Friday 13 Mai back from Barcelona

Back from Barcelona last night, pleased to report Ryanair fine to fly with, slight delay on Paris-Barcelona leg, & quite surprised at the number of bodies they jammed into plane, no booked seats, so every man for himself once the gate opened, us slower ones elbowed aside by the young & fit, who obviously knew the drill, ie get in first or no room for the bags - ergo trip spent with feet on the overnight bag!  Aeroporto bus to accomodation, Barcelona a bit steamy at 9.30pm,  set down half block away so easy to find. Accomodation cheap & cheerful, off main drag over the road from University, I hadn't realised share bathroom, but c'est la vie.  We dumped bags & off down the street to bar we had passed for tapas & sangria, the first disappointing, latter yum - with glace cherries, we laughed at the usual European customer service, waiter was grumpliy stacking the outside chairs together,  surprised they were hastening patrons out at 11pm, thought Barcelona was the city that never slept, huh!

Bride & groom from Asia, at the restaurant in our rue when we left for B, quite the done thing, seen several Asian couples getting married in Paris

Day 1 10/5/11
Breakfast, host Bernardo very obliging, made up ham & cheese toasted sanwiches for breakfast. We walked down to Placa Catalanya & La Rambla, alive with people even at 10am, progress down slow due to attractions ( & hazards) but arrived at Placa Reial in plenty of time for the 11am Runner Bean tour (walking tour of Gaudi buildings) - the guides are Irish!Chatted to couple from Chicago about Australian wines, they buy Yellowtail for $5 US, how come we pay more?
Tour started in that Placa as that was the site of Gaudi's first & only government commission, 2 lamp posts, incorporated Gaudi's 2 passions - religion & Catalonian nationalism (at that time Catalonia was separate country) -elements of St George & Catalonian flag.

From there walked across La Rambla to Palau Guell, (Guell, a wealthy industrialist, was Gaudi's patron,) & his house was his first private commission, just unreal.

Smashed tile mosiac chimneys on roof of Palau Guell

Palau Guell, first private Gaudi commission

From there took metro to Passig del Gracia to see Casa Batillo, house to which Gaudi gave good goingover  in the decoration department, known as the skull house or House of bones, unreal, Front stunning with a mask/confetti theme- carnival, once again St George & dragon get a look in.

Casa Batillo, House of bones,

Closeup of the window of main room

On the strength of this house, his best, he got a commission to do the house of Pierre Mila, rich man, womaniser, not a good working relationship, as he was given free rein (stipulation was big) & clients not happy with outcome. Gaudi incorporated elements into the house which reflected his view of his client, ie a bird which lines it's nest with shit, overall theme of house was waves/seaweed, also eroded mountain from Turkey, once again St George link as he was born in Turkey, most incredible rooftop sculptures, chimneys & guards, (very darth vader-ish & apparently the creator of Starwars visited Barcelona just before Starwars was made - so his inspiration obvious) Building huge, Mila's apartment - the first floor -1000 square meters.

Casa Mila, Gaudi's brief was must be BIG

Metro to Sagrada Familia (Holy family) building started in 1882 & still going, estimate another 25 years, it's financed by donation of sinners (Expiatory)  not by the church, so just passing over our E12 absolved us from our sins. What can I say, this place was unreal, eye-feasting overload! Prior to entry, we had lunch, formula E9 at cafe down alley, v. good value, asparagus with grilled pepper, kebab & potatoes, & fruit for desert, plus carafe of tempranillo, waitress communicated with us by google translate, she was from Columbia, in Barcelona to earn money to educate 3 kids. Husband a devil & she kicked him out years ago, this demonstrated by mime!

Nativity facade of Sagreda Familia, my little camera could not capture

M & Marta our Columbian waitress at lunch

Inside Sagrada Familia, Gaudi took inspiration from nature & designed support structure as tree with branches

Looking down one side of church

Altar in SF

In lineup to enter Sagrada Familia ran into American couple who had been on the walking tour & arranged to go to the Parc Guell with them (the hubby had been listening to instructions from the tour guide on how to get there - not like us) Parc on top of the hill & required change of metro to take a certain approach to minimise effort of ascent. The parc was a project financed by Gaudi patron Guell & was meant to be a high end housing estate, but only three houses ever built, one Gaudi's, house still there, quite plain compared to his other works, once again bizarre/ surreal structures in the parc itself.

Gatehouse at Parc Guell, looks like gingerbread house

American couple well travelled, (not like us) now wife working in Singapore, previously in Sydney, highly recommended Turkey, so it may have to go on the list.......   along with all the others.

Entrance to Parc Guell

 M finally managed to tee up (due to travel dramas) to meet her ex- sister-in-law & family, who were in Barcelona, sounded like part of soccer trip. No time to get back for cleanup, but managed to find them in the hordes of La Rambla, & found a place for tea,  broke the golden rule & ate in the tourist area, on the La Rambla & paid the price, very ordinary paella, I can do better myself, but company good & jug of sangria (with champagne ilo red wine - red is tinto in spanish, who would have thought) just the ticket. Another funny thing about the meal, is that A asked or enough bread for 5 people,  bread was brought for 20 people, this was not the only occasion this happened, Spaniards obviously like their bread.

Dinner with M's sis-in-law C & family, a lovely evening

Wednesday Day 2 11/5/11 Dispensed with kind Bernardo's breakfast this am & hit the Mercat de la Boqueria "please don't eat the daisies" ie DON'T TOUCH the merchandise, hard to get used to, displeased looks all round. Had a spanish tortilla for breakfast & good coffee at the bar of a whole in the wall little booth, charming 2 ladies (maybe because we managed not to touch anything!) & then, a bit backto front, found stalls of most delightful fresh juices, opted for strawberry (antioxidant) & pineapple (joints), tomorrows breakfast already planned.

M & I having breakfast at mercat

One of the charming ladies at the little bar in the mercat, brekky tortilla middle dish

Strange shellfish at mercat

Strange seafood at mercat

Mercat de la Boqueria

Entry Foyer of Casa Batillo, all rounded curves

Fireplace Casa B in main room

Me in front of window in main room in Casa B

Centre stairwell, tile color lighter, lower floors, due to less light

Arched room Casa B

Chimneys rooftop CasaB

Me on the rooftop Casa B

Lift doors in stairwell, a house made to be touched

Stairs Casa B, every aspect designed by Gaudi

Made our way over to Casa Batillo to do the inside tour, but very slow going getting there with all the shops, I have a feeling Barcelona shoppers paradise, & M certainly in heaven. Interior of Casa Batilla unreal, the planning & incorporation of natural elements into design, making use of natural light &catering for weather. Architects of today could learn from him, may find it hard to find customer's tho. Lost M & she wandered outside, but found some friends soon enough, a couple from Marseille, she doesn't let a language barrier stand in her way!

Over to Casa Mila - nickname La pedrera- the stone quarry, made for rounded limestone blocks, went in for free art exhibition which is in the Mila apartment & got to see the entrance foyer of the building, totally different to Casa Batillo but same beautiful  rounded shapes, & original ceiling decoration intact, not in the Mila appt though, Senora Mila had them plastered over after Gaudi's death, obviously not to her taste.

Foyer ceiling in Casa Mila

Going up the stairs in Casa Mila

Central courtyard in Casa Mila

 After that got hopelessly lost in the Gothic area, almost Venice-like feel with narrow streets & buildings blocking sunlight, but shops, shops & more shops. Lunch at arouund 3, as the spanish do, little cafe Menage a trois off Placa ....  when we were looking for the Roman Cemetery, which we had walked straight past when we saw the menu on the footpath! Had the menu, great value, gazpacho , mozzarella stuffed meatloaf & almond cake & carafe of wine for E10.

                                                                                        

Almond cake at lunch

Lunch at cafe Menage a trois Barcelona

Explored the Ravel side of La Rambla, one street had market which appeared to be devoted to medicinal foods, herbs etc. Lots of the stalls had the same large jars of what looked like smooth jam, various hues, & charts indicating which was good for what ailment , (I think)
Very popular, knee-deep in patrons, spanish housewives, tourists. Further into the Ravel, very seedy with multitude of shady characters & by the time we got to what would have been the back of the market, remembered what I had read, ie closed market used at night by sex workers, mostly transsexuals, who nab customers from La R & the streets behind! Yikes, saw a few likely contenders, doubt they would be making a fortune by the look of them. Quite nervewracking & we made our way back to La R quicksmart, through the rabbit warren of alleyways & streets.
PS. Still can't  even write La Rambla without inner songstress launching into La Bomba.

 On the way home caught up in the madness of extremely excited crowds celebrating soccer win for FC Barcelona in Spanish league, may have been the big one, not sure, but huge crowds, lots of intimidating policemen, slabs of tequila, fireworks,  hysteria & climbing lightposts involved. Our route home cordoned off by police, so long way home but made it with relief, but no rest for the wicked as central Barcelona as roar of crowds & crash, bang & screaming all night.

Soccer crowds celebrating in La Rambla,10pm

Hospital in Raval area where Gaudi died after being run down by tram in 1926

Thursday 12/5/11
Left our bags with Bernardo & down to the market for breakfast again, had 2 of the beautiful juices this time, I tried dragonfruit with coconut & kiwi fruit with pineapple. Made our way to the bricabrac market in the gothic area & picked up few little knickknacks, on the whole quite expensive, had to stop myself from an impulsive purchase of a whaletooth scrimshaw, but  not willing to cough up E380, as not sure what they are worth, also quite a weighty item. M got lovely old brass letteropener for J forgetting about our cheap flight, no checked baggage, but must have been the religious medals she got also as got through OK.
M has indulged me with the Gaudi stuff, so more shopping for her ( as is her wont) & then quick lunch, nachos & our final sangria & back to collect bags for  aeroporto and back in our little garret by 9ish, exhausted.