Viatge a Barcelona

Contents

Exploring Barcelona
Barcelona, City of Gaudí
Barcelona and the Other Arts

Barcelona is the capital city of Catlunya, a fiercely independent province of Spain, and a region that has suffered often under central Spanish control. Catlunya differs in many ways from other provinces of Spain, and Catalans take pride in their own language (the title of this travelogue is in Catalan).

Here's a quote in Catalan that captures the spirit of the region. It is the oath of allegiance (with translation) sworn to newly elected Catalan rulers for hundreds of years. One has to admire the "si no, no" ("if not, not").

We were anxious to see this place, so we booked a week's tour with Untours. The great thing about Untours is that they offer the support that comes with a guided tour, but otherwise they leave you alone to follow your own agenda. They provided an apartment with a comfortable living room and a balcony from which we could look out at the old harbor. A local contact, Rachel, provided an orientation to the city, and was available should help be needed (such as guiding the lost souls who could not find the meeting point for the orientation).

Our apartment was ideally situated. Strolling beside the harbor was always interesting, and at sunset it was a good way to relax after a busy day. A few blocks away was an extensive series of beaches that attract large numbers of sun worshippers. There were always several games of volleyball in progress, along with other forms of exercise.

A few blocks in the other directions was La Ribera, the old merchant section of Barcelona. At the heart of La Ribera is the church of Santa Maria del Mar. As with many churches in the city, the interior is open and spacious. The interior decoration is mostly Spanish gothic, but one window seemed very modern in design.

Adjacent to La Ribera is the Barri Gótic. It is the oldest part of the city, with some structures dating back to Roman times. The cathedral sits on a small hill in the center of the district, surrounded by elegant buildings that feature imposing doorways and windows that suggest some interesting stories. Around every corner one finds odd features such as this gargoyle and an old water trough. The Bridge of Sighs looks ancient, but is in fact more recent, dating from the 1920s.

Barcelona is a city that encourages walking. The streets tend to accumulate a lot of debris by evening, but were carefully cleaned each morning.

The street best known to tourists is La Rambla - technically, Las Ramblas, since it consists of five separate streets in line. At one end a sixth rambla, La Rambla Del Mar, takes pedestrians across the harbor.

Las Ramblas are always crowded, but nearby, in the Raval district, is a quieter, more peaceful Rambla that attracts fewer tourists.

Our favorite walks, though, were along the narrow alleys of La Ribera and the Barri Gótic. Sometimes an alley hummed with the activities of daily life. Several featured overhangs and archways.

We always felt secure in the streets and alleys, but we did encounter one unexpected hazard. Curbs were often sloped in a way that was hard for the pedestrian to notice.

In every small plaza is a cafe where one can pause for a coffee, a beer, or tapas. These visiting Irishmen apparently found the cafe a good place to recover from a rough night out. One of our favorite spots was Carpe Diem, a beach-side bar that featured an over- the-top Budhist-Hindu decor. Another was Caelum, a small patiserie in the old Jewish quarter.

Nighttime brings a special charm to the city. After dark the harbor sparkles, and the old section has its own magic. The illuminated statue of Ramon Berenguer III, an 11th century Catalan hero, casts an imposing shadow on adjacent buildings.

Food and Entertainment

Several forms of entertainment were available. One evening we found a Brazilian folk music group performing in the basement of Caelum. After the performance we encountered a group of dancers in the cathedral plaza. They were joined at one point by a strangely dressed interloper who, we assumed, was not part of the intended show. Eventually he left, the dancers finished, and took their bow.

Another evening we discovered a free concert by the Hamburg Boys' Choir at Santa Maria del Pi, an imposing church in the Barri Gótic. At any time one might encounter odd events - for example, this procession of giant puppets near La Rambla, and a gathering of people in formal dress outside Santa Maria Del Mar, who turned out to be wedding guests bidding farewell to the bride and groom. There were aspiring soloists or groups of musicians playing wherever there might be an audience.

The most frequent form of entertainment, though, came from watching children, children playing alone, as part of a school group, or on an outing with Grandma.

Barcelona is known for its markets. Probably the best known, and certainly the largest, is La Boqueria. We braved the crowds of customers and ventured in to explore the elaborate stalls for a short time. Later, though, Rachel introduced us to the Santa Caterina market, much smaller, more manageable, and in many ways more interesting than La Boqueria.

Santa Caterina was completely renovated in 2005 by the architects Miralles and Tagliabue (who also designed the Scottish parliament building). The wave of the roof and the framing of the exterior provide a sense of lightness in the building.

Exploring the market one finds delicacies such as jamón ibérica, as well as less expensive parts of the pig. Rachel introduced us to the egg lady (ostrich eggs anyone?), and treated us to an olive oil tasting. We were also tempted by the mushrooms that were in season, and by the many varieties of tomatoes.

Relaxing in the Park

When the city traffic got to be too much, there were two parks within easy walking distance of our apartment. Interestingly, both have dark histories related to oppression by central authorities.

Montjuic is a steep hill rising out of the harbor. A fort at the top was a site of torture and execution during the Franco regime. Now the hill is a popular place for locals and visitors. The steep slopes make cable cars an attractive option for reaching the top. The park contains numerous gardens, which make recovering from the climb easier.

Montjuic was the main site for the 1992 Olympic games. These Olympic were responsible for a major change in Barcelona's fortunes and image. The magnificent views of the city from the Olympic swimming pool captured the attention of TV viewers. The pool was closed when we were there, but the views, and the water, were nevertheless enjoyed by the city's bird population.

On the other side of town, Parc Ciutadella was originally a citadel used to keep a restless population under control. Now it's a park for family outings. So dad and his son may practice football, the paths are popular with runners, and the lawns are great for yoga. One is likely to encounter groups of school children, this class all being equipped with binoculars for their outing. There's a small lake for boats.

You might notice the large tusks at the back of the lake. They turned out to belong to a mammoth (or sculpture thereof). Live animals in the park included flocks of noisy parrots, and several dogs that clearly enjoyed the ponds. Some of these dogs must have had a lot of pent-up energy to expend.

The park features an elaborate fountain that was the work of five different architects. Some have suggested that it is Barcelona's answer to Rome's Trevi fountain.

Although walking is the preferred mode of transportation, there are other options. The metro is very efficient, but if you need something more colorful there are rickshaws, whose drivers will be happy to deliver you to your destination.

Some people prefer to travel by water; if not on their own luxioury yacht, then perhaps on one of the many smaller yachts to be seen in the harbor, or even rowing their own skiff.

Getting Around in Barcelona

The area near the harbor offers broad walkways for pedestrians, but these walkways had their own hazard, a bicycle path that keeps pedestrians alert. The bike path is a good place to exercise your dog, although it is shared by roller blade users and by youths on skate boards.

As in most European cities, the motor cycle is a popular mode of transportation. But Barcelona caters to regular cyclists with a rent-a-bike program. Throughout the city there are racks with thousands of bicycles, available to anyone who pays an annual fee. The company, Bicing, takes care of all the maintenance. And if you worry that the bicycles all look alike, there are ways to give yours a personal touch

We did opt for one alternative form of transport, the cable car. This involves taking an elevator to the top of a tower, where one can admire the wheels and pulleys, and then take in the view of the harbor before arriving at Montjuic.

Among other things, Barcelona is famous for its special contribution to architecture, Modernisme , a unique variant of Art Nouveau. The style is best known through the work of Antoni Gaudí i Cornet. One cannot visit the city without encountering his work.

A very early work of Gaudí's was the set of street lamps in the Plaça Reial. They give little hint, though, of his later designs, which left his teachers unsure if he was a genius or a madman. His astonishing originality is certainly on display at Park Güell, a park planned by Gaudí for his patron Eusebi Güell as a housing development for wealthy Barcelonans. The enterprise was a failure, but the park was taken over by the city, to everyone's advantage.

Gaudí was an excellent craftsman, and he relied on the fine craftsmanship of those who worked for him. A technique that he made famous, though he did not invent it, was "trencadís", the use of broken glass or tile for ornamenting curved surfaces. One can see trencadìs in the park's decorative features, in the terrace seating, and especially in the salamander, a favorite item among visitors to the park.

The entrance dazzles the visitor with a wall of mosaics, above which rise the scales of a dragon. Buildings on either side of the entrance suggest a witch's house and a children's home, right out of Hansel and Gretel.

Above the entrance is a wide terrace, which looks out over the fairy tale buildings. The terrace is supported by eighty six pillars. These illustrate another of Gaudí's trademark features, pillars inclined from the vertical to provide support for the structure above. The feature is seen again in the grotto, where rather than dazzling visitors with their color, the pillars are designed to look as if they are formed from natural materials.

Most of these techniques can be seen again in one of Gaudí's most imposing designs, the Casa Milá, an apartment complex popularly known as La Pedrera (the stone quarry). The name suits the uneven lines of the exterior.

Inside Casa Milá is a display that shows how Gaudí used the principle of the catenary (the curve described by hanging strings) to design the catenary arches that form the overall structure of the building. Turn the hanging strings upside down and you have an arch. The result is a building without support walls, but that hangs dramatically around an open central courtyard.

One floor of the building shows how an early 20th century apartment would have been furnished. It is evident here that there is hardly a single right angle in the whole building. The view from the windows is interrupted by free-form metal sculptures. The same concern with details shows up throughout the building.

The highlight of the Pedrera is the roof. Here one can stroll through an undulating maze of chimneys and ventilation shafts which look like something out of Space Wars. One can see the use of trencadís in the use of broken Cava bottles for one structure. There is a functional value to these objects, but one does wonder what Gaudí was thinking about when he designed them.

Much as we enjoyed Park Güell and La Pedrera, we were less impressed by what is probably the best known of Gaudí's buildings, the Sagrada Familia church. Gaudí devoted the final years of his life to this work, which is still unfinished, 85 years after his death.

We walked to the Sagrada Familia along the shaded Avinguda de Gaudí, but the first view of odd spires and construction equipment is rather disturbing. The crowds of tourists waiting for admission did not help. We walked around the outside of the church and left.

Even a brief inspection gives a good sense of how Gaudí's style had evolved by this time. He had become an ardent Roman Catholic, and his feelings are expressed in the nativity façade that makes up the east wall. While the theme is far less light-hearted than, say, Park Güell, it shows the same love of intricate detail.

The west wall, the passion façade, is very different. It was designed by Josep Subirach, long after Gaudí's death, and is quite controversial. Since Gaudí's plans for the unfinished sections were destroyed by anarchists in 1936, no-one can say for sure if it is consistent with his vision or not.

Gaudí, Doménech, and Puig

In spite of his unusual style, Gaudí did not work in isolation. He was preceded in the Modernisme movement by Doménech i Montaner, who designed this building for the 1888 Universal Exposition. It shows the same delight in complex detail.

Doménech's best known building is the Palau de la Mùsica Catalana, a wildly extravagant concert hall. At one corner is an elaborate sculpture that celebrates Catalan music. The pillars at the front of the building feature mosaic designs,and the balconies use glass railings, all of which adds to the drama of the building when it is illuminated after dark.

A recent extension to the hall is built in a contemporary style, and includes a cafe where one can have a coffee prior to a concert.

Dramatic as the exterior might be, the interior of the concert hall is even more so. Photos are not allowed inside the hall, but photos taken from the web show the glass ceiling, and the terra cotta muses at the rear of the stage. Some of the muses are said to be missing one or two fingers, the result of musicians using them as coat racks. Both photos show the elaborate proscenium arch with a statue of Beethoven.

To fully appreciate the interior one must attend a concert. So we went to see "Versus - Un duelo de maestros", a program of guitar master works including, as the program expressed it, "otras sorpresas". The surprises included by-play with cell phones, battles between guitar, piano, and tenor, and Ravel's Bolero for 8 hands on two guitars - at one point, in fact, 8 hands on one guitar. This unusual concert was a perfect match for the setting.

One of Doménech's most interesting designs, and rather less well known, is the Hospital de la Santa Creu i San Pau. Until recently this was a functioning hospital for the poor of Barcelona. Now it is undergoing extensive renovation financed by the UN, and will become a historical center, a school, and a research institution. Because of the construction we had to wear hard hat and reflective vest for the guided tour.

The style of the hospital is very much in the Modernisme tradition, with the same elaborate ornamentation one sees at the Palau de la Mùsica Catalana. It was intended as an answer to the bleak buildings typical of 19th century hospitals. Eight fairly small pavilions were set in an expansive garden. Each pavilion had a ward for 28 patients. At one end was a solarium where patients could take the sun and look out on the gardens. At the other end was a ward for the terminally ill. All of the labs, operating rooms, and utilities were kept out of sight in basement tunnels.

A third influential architect who work in the same style was Puig i Catafalch, here represented by the Casa Ramona, a building for the display of contemporary art.

The works of the three great Modernisme architects are contrasted in a single city block, the so-called "Manzana de la Discordia". In Spanish this is a subtle pun, "manzana" meaning both "apple" and "city block". The three architects built three closely spaced buildings. First, Doménech designed Casa Lleó Morera, a wedding cake of a building at one corner. Puig was the designer of Casa Amatller, two houses removed. Then next door Gaudí built the Casa Batlló.

Puig's Casa Amatller has a rectangular style with a moorish flavor, quite unlike that of the other two. Gaudí's Casa Batlló overwhelms one with its skull and bones theme. The contrasting styles of Puig and Gaudí are very evident when they are seen side by side.

More Modern than Modernisme .

Modern architecture of a sparer style is not absent in Barcelona. A pavilion designed by Mies van der Rohe graces Montjuic park. The headquarters of Natural Gas Group, close to our apartment, was designed by Miralles and Tagliabue, the architects who renovated the Santa Caterina market. We found the style to be quite dramatic. Next door, though, and reflected in the Gas Group building, was a brand new tower, part of an extension to the Hospital Del Mar, that harks back to the Modernisme era.

Contemporary architecture and Modernisme have little in common, except perhaps for a sense of whimsy. For example, this modern hotel, near the beach, does not look like a typical hotel. A building for the biomedical research center gives the impression from a distance of something rusting and decaying. It is quite new, and the impression comes from a facing of wooden slats.

Of course, arts other than architecture are well represented in Barcelona. The national museum of art is a grandiose building in Montjuic park. A more contemporary building houses the museum of contemporary arts. One museum we liked a lot was the museum of Catalan history which resides in a converted palace directly across from our apartment. Apart from the contents, the renovation itself is interesting for its well-designed layout.

There's a long tradition of interesting sculpture in Barcelona. It includes the commemorative - there's a tribute to Columbus at the bottom of Las Ramblas), and the celebratory - this representation of the sardana dance is a tribute to Catalan traditional arts. And all over town there are examples of more contemporary sculpture. Well known examples near our apartment include the Cap de Barcelona by Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Gehry's Fish, and Rebecca Horn's Wounded Star.

There is a sculpture garden in Montjuic park, and next door is a museum devoted to the works of Joan Mirò. The museum contains a comprehensive collection of his paintings, and it's a great setting for displaying (and sketching) his sculptures.

And everywhere amateur artists have created their own examples of street art. Any spare wall might be turned into a vehicle for self-expression. Some of the examples are quite spectacular.

And there are always a few who create works of sculpture out of their own flesh and blood.

The week was up, and there was still so much more to see. But we boarded the AVE high speed train for Sevilla to start the second week of our Spanish vacation. Please join us for Una Semana en Andalucìa.