Bienvenidos a Espana

When the MV Explorer docks in Cadiz, Spain tomorrow morning, every passenger who attended any of the Explorer Seminars by Interport Lecturer David Gies will be more than prepared.

"It was like attending a history lesson on Spain with additional information on food," said Joe Coleman, a lifelong learner, who attended each of Gies' three seminars.

Over the course of three evenings, Gies quickly dispelled the misconceptions of Spain as solely about siestas, vino, bullfights, Flamenco dancing, strict religion, spicy food and the Francisco Franco dictatorship. Instead, he explained that country’s complex and rich history, dating back to 1100 B.C., through its nearly four decades of dictatorship, to its present day democracy.

“Spain is a layer-cake of history, beginning with the ancient indigenous peoples, and building upon centuries of influence and conquest by numerous populations,” Gies told a standing-room only audience during the first of his three seminars.

Woven throughout Gies’ historical timeline were descriptions, and discussions, of Spain’s art, architecture, culture and, of course, its food and nightlife.

Dustin Farivar, a senior at the University of Colorado at Boulder, got a greater sense of the sites he could see on his trip to Sevilla. Gies' talks "made me realize some of the hidden wonders of Sevilla," Farivar said.

Gies is a professor of Spanish literature at University of Virginia and was the university’s first academic dean for Semester at Sea. He will take on that role again for the Fall 2010 voyage.

By the end of Gies’ three seminars, people had a good sense of how to navigate their way through Spain and had much to look forward to.

"I've not been to Spain before and this has me completely fascinated about what I will see in my trip to Sevilla, Granada and Cordoba," said Coleman, a retired judge from Seattle. "It was a wonderful lesson for me."