Barcelona - And Gaudi said 'Let there be light'

Saturday, Oct 1

My last post ended on the train from Monpellier to Barcelona.  It was a pretty uneventful trip, the scenery was ok but not spectacular.  We arrived on time.  Alisma had set up an AirBNB with Emmanuelle.  He asked that we call him when we arrived at the train station.  We don't have a working cell phone here so that meant a pay phone.  We eventually found one.  It looked  about 1950s era, Russian edition.  We could not figure out how to use it.  The instructions were so high up that I couldn't see them over the huge phone and Alisma couldn't understand them and what she read out didn't make any sense.

We attracted a young man to help up and then a young woman.  But of course, being young, they had never used a pay phone in their lives.  None of us could figure it out.  So we did the logical thing - blamed the phone and found another one.  This one was 'accessible' height so I could reach it.  No one in a wheelchair could have reached it so maybe it was for very little old Spanish ladies.  Anyway, of course this one did not include instructions at all.  This one ate our Euro and gave us nothing.  At least the first one gave us back our money.   On to lucky number 3.  Finally, for completely unknown reasons, this one worked for us.  We got hold of Emmanuelle and I had just told him we had arrived, he said it takes about 30 minutes to get there on the Metro, I was responding with 'give us an extra 15' but the phone died mid-sentence.  We decided to just go and not call back, we could only take so much.  As it turned out, we beat him there anyway.

The apartment is very nice.  Two bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom.  Plus, total bonus, air conditioning.  It is hot and humid here.  Plus a washing machine.

so much space

The living room.  That window looks out onto
a 'courtyard' that we can't see the bottom or top of
but it does have a tiny balcony to hang dry the
freshly washed laundry
That is Alisma's new purse, by the way

My room

Alisma's room with 'pin-up' artwork to enjoy

We threw our bags in our rooms and headed out.  It was almost 7pm so we just wandered around a bit to see the city. Our apartment is right by the Sangrada Famillia, a huge Gaudi designed church. It was started a hundred years ago and they are still building it.  No worries, you are all going to get to see much more of this church.  We are going outside it tomorrow and inside it two days (blog time, two hours real time).

The view from our street

They really know how to do lightposts here

This side was done in Gaudi's lifetime,
it represents the birth of Christ

Bit o' detail, a cypress representing life and
the holy spirit or something

Wander, wander.  And then we stopped for Tapas and Sangria.

That is hummus, quesadilla and fried goat cheese medallions.
Our plan to eat less cheese is not getting off to a good start.

(I will stop here for now, off to dinner and church.)

(I'm back, it is 5:30am on our last day in Barcelona)

First full day, we started with breakfast.  They have more than just croissants and coffee here.  They have cured meats.  Or in Alisma's case, a potato omelet thing she is pretty enraptured with.    I have just been getting sandwhichs for breakfast which allows me to carry half of it around all day to eat at a later point.  So, as you can see, the pocket sandwich tour of Europe continues, 10 years later.

Sunday, October 2

Our first event of the day was a free walking tour of Gaudi Highlights.  First, for the uninitiated.  Gaudi was an architect here from the 1880s to the 1920s when he was killed by a tram.  Gaudi - genius, madman or just a guy who couldn't say no to a bucket of broken tiles?   All of the above. It is hard to decribe how out of this world, and even more the world in his era, he really was.  My pictures will not do justice.

He designed a bunch of stuff here, most notably, the Sangrada Familia church.  Our tour included a couple of private homes and the church (and a few other odds and sods).   Our 'by donation' walking tour was offered by Running Bean Tours, which I highly recommend.  Our guide was Zoe.

We started with the Plaza Reail where Gaudi got his first commission, two lamp posts.

So far, not too exciting

Then off to a house, Palou Guell.  Legend has it that he built and tore it down three times, eventually bankrupting the family.  Our tour was free so we didn't get to go inside any of these places which all have a fee.  Get ready, you are about to see a bunch of pictures looking upwards.  It looks huge but fairly unassuming from the outside but you notice little touchs like the tile chimneys peaking out up top or the iron work along the railings

Chimneys

Next stop, what I think is his most beautiful house from the outside, although not from the inside (but we won't get to find out, at least not on this trip), Casa Batllo.  It is said to represent King George and the dragon.  The roof is the back of the dragon with a hole where the spear went in.  The balconies are the skulls of the dragons victems, the tile work, the jewels he was sitting on.

Gaudi's tile work is the most
amazing thing I have even seen 

Next stop, Casa Mila, aka La Pedrera. Apparently Gaudi was commissioned to make a similar house to the one above just bigger and richer, for the same street.   But he went rogue, as Gaudi was apt to do.  

Apparently, the owners and the citizens of Barcelona hated it when it was done but, of course, it is now considered one of his greatest works.  The roof is the real draw, which we couldn't see.  

Each balcony has a different iron 'railing',  The stones
are hand chiseled to get that bumpy look

Each ceiling inside is different as well but most residents
including the owner, plastered over them.  Now they are
being restored

One last note about Casa Mila.  It is now owned by a bank who use the apartments as offices and tourist areas.  But there are four apartments still occupied,  each rent controlled from the 50s so the tenants are paying 400 euros a month.  And leases pass from parent to child so those will go forever.  Except for one 90 year old spinster who lives there.  When she dies, her apartment will go back to the bank.  

Then off to Sangrada Familia.  We did all four sides.  The east side is the nativity, the west is the Passion and the north will be the Ascension to Heaven, if it ever gets done.  This church is not a 'Church' sanctioned building.  It is by the people, for the people.  The Catholics only recognized it as a Catholic Church in 2010.  Services are held in the crypt for now since the main area is still under construction.   

The Nativity

The Passion

Spire tile detail.  There are about 6 cranes working on it so there are no crane-free pictures.

Great tour.  Best advise, book entrance tickets online to save huge lineups.  Which we did as soon as we got home so we were able to go inside the church and to visit Park Guell (another Gaudi project) the next day.   Here is Gaudi's wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Gaudi

Then, wander, wander, lunch.

Goat Cheese over roasted Veg

Spicy potatoes and couscous salad

Steamed Mussels and Calamari (not shown) for me

Then off to Barceloneletta area, which is includes the beach.  There was also a market where I may have bought some jewelry and another purse.

Wander, wander, stop for Sangria

I had heard about a theatre in Barcelona that was so beautiful that is was worth buying tickets to a show just to see the inside.  So that is what we did.  Flamenco at the Palau de la Musica Catala.   Lots of pictures of the theatre but no photos allowed of the dancers.  The dancing was amazing of course.  

The bar outside the lobby

Inside the theatre

The ceiling

Oh, you know, just a pegasus flying over the balcony

Ceiling detail

The Flamenco started at 9:30 and didn't end until 11 so we got home late.  I guess we are finally on Europe time.  

Ok, that is it for now.  I am going to try to get a few minutes of sleep before it is time to get up and pack.  Our check out time is 10am and our train to Madrid is at 1.