Visiting Barcelona

City view


Barcelona
Of course everyone has heard of Barcelona, and most people have either been or want to go.  We had a wonderful week there with a friend of ours from Canada.  Now, Barcelona is a big cosmopolitan city, very different from sleepy Nerja.  There are many museums both in the city and nearby that one does need to pick and choose – and like all picking and choosing we did some better than others.  In any case, we stayed right in the city center (Plaza Catalunya) and most of what we wanted to see was nearby which worked out very well.  Probably the most amazing part for us, was the architecture.   Spain has a wonderful history, and tradition of architecture and art – with well known figures like Picasso, Gaudi, Miro and Dali as part of the mix.  Art also seems to be celebrated in the fashion which can be colourful and fun.  There is a store all over Spain called Desigual that we went back to several times – though it could be a bit overwhelming. 

The art is wonderful
And quirky

Within the city itself we did a hop on / hop off tour to get a bit of perspective.  One of our favourite hop off spots was to head to the top of a high hill within the city from which we could look and see right down to the port.  We did the same much closer to the actual port at Montjuic Castle which is a fortification again high above the city.  We took in several museums including the Picasso one.  I found this museum quite interesting as it had a section which focussed on Picasso’s early work – as a teenager, when he was attending art school in Barcelona.  What was intriguing was that the work at this time was classic, quite a contrast from the work he is known for.  Kind of made us think about the box of school work from each of the kids in storage back in Canada.  At a different museum there was a section on Picasso that included various “studies” that he did for a certain piece of art – and when the dates were looked at there were several painted the same day.

Casa Mila from street level



Within the city we toured a couple of Gaudi buildings, one was an apartment building called Casa Mila and the other a church that is still being constructed almost 100 years after Gaudi’s death called The Sagrada Familia.  Both were amazing, and must have been extraordinary for the times.  Even now they look futuristic.  









Casa Mila - air ducts and chimneys on roof




The Casa Mila (also known as La Pedrera) was built just over 100 years ago.  It was, and is, completely unlike anything else that one would typically see for a functioning building.  There are no straight walls in the building.  A highlight is the roof where the air ducts and chimneys are disguised in undulating sculptures.  



Sagrada Familia




The Sagrada Familia would probably be considered Europe’s most unconventional church it is considered Gaudi’s greatest work.  It also claimed that last of his life – he lived on site for 14 years, and is buried there.  Construction continues though it does not interfere with seeing the beauty and the spirituality of the site.



One of the other highlights of the trip was a performance of Spanish guitar in a church.  The performer was wonderful, and the setting beautiful.  It really crowned that day in Barcelona. 



Montserrat
We also took a train to Montserrat – a monastery high in the mountains, again with wonderful views, but also with an amazing Basilica, which was getting ready to celebrate a 1000 year anniversary.   We took a cable car – but clearly in times past food etc was brought up in a different way.   The marvelous Basilica is also the home of the Black Virgin which is considered to be the patroness of Catalonia

Picasso in museum at Montserrat done when he was 13 years old

Montserrat













Figueres
The three of us also travelled by train to the city of Figueres which houses the Dali museum (Teatre-Museu Dali), which he created himself.  And yes, it is just as strange as you might expect.  It is apparently the second most visited museum in Spain after the Prado in Madrid.  Not all the work is by Dali, but his imprint is on the whole museum.


At the Teatre-Museu Dali



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