Welcome to Barcelona! An Ottawa soccer team just finished their own perfect tour with Explorica, squeezing in practices and international matches across Spain, France and Italy between visits to famous stadiums (like FC Barcelona‘s above), guided tours through historical sites, and relaxation hours at the beach. Read about the Spanish leg of their trip below, and flip through the group’s Tour Diary to learn more about their soccer tour.
Day 1: Bon voyage to Barcelona
If you’ve ever been on a ferry at home, your experience was probably boring to say the least. But ferry rides across the Mediterranean seem to be a little more exciting. This ferry from Rome to Barcelona was “more like a cruise ship,” with a pool, game room and more. Talk about traveling in style!
Day 2: City sightseeing and FC Barcelona visit
Between practices, the students took a break to explore the world renowned architecture of Barcelona and other tourist attractions: the 1992 Olympic stadium, Gaudi’s masterpiece the Sagrada Familia (to the left), the gardens of Parc Güell, and FC Barcelona’s home stadium, the Camp Nou (photo above).
Day 3: Practice with the RCD Espanyol
That’s right–this high school team was given a chance to play soccer with the world-renowned RCD Espanyol (yes, that’s the correct spelling). The soccer fans were excited to play with the pros, and playing with a Spanish-speaking team helped them to brush up their foreign language skills.
Day 4: Leave Spain
To top off the trifecta of Barcelona soccer fandom, the students practiced at the CF Cunit facilities before hitting the beach. The daily beach trips gave the soccer players the opportunity to unwind and take a break from the hard work of playing soccer with the Spanish futbolistas.
Read about the other stops in this trip in the team’s Tour Diary.
At Explorica, we’re always dishing up tours made specifically for your group. This particular team took a tour through Rome, Barcelona and Marseille, but you can create your own tour in Spain or elsewhere.