Advertisement
Published: January 19th 2008
Edit Blog Post
No, I'm not still on my long service leave! I'm just way behind in finishing off my blogs! I have three to go and am determined to complete them these holidays as they are my way of recording my epic trip!
Barcelona It was a toss up between Madrid and Barcelona as the next stop but the lure of seeing Antoni Gaudi's architecture tipped the scales! It was a 14 hour bus trip from Granada but it gave us the opportunity to see great views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the desert regions on the way through. We also saw all the orange trees in the Valencia area. On arrival at the bus station we took a taxi to our hostel that was situated right near La Rambla, the famous street that runs through the centre of Barcelona and is filled with all manner of street performers, hawkers, musicians, beggars and stalls. On our first morning wandering along we were confronted by a man who was stark naked apart from painted-on jocks!! Quite a sight! The street performers were amazing and we were very impressed by the ball skills exhibited by some young soccer enthusiasts.
Park Guell Our
first stop was Park Guell, one of Gaudi's most famous creations. Park Guell was named after Eusebi Guell, the park's promoter and sits on 15 hectares of land on Pelada mountainside. Construction started in 1900 but came to a halt in 1914. The idea was to create a utopian gardened urban living area. In 1922 the Barcelona City Council took the area over as a park and in 1984 UNESCO named it a World Heritage Site. Between 1987 and 1994 it underwent restoration. It is an amazing place and as with all Gaudi's creations it is designed around nature. We had a very pleasant afternoon wandering through the porticos and the marketplace, resting on the undulating benches (ergonomically designed to perfectly adapt to the human frame) on the square built on top of the marketplace and exploring the viaducts. You'll have to check the photos for details as it makes more sense when you can see the photo at the same time! The famous mosaics are made up of ceramic pieces, broken tiles, bottles and broken crockery.
La Pedrera These apartments are located in towntown Barcelona and parts of them are open to visitors. They were commissioned by a
Inside the church
Note how treetrunk-like the pillars are! family who wanted to live in part of the buiding and then rent the other appartments out. Today it also houses a museum, shop, and offices. The name La Pedrera means 'stone quarry' after the way the facade of the buiding appears to have been carved out of rock. You can go up onto the roof and see the unusual architectural designs. There are Roman soldier-like figures on the roof which appear again as centurians in Gaudi's famous church La Sagrada Familia.
La Sagrada Familia If you ever get to Barcelona you MUST go and visit this amazing church. Michael had been to it a couple of years earlier when he was on student exchange and was still as keen as I was to see it again. We emerged from the train station and when we had cleared the steps Michael told me to turn around and there it was towering over me. I always get choked up at times like that; it really was an amazing sight! Later I read in the LP, 'Gaudi's life masterpiece has the potential to stir the soul.' It was certainly true for me! Gaudi worked on this project for over 40 years
Another view from the Dove Cross
This was taken from one of the towers. until his death in 1926. The architecture is based on innovative geometrical shapes of a naturalist style. We walked all around the outside first and realised that it was almost impossible to get a photo of the buiding without it looking like a construction site! This is in keeping with the ethos of the place; the church is a living, growing organism and so this is reflected in the way the building is always under construction and there is really no estimated finishing date! Gaudi's architecture reflects nature in all its amazing designs. The pillars of the main church are designed like tree trunks; different colours and different widths depending on the load bearing required. Spiral staircases reflect shells and many of the windows and other designs are taken from leaf designs. The more you look the more you see!
We had to wait 45 minutes in a queue to get to the top of the towers. Noone could walk up the stairs; they were only for coming back down! It was well-worth the wait as the views over Barcelona to the sea were spectacular. It was also amazing seeing the outside of the buiding from close up and
La Rambla
One of the many street-performers we saw in Barcelona. He would come out and perform only when money was put in the tin! a great chance to take more interesting shots. It was a Sunday when we visited and there was a mass being conducted in the main cathedral. This area was separated from the throngs of tourists who filed around in a reverent silence.
Later we visited the museum underneath the church and saw the early designs and displays of bio-mimicry type architecture. It was incredible to realise that the finished church is going to be much larger; the highest towers have not even been constructed yet, despite building having started in 1882. Today there are 8 towers, all over 100m high, with 10 more to come. The final 18 towers will represent the 12 apostles, the 4 evangelists, Mary the mother of Jesus and the tallest tower (170m) will represent Jesus himself. The northeast Nativity Facade was constructed under Gaudi's own supervision and the very different northwest Passion facade has been built since the 1950's but still reflects Gaudi's ideas and architecture.
Els Quatre Gats (The Four Cats) Michael and I set off in search of this famous cafe which used to be the hang-out of Picasso. Apparantly one of Picasso's friends decided to open a bohemia-style cafe in the
The Dragon or Salamander
The iconic symbol of Gaudi's Guell Park Gothic Quarter. People at the time mocked them and said, 'Who would come?' An old Catalan expression, 'Four cats,' means that noone would come. So that is what the soon-to-be-successful cafe was called! We only had a cup of coffee as the prices are extaordinarily high and we were only poor backpackers! We enjoyed soaking in the ambience of the place and the stunning bathrooms were certainly worth a visit!
Evenings Our evenings were spent along La Rambla usually finding a place to eat a plate of paella and have a glass of sangria (a delicious drink made from red wine, orange juice and spices like cinnamon). We stayed in 2 different hostels and ended up in one that Michael had stayed in on his last visit to Barcelona. One night a school group had booked into a few rooms near our dormitory and they made sooo much noise! I have no idea where the teachers were! The kids yelled and screamed, thumped the walls, fell off the beds and then spilled out into the corridor making the same racket! At one stage a group of boys must have leant against our door and it swung open. I don't
know who was more surprised, them or us! We glimpsed a huge group of teenage boys in their pyjamas falling over each other in their haste to get away from the door! We could only laugh! We did eventually get to sleep but I don't remember the noise abating; I think we had become a little immune to things like this after all the different beds and places we had already slept it!!
On one of our days in Barcelona we took the train and visited the Montserrat Monastry. Our day there is the subject of my next blog!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.067s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 20; dbt: 0.0279s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Shelly
non-member comment
Brilliant blogging Barbara!
I do so enjoy reading your travelblogs, Barbara. You are a brilliant blogger. Your reports are simple and easy to read, very interesting and informative, and crammed full of the different "flavours" of Europe (and Asia . . . and Africa . . . and. . .) I most enjoy the blogs on the places I have been to, since they fill in all the gaps for me. So thank you for enriching my own experience of these places. Sorry to hear there are only 3 left blogs left. Happy Blogging!