From Gaudi to the Lindy Hop

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The highlight of today was the Spanish Civil War tour…. all 5 hours of it! The guide, Frank Lloyd, is a Scotsman married to a woman from Barcelona who several years ago became completely focused on/obsessed with the Spanish Civil War. Several years ago, when he was at loose ends living in Barcelona, he noticed a plaque being installed near his home. When he investigated he saw it was to honor Francisco Boix. As a young man, Boix photographed the Spanish Civil war, was recruited by the French Foreign Legion, captured by the Germans and sent to Mauthausen concentration camp. While in Mauthausen the German used him to develop the photographs they took of the prisoners who were generally worked to death. He made copies of 20,000 negatives that were smuggled out of the camp and hidden through the end of the war. Boix ended up being the only Spaniard to testify at Nuremburg. His photographs and testimony led to the conviction of high ranking Nazis who had claimed they knew nothing about the camp, when in fact they had visited Mauthausen and their visits were documented by Boix. Frank knew just about everything you could know about the war. Part of the time we walked from place to place while he described what had happened in each location and part of the time we sat in cafes while he shared a vast trove of historic mementos and photographs that he has collected over the years. I had read his book along with George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia before coming on the trip. Seeing the places that were talked about in the books, made it much more real. Also, the Republic lost to the Fascists for one of the same reasons that the Left struggles today. While the Fascists were unified, just like the Right today, the supporters of the Republican government were fragmented. The various groups, the Anarchists, the pro-Soviet Communists, the anti-Soviet Communists, the Socialists, the Social Democrats and several other players, fought among themselves and this infighting eliminated whatever advantage they might have had. There was no unified Republic Army, but half a dozen militias representing the various Left parties, that wouldn’t share weapons or strategy. This was the case of the enemy of my enemy is also my enemy. In addition, the Fascists were supported by Hitler and Mussolini who were rehearsing for WWII, while the Republic was supported by the USSR and Mexico. Neither country had the will or the financial resources too poor to be of much help.

Frank walked us through the confusing history that I had read in his book and George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia. When I started the books, I didn’t know that Orwell was shot in the neck and almost died and when he recovered he had to flee to avoid arrest by the party supported by the USSR. His experiences in Spain were the basis of 1984 and Animal Farm. It was a brutal struggle with a strong anti-Catholic commitment. The Church had sided with the landed and newly rich industrialists leaving most of the population totally impoverished. The prior government was unable to govern which was the genesis of the Anarchist movement that was probably stronger in Catalonia than anywhere else. Workers had seen a government that was unable to govern and ceased believing in government.

The tour finished at 1 and we headed to Park Guell. Park Guell was a failed attempt at a planned community by Gaudi. Evidently, it was too far out of the city and probably too expensive to attract buyers. In fact, only 2 houses (out of a planned 60 houses) were ever built and one of them was paid for by Gaudi’s patron and was his residence for many years. Before we came, I had looked at a lot of pictures of Gaudi’s work online. Quite frankly, it looks weird, but I booked the tours to see his building because I knew that was what we were supposed to do in Barcelona. Walking through the park, I came to appreciate his work. One guide quoted him as saying he didn’t invent anything but was a keen observer of nature and used nature as his inspiration. The walking paths he built blend into the landscape so well, they look like they grew out of the landscape rather than having been built into the landscape. We visited the small house he had designed for the guard the entrance to the property (this was a gated community). Much to my surprise the colors were nearly perfect matches for the colors that Paul Lukez used in our house. Unlike Paul, Gaudi is all about curves, whereas Paul is all about hard-edged asymmetrical design, but the brick, blue and pale green are what I wake up to everyday.

The only part of the visit that was problematic, was that the park is located on the top of a hill and I lost count of the number of steps. I’m going to google this, but it was a hike! Since coming down is more difficult than going up for someone with knee replacements, we took a taxi back to the apartment after the visit.

We had dinner at a small restaurant, Blavis, that can accommodate 16 people. There are 2 guys running the place and cooking. The host was so friendly and went through every item on the menu with us. We had eggplant carpaccio, a shrimp with rice noodles, a pork loin with a Chinese style marinade and leeks with Pomodoro sauce. One dish was good, 1 very good and 2 excellent. I told Jack, that I couldn’t imagine being so nice to people night after night after night. The restaurant is #7 on TripAdvisor and it certainly earned its stars as far as I was concerned.

For those of you who know us, I booked a 10:30 jazz concert at the Harlem Jazz Club. We were the second couple to arrive around ten and by the time we left at 11:45 when they musicians took a break; the place was standing room only. The music was good the musicians pulled in other folks for a song or two here and there. For me the best part was an unexpected, informal dance performance on the side. There was a young couple who were doing swing dancing beside the stage. They were amazing; I can’t remember seeing any dancer move their feet so fast. I went up to tell them what wonderful dancers they were and learned they were doing the lindy hop and the reason they were so wonderful is that they teach swing dancing. What a treat! I liked them so much I wanted to link to a video for all of you who aren’t in Barcelona. Here’s a link

Photos

Lecture on the Spanish Civil War
surrounded by memporabilia