Barcelona

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Barcelona. Rather than go off on our own we decided to take a ships tour. The province of Catalonia has wanted independence from Spain forever and the provincial government scheduled a referendum for Sunday, October 1. The central government has sent in police from all over the country to stop the election and the locals are demonstrating daily. Whether the police will actually block the 2000 polling places or arrest the leaders of the demonstrations or both is still uncertain.



The problem with a ship’s tour is that you are with 45-50 of your shipmates. This makes the logistics of getting on and off the bus time consuming. We stopped near the most famous Gaudi houses and saw dozens of young people emerge from the subway with Catalonian flags. They were heading to the Plaza Catalunya for a demonstration. We saw other groups around the city with the Catalonian flag and it was flying from the windows too.



From there we drove to the Sagrida Familia or Holy Family basilica begun in approximately 1892 and expected to be completed in 2026. It is Gaudi’s masterwork and the construction continued after his death in 1926 according to his specifications. Unfortunately the crowds here were enormous and even parking was blocks away. To top it off our guide had a heavy Catalan accent and spoke very quickly. We gathered at the entrance and that was the last we saw her. We spent hours trying to find our group and it was just too frustrating. The wasted time and the crowds adversely effected our visit. It is such a beautiful and interesting building with so many details to see and here we were looking at peoples faces instead. Finally we decided to just bag it and there at the exit we found our group. I asked the guide to write down where a taxi would drop us at the pier and we said by by to the bus and headed to a cafe for tapas and sangria on our own.





Sad to say but the best part of the day was the taxi drive back to the ship. Our driver wanted to know if we saw The Rolling Stones concert. Afraid not, but he couldn’t either because he had to work. He enjoys driving in Barcelona traffic and is amazing. We just sat back and watched the near misses. He drives 10 to 13 hours a day a still can’t afford an apartment for himself and his dad anywhere near the city. As we drove, we saw dozens of police vans parked at strategic points just waiting to round up demonstrators and haul them away. I hope that Sunday will be peaceful but I’m not optimistic. The Catalonians are passionate about independence and the central government is just as passionate to keep this rich province in Spain.

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Photos

Sepatation
Gathering to demonstrate

Gaudi
House for a wealthy client

Sagrida Familia
Detail on exterior