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Barcelona
All things related to our trip to Barcelona, Spain in September 2007.
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This place was amazing. Built in the 1300′s, it is definitely a holy place, even for a person who isn’t religious in any way. There’s a spirit, a feeling of history and things greater than oneself.
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The Ass is the proud symbol of Catalonia. The people who live in this apartment are obviously very proud.
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Sant Jaume Square.
THE GOTHIC QUARTER – BARRI GOTIC
The Gothic area of Barcelona is a Roman city which dates back 2000 years. The Sant Jaume Square is the point where the two most important roads of the Roman city meet. This is also where the two most politically relevant buidlings of the city and Catalonia are located, the Town Hall and the palacio de la Generalitat. Close to the square is the Barcelona Cathedral. The hippest bars, restaurants, clothes and interior design shops and cafés are found in this area.
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In the Barri Gotic there are lots of narrow streets and little hidden courtyards.
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Las Ramblas is the main pedestrian only thoroughfare crossing through most of downtown Barcelona. Lots of cafes, shops, and no cars whipping by. You might have to maneuver around the pigeons though, there are a lot of them around.
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The tiled area, where people are sitting, is a huge area with tiled snaking seats all around it. From there you get a great view of Barcelona.
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Park Guell, another Antonio Gaudi creation, was originally planned as a sort of housing development. However, no one at the time bought into the idea. Eventually the property was given to the city and it is now a fantastic park full of strange buildings, and walkways.
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We stopped at this little cafe to get an espresso, and a little pastry. Martin ordered an espresso, Mary an orange juice, and Karen a xocollata, basically a warm cup of liquid chocolate that tasted a bit like warm home made chocolate pudding. We thought it would be hot chocolate, it wasn’t, but it was good. Finally, I ordered, without knowing what it was, a bibero. This is a picture of it. It was espresso on the top and warm white chocolate on the bottom. Outstanding.
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Day Two and another Gaudi building. We spent day two, our first full day in Barcelona, touring all over the city, mostly on foot. We did use the Metro, the Barcelona subway, a few times as well, mostly when we went out to see La Sagrada Familia, another Gaudi, and the hospital. I’ll include pictures of both later.
On this day, Friday, we traveled around to many different parts of the city including the Barri Gotic, the old part of the city, up the hill to La Sagrada Familia, and over to the old hospital with it’s gothic buildings. It was a great day. The weather perfect, the companions excellent, and the sites fantastic.
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Took this the first night, while we were walking around. This is actually a newer or newish building, lovely at night.
CASA MILÀ, “LA PEDRERA” (1906-1912)
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We arrived in Barcelona last Thursday, Sept 13, in the afternoon, found the apartment Martin rented for our stay, stashed our stuff, and then set out on foot to check out a couple of Gaudi Buildings (very famous architect from Spain who’s buildings, park, and other structures have added greatly to Barcelonas fame for it’s architecture.) and find ourselves some dinner. We did both. This building, the first of the Gaudi buildings we actually visited, is strange, beautiful, and sort of awe inspiring. Gaudi’s work is like nothing we’d ever seen before. Really amazing. The second of our reasons for venturing out, dinner, was found at a little cafe where we enjoyed our first attempt at ordering in Spanish. Interesting, and sort of fun, considering none of us could or can speak Spanish. We also had no idea (well, Martin had at least a bit of an idea about some of it, which helped) what we were ordering. We did well, getting several tapas plates which included meats, cheeses, bread (pan) with tomato sauce, and potatoes with some dipping sauces. The only strange thing we got, without really knowing what we were ordering, as I said, was a bag of potato chips. It was funny, and unexpected. Something that the waiter also wasn’t sure we wanted, as evidenced by the fact that when he brought them he tried to ask us if we were sure we wanted them. He didn’t know English, but we could tell he was a bit confused by our inclusion of them in our selection of food. We were also able to order water for Karen, Coke for Mary, and two Estrella Damm beers, for Martin and I.
All in all we had a very nice journey to Spain that Thursday including a not so bad two hour flight on Ryanair from Blackpool to Girona, a not so bad hour long bus ride from Girona to Barcelona, a fairly short cab ride from the bus station to the apartment, and a really nice walk to find Gaudi and dinner. Day one – excellent.
