In Barcelona
Trip Start
Mar 29, 2006
1
69
232
Trip End
Feb 28, 2007
Barcelona,
Spain
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
We checked out of the hotel, found the autoroute and sailed in to the city of Barcelona. A city of one way, wide streets. We aimed for the centre and were very lucky to spot a blue P which seemed to be within coo'ee of that cathedral.
The temple of Sagrada Familia was designed by a man named Antoni Gaudi. It is a work of art. Pictures do not do it justice. Up close it is stunning. It is possible that 'true blue' 'micks' might not approve but I saw no glum, disapproving faces looking upwards in disbelief that day. Not only was the basic outline of this house of God outrageous but it was all those 'add ons' attached to the front and sides of the building which captured the attention. Although it was presupposed to be unfinished, the ongoing work seemed to be concentrated on the inside of the main structure and an extension to the original design on the eastern wing
Best in Europe
. Actually it was hard to determine exactly how much was in Gaudi's original design of 1883 and how much had been added to on the whims of the local architects. Most of the inside was all scaffolding. I'm not sure whether they have been able to hold a mass in there yet. We walked all around the temple [Why this particular place of worship is deemed a 'temple' I do not know. We have been in cathedrals, duomis, basilicas and now temples. There must be a church 'directory' somewhere which would explain the difference to heathens like me.] and then spent 6 Euros or thereabouts to go inside. I figure the entry fee alone would pay for the ongoing work what with the constant stream of tourists that were flowing through. Inside the temple and everywhere you look there was something different. It reminded me of the works of Emmett or Searle in their lack of form. An imagination gone wild. We sat in the square opposite afterwards sipping hot drinks just looking up in awe and seeing something different each time. Cubism also comes to mind. Dali and Picasso would have loved this work of art. Maybe they had some input! The centre piece over the main entrance was a gold statue of Christ straddling a bridge between two of the spires or pointy things! Totally out of place and yet was supposed to represent His ascension. Opposite that icon there were some bunches of coloured fruit sitting atop a steeple and snails crawling down them. It was the stuff of nightmares. This Gaudi character would be locked up in any other age. Among all this chaos there were some traditional stained glass windows but then there were some very untraditional statues of warriors. The only other traditional feature of this temple were the thousands of tourists!
We were tempted to hop onto the double decker city bus but it was a 20 Euros all day hop on, hop off job
Even crazier inside
. No two hour city tours from here. We decided to walk. Up there, along there and back here was my plan and it mostly worked. We tramped along one of the major city streets. They are all very wide here in Barcelona. It was so different to all the towns in France. I am sure there was an old part of town with narrow streets and stone walls but the modern city in which we were was all four lane and six lane shopping malls.
We were looking for other buildings designed by Gaudi and we were successful. But, gee, it was a long walk along those wide streets all of which were arranged in very modern grid pattern...like in New York...but with traffic lights at every intersection. Eight blocks we walked before we arrived at the main shopping street of Barcelona. We both just adored the way the apartment blocks throughout the city were individually designed with every building different yet all had balconies with flowers. The walls of the buildings were a rainbow of colours and the roofs were all different. One could catalogue all the residences in Barcelona by the design of their roofs! We eventually came across the most famous of them all. Gaudi's Casa Mila. It looked like something out of Star Wars.
We had lunch next door to McDonalds from a place called Fresh 'n' Ready
Gaudi's masterpiece
. It was quite the best sandwich I had had for a long time, a delicious orange juice and a donut to die for...filled with chocolate instead of jam. Anne had a fruit salad which she also raved about. We continued our circuitous route back towards the car except that I could not find the parking station. I was lost. I led us past the Sagroda in my search and it was Anne who finally got us back on track. One of the problems with designing a city along the lines of a square grid...all the corners look the same. It cost us 12 Euros for that stay and generally we were finding Spain much cheaper than France and UK. The pound goes a long way here which explains the exodus of Brits to the Iberian peninsula.We drove out of Barcelona headed in a northerly direction along the Avenue de la Diagonal but got tangled up in the commuter traffic. We never actually went wrong but on the other hand never quite knew where we were. There were lines of traffic in all directions at some of the huge motorway intersections. I just tried to keep the sun on my left as a general rule. It got me out of a lot of trouble at times.
So, following our noses, we made it out into the country skirting Terrassa, which was an enormous industrial area, until we reached Manresa. It was a mere dot on the map but in fact was a huge city of narrow streets and...no parking spaces. I drove round and round feeling very tired from the day's walking and the stress of getting out of Barcelona. We could not find a hotel anywhere. Eventually we drove down into an underground car park, walked out into the street and asked in a travel agency for directions to a hotel. There was only one and it was the other side of town. She gave us a map and off we went. We found the hotel down by the river and yes, they had rooms and they were good ones
Just can't get enough
. We were expecting a dump. No football that night. All the eighth finals had been played. After a brief rest we set off on foot into that part of the town to find something to eat. We thought it would be easy but after a number of twists and turns we could find no eating places in the streets of Manresa. We found the town square but it was empty of all the outdoor eating to which we had become accustomed in France. We continued further into the town and found a long wide street the middle of which was covered with tables and chairs. This was it we thought. But no. There were youngsters, families and oldies sitting around drinking (long tall glasses of a white substance) or eating ice cream. There was not a plate of pasta, a pizza or a panini in sight. We stared in disbelief because this street continued for some 200 metres but it was nothing but a bar and ice creamerie.
I ducked up a couple of side streets but still no restaurants. I felt like walking up to someone, shaking them and saying in my best Spanish, "Where the hell do people eat in this town?". But Anne wouldn't let me. Eventually I espied a Chinese restaurant but as we approached it appeared to be only another bar with a takeaway attached. Nevertheless we were hungry but as we went inside Anne noticed a downstairs dining room
More of Gaudi's work
. We descended into a delightful dining room...table clothed, candled and empty. A young Asian girl invited us to take a seat and provided us with menus in Spanish. We chose a two person banquet of what we knew not but it tasted good. Washed down with a beer and a glass of wine. We still had not been able to discover where anyone ate out in Manresa. It was a big town and maybe like the hotel we just had to know where to go. We walked back slowly. It was very warm. We kept wondering out loud to each other as to what peopled did here...let alone where they ate. There was no old part to the town. It was all new...post war new. It looked prosperous and busy with much traffic as we had noted before. There were no young people hanging around in groups like in Italy which would be the closest cousin to Spain.
