Blog 9 – “Just another winter’s day in Southern California”
But, not Southern California – Barcelona.
Last week we left chilly and rainy London and headed to chilly and rainy Barcelona. As it turned out, it rained all week in London, but cleared up nicely in Barcelona. We have wanted to visit this city for a long time and being this close to it now (1-hour 45-minute flight), time was up, time to go. We explored the architecture, the beach, one mountain, and the food and drink of the city.
It’s embarrassing to admit, but it turns out that both of us were among the many folks who believe that to label something as “gawdy” is to compare it to the work of the architect Antoni Gaudi of Barcelona – wrong. https://www.alphadictionary.com/goodword/word/gaudy Both words do have the same Latin root of gaudere which means ‘joy’, but gawdy had been in use for hundreds of years before Gaudi came along with his detailed architectural plans. We also learned that he was not a tile-obsessive church builder who worked on only one building for his entire life and still did not even finish that. There is so much more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Gaud%C3%AD
We began our Gaudi education with dinner and a tour at Casa Mila. http://www.lapedrera.com/es It was here that we were first awed by the sheer scope of his work and learned that his true greatness lies not just in decorative arts but in the engineering of design to be both beautiful and functional and in harmony with nature. In the attic of Casa Mila, designed to be the laundry of the house with white arched ceilings and ingenious ventilation, we saw models of his work and the way he determined the use of the catenary curve as a building structure, which had previously only been used on bridges. The attic was the last stop before we were allowed on the roof of the building. From the roof we could see both across the city and down the atrium, which the house is built around. Not a straight line to be found.
Casa Mila set us up for the following morning when we planned the 10:00 am tour of the Sagrada Familia, ‘the church’. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia https://sagradafamilia.org/ But, truly, nothing could prepare us for the scope and size of this project. It is not just big, it is huge. It is not just decorated, it is the bible told in art sculpture, and decorated. Gaudi envisioned the outside of the church to be a teaching tool that even the uneducated would be able to understand. But that is not the best part; the best part is when you walk through the doors and take in the astounding beauty of the arched ceilings being held up by marble columns that appear to be trees which frame the stained-glass windows lining the walls. Sagrada Familia means Sacred Family. Gaudi wanted the church to be open to all peoples, the sacred family of humanity. I am not a Catholic, far from it, but none-the-less this felt like a sacred space for me. We spent almost the whole day there; looking up, looking out, looking at the museum which now occupies the basement.
The next day started with Park Guell. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_G%C3%BCell https://parkguell.barcelona/ca/ The Park Guell is a failed housing development. It was meant to be a contained neighborhood with a central space for social and market interaction, but few plots of the land were sold. In the end, the land and the house which Gaudi himself lived in, were donated to the city. The park is a combination of urban nature trail and the beautiful park center designed by Gaudi. Much of the urban nature trail part is open to the public, but the Gaudi buildings at the center are by paid admission only. Our tour guide explained that access to the central section of the park had to be limited because when it was free to all there were over 9 million visitors a year. The built and natural environment cannot support that many people.
Our last Gaudi building was the Casa Batllo. https://www.casabatllo.es/en/online-tickets/ This is another ‘house’ designed by Gaudi. It is similar to the Casa Mila, but smaller and currently under major renovations. The renovations did not diminish our visit. Work areas were sealed off using see-through plastic so we could see the actual work being done. By the time we left this site, we had both become true Gaudi fans. TripAdvisor says there are ten must see Gaudi works in Barcelona. It just was not possible for us to tour them all and we have added several to a list of what to see ‘next time’.
And, there is more to Barcelona than only Gaudi buildings – although they are the main tourist attractions. We climbed Montjuic. To get to the top you can either walk/climb the trails or take a combination of the funicular and cable car. The funicular is being upgraded so it was not available when we were there; it has a bus replacement (no fun) and once we had covered that much of the mountain by foot there didn’t seem to be a reason to take the cable car for the rest; although we did take it down. Montjuic has a castle at the top. It is the fortress type of castle with views from the water to the valley of the city to Mount Tibidaboon the other side. The centuries old history of the castle is difficult as it has both protected the city of Barcelona and fired on it during ‘The Troubles’ of the late 1930’s.
The castle is not the only thing on the mountain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montju%C3%AFc The mountain was the home of the 1929 Exposition (World’s Fair) and many of the venues for the 1992 Olympics. We were able to look around the diving pool; while the fencing is graffiti covered, the pool area is still in use and open to the public in the summer months. A lovely restaurant and bar are also attached – but we were not hungry at the right time. Both share beautiful views of the city and sea from their vantage point on the side of the hill. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piscina_Municipal_de_Montju%C3%AFc The Olympic Museum is right across the street from the pool, so we stopped there to see an assortment of memorabilia going back to the original games in Greece. A few more steps and we were at the Miro Foundation and Museum. Modern art not being my favorite, I suspected I would be done in 15 minutes and could then wait for Andy at the café in the museum’s atrium. It didn’t quite work out that way. Using the audio guide to the artwork, it was really pretty interesting, and we both finished at the same time; and went to the café together.
Down the cable car, a short rest, and then off to the 2019 Barcelona Beer Festival. We look for a special event to tie our travels to, the beer festival was the event for Barcelona. We could go any time, but why pick just anytime when we could also attend the beer festival. Of course, I don’t drink beer; but I do listen to music, eat festival food and if available, cider. It was 99 different beers and 1 cider – so we were good for the evening. Andy didn’t have to taste them all – we’ve done site tours of Flying Dog and Anchor Steam in the US. He did get to try some Russian beer and others from Spain and the UK. My cider was from Quebec; not US, but pretty darn close. A fun, and highly organized (which always appeals to me) event. https://barcelonabeerfestival.com/?page_id=1278&lang=en
In between everything listed already, we walked, we ate tapas, and we drank Aperol Spritz’. The La Rambla is the main boulevard for shopping, eating, hanging out. Right off La Rambla is the Boquiteria, or market. Think of Reading Market in Philadelphia or Quincy Market in Boston; fresh food, prepared food, trinkets, and of course, beer and cocktails. (I cannot compare to Baltimore’s Lexington Market – must admit, I have never been inside) We went for the gelato which hit the spot on a clear day with temperatures in the 60’s. We walked the Gothic Quarter with its narrow streets, shops, restaurants and churches; the Eixample area which has more shops and restaurants and the beach with sand, sun, and water.
Three restaurants were particularly good, each for their own reasons. Bronzo is a non-traditional tapas place offering more Italian/Sardinian types of food. We went there because one of the folks Andy works with is one of the three owners of the restaurant. The food was good, the place is cute enough and has some outside seating if weather permits. http://www.bronzo.es/es We also went to La Pepita which is a much more traditional tapas restaurant. It is completely covered with graffiti – I added a “Baltimore Hon” to the corner of the table we sat at. Very good and surprisingly fast given how busy they were. http://lapepitabcn.com/ And, the last day we had brunch at Blai 9 which was not too far from our hotel. Blai is a street that is closed to traffic so it has lots of restaurants with outside tables. Cute. They line up their tapas on the bar area and you just take what looks good to you. They charge you based on the empty plates. http://blai9.com/ So good. FYI, Barcelona believes in siesta time. Most restaurants do not open for dinner until 7:30 – 8:00.
The rain from the first day cleared up, the sun came out and it was beautiful. As my friend and artist, Jay Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen would say: “it’s just another winter’s day in Southern California.” But it wasn’t. It was several beautiful winters’ days in Barcelona.