Barcelona Day 1
September 27th, 2009
It looks like Barcelona has a rent-a-bike program like Paris’…
I landed in this unbelievable, beautiful, and strange city this morning. After getting off the airport bus at the wrong stop, taking the metro to where I should have stopped, then walking all around Plaza Cataluña (it might be bigger than a football field) I finally found the street I needed to follow to get to my hotel for the next 2 nights. whew!
After settling in (I like to “nest” when I travel, arranging all my things in the room as soon as I get in) I started to explore this city I’ve wanted to see for years… I began walking south on La Rambla, the main shopping thoroughfare (a block from my hotel…dangerous) until I hit the water, and started walking north-east up into Barri Gotic, the old Gothic neighborhood. I stumbled on this sculpture,
some cool architecture,
and a small church, before eventually running into the Cathedral…
These 13 geese are in the cloister! They are said to protect the town from evil-doers.
And I just liked this palm tree also in the cloister.
This sign at the entrance of the cathedral is awesome.
I climbed up to the roof, and wow, Barcelona has one of the coolest skylines ever, with crazy colors and shapes and textures all over the place.
Best of all, this big guy was hanging out (or rather waiting to be fed, unfortunately) on the one of the roof walls
how stately…
Then I had a lunch of Catalan salad (veggies covered in cold cuts), meatballs stewed with squid, and flan, with a nice coffee to finish it all off. YUM! At the table next to me a young father entertained his baby daughter by repeatedly smacking himself in the face with some sort of small bag. She thought it was hilarious.
I saw these folks wearing all the same clothing while searching for a SIM chip for my phone…
I later saw a small group of people wearing matching devil outfits with little bells that rang as they walked. (A big festival is going on all over the city, the Mercè. There are large stages with bands playing all over the place. These people like to party!)
I also saw on the metro a guy wearing blue paint on his face. It was painted and textured to look as if it was a thick crust breaking into pieces (alien-ish, and wierd) Sorry no picture of this one though. People keep blowing whistles (I can hear them outside my hotel window- oh joy).
Anyhow, my goal this afternoon was to finally see some of Gaudi’s work. Ever since I studied his work back in an Art History survey class Freshman year, his buildings have fascinated me. Luckily, Barcelona is the mecca for Modernista work as well as amazing Design in general. I might have to add it to my list of places I could live in…
This is the Casa Battló
Check out the crazy contrast with the building next to it!
and higher up…
a close up so you can see the skull-ish looking balconies…
Then I headed to Gaudi’s masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia. This temple was begun in 1884, and work on the first of three facades was not even completed before his death. The first facade, Nativity, was finished according to his plans.
After anarchists destroyed his drawings and plans for the rest of the church, the Passion facade was done by the sculptor (an atheist) Josep Maria Subirachs:
This thing is crazy! Totally asymmetrical and angular in contrast to the drippy Nativity side. And the Jesus, of course, has caused quite a scandal.
The third facade, the Glory, is underway…
I really liked the contrast of the new statue against the older work:
And this tree being held up near the scaffolding…
