Adios, Barcelona

December 29, 2006
We were scheduled to head back to France around 11 today. Lindsey had a last minute errand to run up at Corte Ingles, so she and I decided to go for a walk before the long car ride. Here are some photos taken along the way.....

We stopped inside this beautiful church, santa Maria del Pi , and saw this amazing stained glass window.

This archway connects to the great cathedral nearby our apartment. It was also covered in scaffolding so not worthy of a photograph.

We got to check out the latest women's fashions.....

and some of the oldest too!

Once we got up to the Playa Cataluyna, the sky was bright blue. This lovely building is right off the plaza.

and these adorable statues welcome you to Playa Cataluyna.....

...or in our case, bid us farewell.

Adios Barcelona!!

Barcelona: Gaudi's Home Town

On our last full day in Barcelona, we got another early start to do some sightseeing. Our main interest was to see some of the many works of the famous architect, Antonio Gaudi. I must confess to never having heard of the guy until I started planning and researching this trip. He is quite famous here in Spain, and specifically, in Barcelona.


Gaudi was born in Reus, Catalonia in 1852 but made Barcelona his home when he came here in 1873 to attend architecture school. He belonged to the Modernism/Art Nouveau movement and was famous for his unique style and highly individualistic designs. Gaudí was an ardent Catholic, to the point that in his later years, he abandoned secular work and devoted his life to Catholicism and his work, the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family, also known as the Temple de la Sagrada Familia. It is for this, his most famous structure that Gaudí is known to many in Spain as "God's Architect". It was started in 1882 by Francisco del Villar in Barcelona, and is still not completely finished. In 1884, Gaudi took over the construction, and after a time, changed the plans so that the temple was no longer being built in the Gothic Revival style. Sadly, he never got to finish his masterpiece because in 1926, Gaudí was run over by a tram. The story goes that because of his ragged attire and empty pockets, multiple cab drivers refused to pick him up for fear that he would be unable to pay the fare. He was eventually taken to a pauper's hospital in Barcelona. Nobody recognized the injured artist until his friends found him the next day. When they tried to move him into a nicer hospital, Gaudí refused, reportedly saying "I belong here among the poor." He died two days later with half of Barcelona mourning his death. It was, perhaps, fitting that he was buried in the midst of his unfinished masterpiece, La Sagrada Família. The temple continued to be constructed until 1936, when Gaudi's plans were burnt by a shelling during the Spanish Civil War. In 1952, construction began again, and is still ongoing.

Unfortunately, it was difficult to see and/or photograph this colossal work as almost the entire structure was under repair and covered in scaffolding. Who knows which parts were being repaired or were unfinished to begin with? Nonetheless we enjoyed it from the outside.
The front and back sides of Sagrada Familia hardly look like the work of the same architect they are so different. The photos below were taken of the western end where we thought a lot of the design looked like sand-castle drippings....





As we walked along the north side of the church, another style completely, we saw this beautiful wall of stained glass windows...

Here you see the eastern end where things are much more angular and severe. The sculptures on the eastern end of Sagrada were all angular and hard... as you see in these below. We think they are the stations of the cross with the crucified Christ appropriately occupying center stage.

As we'd gotten a very early start, our next stop was a nearby Starbucks. This was the first Starbucks either Nick, Sarah or I had been in over four months. As far as we know or have seen, they do not exist in southern France however we saw quite a few Starbucks in Barcelona. I know Lindsey has a cute, little one just around the corner from her dorm in Charleston and Nicholas must frequent them in Newport as he marched right up to the counter and asked for a "grande, peppermint, mocha latte"!

Next, we walked quite a ways toward another major boulevard, La Diagonal. Yes, it is diagonal! Near here, Nicholas adeptly navigated us to our next stop , Passeig de Gracia, to see Gaudi's Casa Mila or "La Pedrera". This building is "considered to be Modernism at its best with its impressive facade of undulating stone and wrought-iron balconies."


From here we took a bit of time to check out the shops, street scenes etc. We particularly liked these two wonderful bronze sculptures...

Nick liked this doorway...

and we couldn't resist(thinking about eating) this amazing marzipan cake!

Further on down Passeig de Grazia we found another of Gaudi's masterpieces; Casa Batillo. The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (house of bones), and it does have a really skeletal, organic quality to it. It was originally designed for a middle-class family and situated in this prosperous district of Barcelona. We were intrigued by the irregular windows, his use of mosaic and the flowing sculpted stone work.



We continued our march south down the Gracia and finally stopped in a little place for a so-so lunch. More window shopping specifically for boots and shoes for the kids and without any luck but a lot of fatigue, headed back to the apartment. We were weary walkers in need of a rest before going out for dinner. We were headed to The Attic, the only other restaurant which had been recommended to us which we also, miraculously, found by accident. It's located on the right side of La Rambla, near the top, and worth trying out.... if you happen to be in the neighborhood! we ahd a great meal and lots of laughs...a perfect way to end the trip!

Sightseeing along La Rambla

December 27, 2006

Our plan for the rest of our stay in Barcelona was to combine seeing some of the main attractions with doing some shopping(all three kid's top priority!) and trying out the local cuisine.


Wednesday morning, after dragging the tired kids out of bed, we all headed out to wander the northern half of La Rambla up to Placa Catalunya. Here, we'd been told, there are many shops, especially Corte Ingles, one of the biggest department stores on the planet, I think! It was a glorious morning, perfect for a walk. What a colorful place La Rambla was...lots of flower stands, some tourist kiosks and lots of animals! There were tons of these kinds of street pet shops selling mostly birds, small rodents and LOTS of turtles! Turtles are "interdit" most everywhere we've been...the US, France, Italy but they've got them in spades here in Barcelona!! Our Spanish friends in Aix actually brought Sarah two turtles from their trip home in October...their names are Ben and Jerry.

As we also see frequently in Aix and also saw on our trip to Italy, miming is a popular profession, here on La Rambla. Seems like they get wackier and wackier....silver mermaids sitting and doing nothing, "Castro" giving military speeches, Julius Caesar-you name it! Look at this guy!

We reached Placa Catalunya and were a bit disappointed after the hype one guide book put it on a par with the square around the Eiffel Tower! In it's defense, there had been some sort of big event in the center and there were workers disassembling whatever it was all three days we were there.



From here we entered the colossal Corte Ingles(which I believe means "English Cut" referring to tailoring where the English Cut is the best you can get). All three kids needed all kinds of things and we'd been told clothing was less expensive in Spain than France. All we really know is that clothing three kids is expensive no matter what country you're in! But, especially with Nicholas and Lindsey being so far away, it was great to do this together. It's great that at their ages they still value our opinions on what they're wearing. After shopping until we almost dropped, we were all hungry and went in search of lunch. I was looking forward to going to the "Boqueria" market located just off La Rambla so we went in search of both. This huge wrought iron building, also known as Sant Josep, houses one of the most popular and traditional of the city's food markets. It really did live up to it's reputation! Our senses feasted on all that we saw and smelled....

While we were wandering in amongst all the stalls, getting hungrier and hungrier, we spotted a crowded little restaurant, El Cochinillo Loco, on the edge of the market and decided to give it a try. What great people watching, what great food, what a great find! If you go to Barcelona, this is a must(Portic Sant Josep, 6-8, Mercat Boqueria, 666 913 663).





We had a delicious lunch comprised of a variety of tapas dishes(including melon with thin sliced jamon(ham), paella and fried calamari. We sampled some Spanish beer and cava, spain's sparkling wine. It is served everywhere, but is most prevalent in Barcelona and Catalonia.

After lunch, it was late in the afternoon and we headed back to the apartment, enjoying wandering in and amongst the little side streets along the way. Tonight, we'd planned to stay in for dinner and have a relaxing evening en famille.

We'd brought a batch of Nick's spaghetti, which was a big hit!



But as you can see, it brought out the REAL sillies in some members of the family!

Barcelona... after the Bandits!

December 26, 2006

As you my already know from our blog entry, "Bandits in Barcelona", the five of us left for a four day adventure to Barcelona the day after Christmas. This entry picks up after the bandit incident, when fortunately our visit improved measurably!
Once we got the tire changed, we wound our way through streets we didn't know, following directions from a Spaniard we didn't really understand but miraculously we found our way to where our apartment was located in the area known as the Bari Gothica or Gothic Quarter.
Years ago, this area was called the "Cathedral Quarter". The great Gothic buildings, including a great cathedral, which marked the high point of the city and its culture during the Middle Ages are to be found here. We could only drive our car as far as the lovely Placa de Saint Jaume, shown below. This is a big plaza flanked by grand government buildings.

There was a special attraction in the center of the plaza-a wonderful and enourmous nativity scene of "santon"-like figurines in a country setting. There was a constant stream of people-young and old alike- walking around it all day everyday. Here are some close up photos....

No cars were allowed to drive further than the plaza until 9 pm at night(when they pick up the garbage) so we unloaded the car, left it under the watchful eye of a nice policeman stationed at the entrance to the police station which was also right on the plaza and walked the few blocks to our apartment. As you can see he was ALSO watching this woman as well!

The cobble stoned streets are very narrow making them sort of dark but they were nonetheless cheerful with lots of activity in the shops, cafes and markets. This was especially true at this time of year where each street had it's own theme of lights strung overhead. We have noticed lots of blue lights for Christmas lighting in Spain, as well as 'back home' in France.

The narrow streets always draw me in and call me to stay and explore. These streets seemed even narrower than those in Aix and perhaps a bit darker but the activity on the streets and in the shops gave us a safe, comforting feeling that just left you wanting to walk and wander. Which we did for the next three days....minus our suitcases!

After just a few minutes' walk, we arrived at our apartment, exchanged money for keys with a kind, young Spanish man, got some instructions on the apartment and we set about 'moving in'. This apartment had three bedrooms (which actually turned out to be one bedroom and two loft areas), two bathrooms, kitchen/dining room, living room and last but not least, a long hallway which Sarah loved scootering up and down whenever she could!

We chose to rent an apartment in this particular area of Barcelona on recommendation and for it's pedestrian character. Also, we really feel a part of wherever we're visiting in an apartment/home in a way that staying in hotels never does. Also, with an apartment, we can not only stay together but have that critical space to spread out as well.

After we were settled and unpacked, Nicholas, Nick and I set off to do a bit of sightseeing while the girls stayed in the apartment and enjoyed some down time. The Bari Gothica is located just to the right of the famous La Rambla, one of Barcelona’s main attrctions. The Rambla is a WIDE street with a large pedestrian strip down the middle and two narrow single lanes for cars going in either direction on the sides of the street.

We walked south to the bottom of La Rambla where there is an enormous statue of Christopher Columbus surrounded by large statues of lions. Seemed like everyone down there was having their photo taken on top of a lion so Nicholas decided to join in….

After viewing the statue, we wandered along the waterfront and saw some lovely big boats, including some old schooner types that were part of the permanent Maritime Exhibit and the Olympic Village where many athletes had stayed in 1992 during the XXV Summer Olympics. Dusk was upon us, so we headed back to check on the girls and get ready for dinner. While we were making our way back to the apartment, we happened to accidentally walk through Placa Reial, famous for the lamp posts designed by Gaudi as well as beautiful 14c Gothic buildings and an old iron fountain in the center. Here, we spotted one of the few restaurants that had been recommended to us, Les Quinze Nits! They didn't take reservations, so we planned to return later early enough to be sure to get in. They, like most restaurants in Spain, do not open for dinner until 8:30….and here we'd been thinking the French were late with 7:30! Easy to understand why they serve tapas all day….who could make it from lunch to dinner without a snack?!?

Here we are heading out for dinner on our street, Banys Nous. We loved their lighting!

When we arrived at Les Quinze Nits, a little after 8, there was already a long line of hungry diners waiting...at least we got a chance to really admire Gaudi's lighting AND knew we were going to have a wonderful meal!

While we were waiting, a nice, French family in line took a family photo-it's rare to get one of all 5 of us!

So, that's all for today.... we're sightseeing tomorrow!