was not very successful. That didn’t stop them, they walked on the high traffic road to arrive in the poppy field. While taking the picture below, Sandra said that it could be a picture advertising for a discounted trip!!!! (walking by cars, in an non friendly environment rather than on a scenic road!).

The good news is that we finally made it to the poppy field.

In Pals, some of us got distracted from painting by the shopping of scarf and jewelry….I will not give any names!!!

Finally, we are in Pals.

Keiko did a demo in the main square of the village:

Judy, aka the general and also my photographer, played a trick in this picture with her mother. I would never dare to take that picture …

Picture of Judy and her mom on their terrace, back at the hotel. It is hard to leave that view even to go on day trips!

Stay tuned for more adventure as the trip continues. The full program of the trip can be found on the site www.frenchescapade.com

Today is day 3 of our painting tour.

Here are some of the paintings Keiko Tanabe did during these 3 days on the trip with French Escapade. Some of them were the demos. All have been done in one hour or less. Amazing isn’t it?

Demo in the medieval village of Pals:

View of the country side, from the medieval village of Pals:

Beach in Calella de Palafrugell (view from our hotel!):

Sunrise in Calella de Palafrugell (Keiko has time to do at least one painting before breakfast):

Boats in Calella de Palafrugell:

Mr Velcro’s house in Calella de Palafrugell: This painting is already SOLD!

Mid day in Calella de Palafrugell:

Streets in Calella de Palafrugell:

Cafes in Calella de Palafrugell:

To see more paintings by Keiko Tanabe, click here.

To see more details of the painting workshop to Spain, click here.

Our second day on the Costa Brava started with a beautiful sunrise. Here is the picture taken from the terrace of the hotel (I didn’t even have to photoshop the picture, the colors are just real!).

Let me introduce the group of artists on the trip:

From L to R (bottom row): De and Diane (Top row): Judy, her mother Lois, Karen,Keiko, Sandra and Valeria.

Today we went to the botanical garden of Cap Roig. It was designed by a couple, a Russian and his wife from England, in 1929. They built a castle and imported over 1000 plants from all over the world. The place is now a botanical garden open to the public. In July, they have concerts with artists worldwide. This July, Elton John is coming. Tickets are already sold out by the way.

Here is one of the paintings from Sandra Stohschein. She is the fast painter in the group. Four paintings yesterday and one painting this morning before breakfast!!!! This one is a painting of the castle in the botanical garden, painting number 6 already! Click here to check her web site.

The garden is so beautiful: cactus, flowers, trees and view on the Mediterranean!!!

Below is a whole in a blue door with the dramatic cliffs behind. It is not a painting or a picture. It is the real view you get from the garden!!

Keiko gave a demo about value and colors, with the castle being the subject.

Some people paid very good attention:

Some, even more serious, took pictures of it so they won’t forget:

While some others were more interested in having ice cream:

Ok, I am just kidding, the ice cream was at lunch time, not during the demo!!!

This was day 2 of our watercolor plein air workshop in Spain, taught by Keiko Tanabe.

Bon dia y Benvingut en Catalunya!

I am practicing my Catalan (I know about 10 words!!!) because I am now on the Costa Brava, running my  new trip.

It is a watercolor workshop with art teacher Keiko Tanabe. We are spending five days on the Costa Brava and 2 days in Barcelona.

Our little home base village of Calella de Palafrugell is a gem. The view from the hotel is breathtaking.

But let’s start with the most important: …painting…NO, food! Breakfast!

Here is a picture of the buffet at the hotel. It is actually only one part of the buffet. I couldn’t take a picture of everything.

For dinner,  we went to the best restaurant in town. You could choose your fresh fish of the day. You know for sure you are not eating frozen fish, from last year!!!! It was delicious.

Ok, let’s get serious and let’s paint.

Keiko, the art teacher, is a not only a great watercolorist but a very fast painter. Here is one of her paintings from this morning.

Everyone’s has been busy painting, inspired by Keiko’s demo and of course, the ocean.

I have also included Judy and her painting. Judy had never painted before. She watched Keiko this morning and then decided to give it a try. What do you think?

Ok, I am just kidding. The painting is of course from Keiko!!!

Stay tuned for tomorrow. I still have to take pictures of some of the other painters on the trip.

If you want to see the complete itinerary of this painting workshop to Spain, check www.frenchescapade.com

Now, a new adventure starts. Valerie and I are traveling in the Costa Brava in Spain to research for our new trips (painting tours and cultural tours) in 2013. We were there at the end of October 2011 but it was raining quite a bit so we didn’t enjoy it as much as this time.

I had found an hotel on the internet but like everyone knows, we can never trust the internet. So, we stayed there to test it. What a dream!!!!! We chose a room with balcony and sea view.

We could see the little village with the white-washed houses, a 200 year old fortress right on the beach, the cliffs, all the boats,…It was hard to leave everyday to go on our research trip.

The hotel was renovated last year so everything was immaculate.

The day started with a delicious breakfast which was a feast: savory and sweet.

Among  the savory plates, we of course had some catalan specialities like “Pa amb tomàquet” : a large slice of fresh country bread (toasted or not) rubbed with tomato and drizzled with virgin olive oil. It may be topped with Iberian ham, cheese and anchovies, all that can be found in the buffet. The other specialty was the Catalan omelette with scramble eggs and potatoes.

They had a huge selection of cheese, iberic ham, chorizo and then there were many sweet choices. Since Valerie and I usually don’t eat sugar, we only took a very small piece of the different cakes just to know what they tasted like to let our guests know when we do the tours.

That was a big mistake…..It was sooo good that we had bigger and bigger pieces everyday. Luckily, we only stayed 5 days. I loved the almond cake while Valerie preferred the yogurt cake and the chocolate cake.

In terms of drinks, they had a machine that makes cappuccino, expresso, coffee with milk, long coffee, strong coffee, hot milk, hot water, hot chocolate,…but that is not all.

Besides the orange juice, apple juice, fizzy water and natural water, you could also have….red wine!!!!!! I didn’t see anyone drinking it but it was available.

For Americans, they had of course some corn flakes. Then a big selection of fruits that were to die for. People who know me, know that I don’t eat much fruit but I loved the cantaloupe and the green melon: very juicy and tasty.

All that, with a view of the ocean…..The day couldn’t start better.

So now you are wondering what is the name of this village and what hotel is it? If you know Catalunia a little bit you may think it is the famous Cadaques village. Wrong!!!! It looks like Cadaques but it is smaller, cuter (to my opinion) and less touristy by far. The name? Well, you will have to travel with us to find out.

Check our site at wwww.frenchescapade.com to see the itinerary of our tours to Spain (Cultural tours and painting tours available).