Tuesday - April 12, 2005
Spain: Barcelona
Barcelona is a fantastic city and I'm so glad we had two days here to get to know the place. Other than a two-hour, whirwind bus tour of the city a few years ago, neither of us had ever spent time in Barcelona and didn't really appreciate what we had been missing. It is Spain's second biggest city and is quite different from Madrid. I found it to be more cosmopolitan and the architecture is certainly more imaginative, while Madrid excels in its sense of history and its fantastic art galleries.
From the minute we walked stepped off our shuttle bus at the statue of Christopher Columbus, overlooking the harbor, I was smitten with Barcelona. It is a mecca for people interested in architecture, for here one can see everything from complete buildings dating from the 13th to 15th centuries to the utterly original Modernistic buildings of the eccentric Antoni Gaudi.
We arrived on a Sunday morning, so the streets were filled with pedestrians instead of cars. Our first stop was for breakfast at an outdoor cafe on the promenade known as Las Ramblas which runs from the port to one of the central plazas. Artists, musicians, and street mimes competed with antiques markets for our attention as we wandered along the promenade and then deviated into the Gothic quarter. Here we wandered down narrow, winding streets that would open into lovely plazas surrounded by impressive medieval buildings. We toured the cloisters of the great Cathedral, parts of which date back to 1298. We saved visiting the cathedral itself for Monday because of Sunday masses, but it was great fun to walk around the exterior and listen to the different musicians playing as we admired the architectural details.
We then caught a subway that figuratively shot us forward in time, because when we surfaced, we were looking at Gaudi's fantastic Sagrada Familia, the Temple of the Holy Family. Over 100 years of work have gone into this construction and it is expected that it could be a few generations more before the work is finally completed. It soaring pinnacles have come to be the symbol of Barcelona, much like the Opera House is to Sydney. This building is an absolute wonder. Plant decorations, animal figures, scenes from the life of Christ, holy words, angels - all can found in the wealth of detailed carving that covers the facade.
From here we took another subway over to the Passeig de Gràcia, a magnificent boulevard that is 200 feet wide and 3/4 mile long. The bouelvard is lined with splendid buildings, including some superb examples of more of Gaudi's work. We were amazed that they are around 100 years old. I can't imagine what the citizens of Barcelona must have thought when they saw these incredibly futuristic looking buildings being erected next door to others that were very in keeping with the times. They must have stood there and said, "What the hell is that?" What they are are some of the most original buildings ever designed. Casa Batllo is all sensuous curves in stone, iron, and colored mosaic tiles. From the proper angle, one can see the cross of St. George stuck in the ceramic dragon's back. (This is not another of my flights of fancy - this really is documented as being a dragon!) The balconies and bay windows are meant to represent the bones of its victims. The wall is a glimmering mosaic of ceramic pieces.
Further up the boulevard stands Casa Mila or La Pedrera as it is known. The building looks like one giant wave, with iron balconies that are very Art Nouveau in style. Again, the roof is a fantasy of strange shapes and richly colored mosaics. One needs to go up to the roof to properly appreciate the giant chimneys that look like pieces of sculpture, but we were too cheap to pay the steep entry price. Maybe next visit when we have more time.
The other piece of architecture that we really liked is the wavy, wooden walkway and footbridge, the Rambla del Mar, that stretches across the mouth of the old Port where the city's two yacht clubs are now based. The structure changes its appearance every time the viewer changes position.
While in Barcelona, Cunard hosted all full World travellers at a banquet at the National Palace. It is situated on a hill overlooking the city, so we had terrific views. They provided a four-course-dinner, champagne, wines, liqueurs, a band, and various kinds of entertainment during the evening. We enjoyed listening to a choir, two fellows playing spanish classical guitar, and a young opera singer who sang 4 or 5 numbers. His name is Russell Watson, and he sounded like an Andrea Bocelli wanna-be to me (which is not a put down because he was very good). We had not heard of him before in America so weren't all that excited when we heard him introduced, but all the Brits went bananas over him because apparently he is a very big deal there. Who knew? Anyway, it was a avery good party considering that it's quite a tall order to entertain and feed over 900 people!
We leave for Malaga tomorrow and I hope the sailing is smoother than it was coming from Naples to Barcelona. We had a very rough night before our arrival, where a vase of roses and Mike's pocket computer went flying off the desk. But I've been on the ship long enough that it didn't really bother me that much, unlike a previous cruise into Barcelona where I spent the night prostrate on the floor of the cabin except for quick trips to the washroom. I must have found my sea legs.