A long weekend in Catalunya

A long weekend away?  A break from the kids and the Mother-in-law?  Come to relax and enjoy yourself in Catalunya.

Catalunya can offer you a perfect combination of big city sophistication and small town customs.  We recommend that you start your long weekend when you arrive in Barcelona by checking in to one of Barcelona's famous hotels.  You can choose exclusive luxury in big hotels like the Palace hotel

or the Hotel Rey Juan Carlos I,

or if you prefer you can choose something more modest, more intimate like ABaC hotel or the Hotel Duquesa de Cardona.  Both these hotels are smaller and more economical but are of equal quality and perhaps more original than bigger ones.

When you are in Barcelona don't forget to visit the famous sights of the city such as the Rambles, La Plaça Catalunya and others like this.  Ask in your hotel for a guide map and all of these famous landmarks are clearly labelled. 

As a curiosity also try not to miss the Bosc de les Fades, the Fairy Wood Bar, which is in the Gothic quarter at the end of the Rambles.  It is a wonderfully original bar that is designed like a wood and is a memorable place to have a drink in the afternoon.

As a tip remember that no one drinks tap water in bars and restaurants so don't try asking for it.  Also remember that all the most touristic places in Barcelona are full of pickpockets, especially the train from the airport to Sants station, so be careful at all times.  If Barcelona has just won a football championship I recommend that you don't go out into the streets especially if you are wearing a Madrid FC shirt.

Then after a couple of days in the capital of Catalunya I would recommed a complete change.  Come visit the South of Catalunya.  Here you have the Baix Ebre area and the delta of the Ebro river.  You can start your visit by visiting the capital of the area Tortosa.  Stay in the old Moor castle, El Castell de la Suda, which dominates the city from its position up on the hill.

It's perhaps not the best hotel but it has lots of charm and is a good place from which to visit the city.  While you are in Tortosa you should visit the areas of the city that lie around the base of the castle, these include the old Jewish quarter and also have remains of the original city walls.  You can also visit some of the original palaces in the city which today have been reformed, for example the EOI building near the courts.

I would recommend a visit to the central market in the heart of the city, there you can see the wide range of local produce that is on sale every day.  You can buy pig's trotters, tongue, molluscs, crab and salted cod  and you can have a drink in one of the market's bars.  If you leave a tip at Esther's bar she will ring a bell loudly to celebrate it. 

If you are feeling a little more adventurous take a trip up river to Benifallet and reserve a trip on the river Ebro with Beniemocions.  They will take you out on the river in canoes and let you see the local area from a very distinctive and beautiful point of view.  Be careful of Joan, the owner of the company, in his speedboat.  If you are not looking you will end up in the water.

Finally take the time to visit the Delta area.  This is a nature reserve and the second largest wetland in the whole of Europe.  Enjoy the views of the paddy fields, the diversity of its flora and fauna and its glorious beaches. 

You can eat in lots of different places, visit San Carles for a good selection of local restaurants that serve locally caught fish and shellfish.  Or you can go to several places on the delta itself.  One place I would recommend is La Casa de Fusta.  This is a very original building with a restaurant of the same name. 

Here you can enjoy typical food from the area such as Black Rice, Mussels, Razor Shells, Sea Snails and other things that you have never even imagined eating.

Come to Catalunya, visit the South and enjoy a unique and once in a lifetime experience.

A letter of complaint

                                                   
                                                                                                     Institut Workalot School
                                                                                                     15 Workalot Street
                                                                                                     Workalot
                                                                                                     Workshire,  15GB 66CAT
                                                                                                    
                                                                                                     March 13, 2012

The Director
Dorchester Hotel
35 Mayfair Square
Mayfair,  N1 486Q
London

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to you to express my dissatisfaction with my recent stay in your hotel.  The room I was given was completely unsatisfactory and I was unable to sleep because of all the people outside my room talking until the small hours of the morning. 

Two weeks ago I was sent to London to attend an educational conference.  I did not realise at the time that the EU leaders were holding talks in the same hotel at the same time in order to agree on the terms of Spain's financial rescue and how to save the Euro.  When I went to my room to sleep on the night of the 31st I was dismayed to discover that sleep was impossible due to all the civil servants and politicians who were walking up and down the corridors all night talking on their mobile phones.  At around 1am I left my room and asked the people outside if they could please be quieter and go to their own rooms.  Mr Hollande just shrugged, Mrs Merkel said something very rude in German and Mr Rajoy didn't understand a word I said.

Later at around 3am I phoned reception and complained directly to the receptionist.  She was very polite but explained that she had had instructions from the police not to annoy the EU leaders because the Prime Minister wanted a solution to the EU financial problems that evening.  At 4am I went out to the corridor again and discovered Hollande asleep on the floor, Merkel and Rajoy sitting on the floor drinking Schnapps and another man, I think his name was Mas, stealing the different flags from outside the conference room.

In conclusion my evening was terrible, I hardly slept at all.  I feel that it is only fair that your hotel either refunds my money or gives me free accomodation for another date.

I look forward to your reply and a satisfactory conclusion to this problem.  Should this not be possible I have a series of photos that I took that evening that, I know, would be very popular with the tabloid newspapers.




Yours faithfully

Huw Edwards-Westlake

My music

When I was younger one of my favourite groups was Madness.  I used to listen to them a lot.  They started as a Ska group but became very commercial very quickly.  Even so their music has a great beat, singable lyrics and is normally very very catchy.




This video is from the 1980's and is very good.  Madness are still popular today and often play concerts around the UK

Another group that was very popular from the 1970s was Wizard with Roy Wood.  They were part of the Glar Rock scene and very extravagant.  For years this song was a basic part of Christmas and was always played at parties and on the radio.






Then when I was older I started listening to the music my older brother liked. This is one of those songs, good music from a classic group Jethro Tull.  They were all very good musicians and I remember we used to sit for hours in my brother's bedroom with the record player taking turns to listen to Tull's songs on headphones.  I also used to listen to Barclay James Harvest, Crosby Stills and Nash and others like them.

A few years later another group became popular and I used to record their records with a tape recorder putting it next to the speakers of a friend's record player, it was a cheap way of getting new music even if it wasn't "digital quality."  This new group was ELO.  Now a classic.



Other groups I used to listen to included, Blondie with Debbie Harry, Duran Duran, Status Quo, Fleetwood Mac, Gerry Rafferty, Neil Diamond and many many others. 

Trip to Syria

This article is about the trip we are going on next week to Homs in Syria.  I know that recently you have heard a lot about this city in the news, the bombardments by the Syrian army, the casualties in the streets and hospitals and the guerilla forces fighting the Syrian government.  I have spoken to our travel agent and they have told me that these are all just stories invented to sell newspapers.  But they have sent me some recommendations so I thought I would give them to all of you too.

Firstly they recommend that we all take warm clothes, it is summer in Syria and very hot but at night it can be cold especially if we are sleeping out in the desert because our hotel is being shelled.  Remember to take good shoes, hiking boots or shoes, something that you can run in in case we are chased by the army or need to escape the tanks.  No heels or platforms please girls!  Don't forget to take a flak jacket, this is not for the bullets or the bombs but apparently they are very warm and perfect for sitting outside on the terrace of a bar in the evenings. 

I asked about wearing hats or caps in the mosques in the city, they said that you can't wear them in the mosques but helmets are fine.  They have also said that there are a lot of people selling souvenirs in the city at the moment but we must remember that you can't take Kalashnikovs or live ammunition on planes these days so it is better not to buy them. 

You can't drink tap water in Syria, you'd better only drink bottled water and we should take some medicines like Fortasec just in case.  We might also take aspirin, morphine, penicillin, bandages, dressings, splints, forceps and a scalpel too, just in case.





The agency has said that the main mosque is not open at the moment, it is closed for rebuilding, but that we can visit the trenches which are around the northern part of the city.  I have been asked to remind all students not to stand around in the streets in case of snipers and to always get out of the way of police cars, ambulances... armoured personnel carriers, tanks and men with automatic weapons.

 

Finally don't forget your picture of Bashar Al-Assad which you have to show at the Syrian army road blocks but remember to hide it when we see the rebel army ones.

Remember this advice and I am sure we will have a wonderful trip!

See you all next week.

Conclusions on a photo

This is a photo of a young couple together on holiday.  I am not sure if they are on holiday but the might be because she is wearing a hat with the Norwegian flag and this is typical of tourists.  I think they must be friends, they can't be brother and sister.  They might be going out together because they look very comfortable together. 

They might have come from the United States because he is wearing a sweat shirt form a football team but I am not sure.  It can't be summer it must be winter, because they are both wearing warm clothes.  I think they must be visiting Norway because of her hat but I suppose it could be any country and the hat is an old one.  They might be visiting a boat because I can see a lot of cables and things and the sea behind them.

They might have gone on holiday together, they might have decided to visit Norway and the fjords.  Perhaps they are married and they have gone to Norway on their honeymoon. 

Must be, might be, can't be
must have been, might have been, can't have been

I think they must be having lunch because I can see they are eating fish and drinking wine and it is very sunny.

They might work together because....
The man might be her brother because...

My name is Huw, well that is my first name, my complete name is Huw David Hammond Edwards-Westlake.

I was born in Lincoln in September 1966 but I lived for most of my childhood in Stansted, a small village in Essex with a large airport.

When I was fourteen I moved to London, Seven Kings, and I went to school at West Hatch High School Chigwell.

At university I studied History and Politics at Keele University Staffordshire. 

After university I worked in London for a couple of years.  I wanted to learn another language and live in another country so I came to Tortosa to teach English.  Here I met my wife and I never moved.  Now I have been here for more than twenty years and I have two children, both boys, one fifteen and the other seven.