A Little Bit Gaudi, But I Like It
Trip Start
Apr 27, 2006
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24
110
Trip End
Apr 01, 2008
Barcelona,
Spain
Friday, June 30, 2006
Barçelona, however, was convenient for my flight plan, and I had heard the city had changed significantly since I was here last in 1991. And it's true, in some ways. I haven't been to Madrid yet, but Barçelona looks and feels like a world-class city, with a well-run subway, classic architecture, squares, plazas, monuments, parks, and boulevards
Cas Batllo 5
. The basic structure hasn't really changed, but the feel has. One, they have cleaned it up. Part of that was for the 1992 Olympics, but part is due to its increased wealth since joining the EU, becoming a recipient of EU funds as one of the poorer countries, but also there has been a lot of foreign investment.The main way I noticed it was that the bottom end of La Rambla (the main pedestrian tourist drag) is not only a lot less seedy, but the neighborhood called El Born down by the harbor in the Gothic part of the city is now uber hip and trendy, with toney restuarants, fancy lounges and a bottleful of bars. Before, this was drug addict, sketch central, and I found that it paralleled the same gentrificiation happening in many American inner cities over the last 15 years, one generation after "White Flight" abandoned them for suburbia.
The other thing that sets Barçelona apart for me is Gaudi. And, I found to my great pleasure, even that had changed. The Parç Guell was the same, I suppose, but it is odd how memory works - I remembered certain aspects of it vividly (the undulating park bench inlaid with broken glass, and the grottos underneath the viaducts), but I had completely forgotten other aspects of it, such as the columns underneath the bench area and the honeycombed ceiling, and it was a joy to rediscover it
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. I love his sense of whimsy, the excitement of constantly discovering something new around each bend in the park, and his distaste for straight lines.The Sagrada Familia, however, had changed noticably. They have been building this cathedral, off and on, for over 120 years now, all on donations, and despite there being serious damage to plans and models in the Spanish Civil War. Work has progressed
noticably in the 15 years since I was last here (in fact, a guy from my fraternity volunteered to work on it for a year after getting his architecture degree from Cal), and the construction remaining to be done is still immense. It goes without saying that churches don't do much for me, but the Sagrada Familia awes in its size, scope, detail, variety, and vision. I could care less about the various altars and motifs, but the scale of the architecture is amazing, and, again, its look is whimsical, surreal, and morbid all at once. When this is combined with Gaudi's use of hyperbolas, parabolas, and forms from nature, the structure can help but wow.
Third, the Casa Battlò. Along with the other two, this house on one of the main streets is Gaudi's most well-known work. At least the façade, that is, because the house was privately owned and not open to the public. That apparently changed in 2004, on the 100-year anniversary of its construction because two floors, the lofts and attics, the roof, the courtyard, and the interior open-air column are now open for a hefty 16.50€. Well worth it. Amazing and almost impossible to describe. Form and function, not a straight line in the place, an over-arching aquatic and natural theme, yet with an attention to air flow, heating, light, and detail (right down to window handles that seem to naturally fit the hand and attics designed to be open to the air to dry clothes but water tight
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. And, again, a sense of surrealistic humor.Also, as a bit of an aside, what is it with Spanish artists? I'm kind of picky (read, art-dork) but it seems that more Spanish artists are among my favorites than any other nationality. Gaudi, Picasso (I went to his museum too), Dali, Miro, etc. They appeal to my sense of whimsy and rebellion. Were they more tormented because of the heat? The Catholicism? The tapas? Who knows, but I did more "cultural" shit here than the rest of my trip combined.
Otherwise, the only amusing thing I did was go on a pub crawl sponsored by "The Travel Bar" on Tuesday night. They do it three times a week during summer - there are A LOT of tourists here, and it is definitely on the student/hostal/backpacker circuit - and get an average of 120 people. For 15€, you get some free drinks and they drag you to various bars I certainly wouldn't have found on my own and then a nightclub. I have decided to view it as an anthropoligical experience. I had to be the oldest person on it (although I think I did find the only other person with a graduate degree, she had a MFCC and might have been 28), and we overwhelmed the AC at each of the three bars we went to. So it was a sweaty, boozy night with the children. That said, two of them guessed I was only 30 and 32, so I may start lying my age down
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. ,o) And I did almost get to see a fight, though. The high point was Tequila Bar, a place wallpapered with old heavy metal albums, a death to disco sign in Catalan, and signs showing what albums you could request - no pussy shit, either.Wednesday I had a nice meal and hung mellow at an Irish bar talking about working abroad with a Dane and a German, and Thursday night (yesterday) was screwed because my travel plans required me to be in a taxi at 5:15 a.m. this morning, to take a bus to the not-quite-Barçelona airport (think San Jose) where Ryan Air flies out of to Piza to a train to:
Siena, Italy (The Palio)
