Barcelona - Clyde Butcher - Visions of Spain
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Clyde isn’t too fond of flying, but I have to say this, the flight to Spain was an absolutely wonderful flight. It was our first time flying first class and the luxury of having good food, and a full night sleep laying down was amazing. We arrived in Barcelona wide awake and ready to enjoy three days in the city.
Ahhhh….Barcelona, it’s such a wonderful city. We spent three days wandering around the city and it certainly wasn’t enough time. The architecture, both old and new, was fascinating as well as the long history of the area. The people were gracious and the food was amazing.
We spent the morning walking around the old section of the city near our hotel, then had lunch and jumped onto a tour bus with the goal to get an overview of Barcelona.
As we toured the city it was amazing to see the contrast between the ancient architecture and the very modern architecture.
This is an image of the Bull Fighting Arena. The state of Catalonia has outlawed bull fighting, so they turned the arena into a shopping mall! Good for them!
Clyde graduated from college as an architect, so he was very glad the tour included a stop at architect Antoni Guadi’s Casa Batllo.
Anoni Guadi was an architect of Spain from the state of Catalonia (1852-1926). He is best known by the highly individualized and one-of-a-kind style. He considered every detail of his creations and integrated into his architecture crafts such as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork and carpentry. He rarely drew detailed plans of his works, instead preferring to create them as three-dimensional scale models and molding details as he conceived them. Gaudi is best known for his still incomplete Sagrada Familia, which is the most visited monument in Spain. Between 1884 and 2005 seven of his works were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. Guadi’s Roman Catholic faith intensified during his life and religious images appear in many of his works. This earned him the nickname “God’s Architect”.
Among Gaudi’s largest and most striking works is the Casa Batllo (1904-1906). The renovation of an existing building was commissioned by Josep Batllo. Gaudi kept the rectangular shape of the old building’s balconies – with iron railings in the shape of masks – giving the rest of the façade an ascending undulating form. He also faced the façade with ceramic fragments of various colors he obtained from the waste material of the Pelegri glass works. The façade culminates in catenary vaults covered with two layers of brick and faced with glazed ceramic tiles in the form of scales in shades of yellow green and blue. There is an interior courtyard that is roofed by a beautiful skylight. The roof top is an amazing piece of art all by itself. The chimneys are topped with conical caps, covered in clear glass in the center and ceramics at the top, surmounted by clear glass balls filled with sand of different colors.
It is truly an amazing creation that transformed an ugly standard looking building into a work of art…and all of this in 1906!
We headed back to our hotel for a rest, and then decided to grab a taxi and go to dinner. When we got to the main street we found it closed because Barcelona was having a VERY large demonstration. We heard that somewhere around 160,000 people turned up for the demonstration. It was an unusual demonstration in that there were several demonstrations in the overall big event. It seemed that as they marched past us, each group held up signs complaining about something they were concerned about. It would be like us have a demonstration that included folks who want more science, then another group who wanted better schools, another group who wanted lower taxes, another group who wanted higher wages, another group who wanted to pay attention to global warming…and so on. We also heard that this was the way that the city of Barcelona did their demonstrations. They held them about once a month and everyone who wanted to demonstrate applied, and they all pretty much, get to demonstrate. A unique way to handle demonstrations.
After dinner Clyde returned to the hotel and Jackie and I took an evening stroll along the main thoroughfare of the old section of town.
Jackie is photographing a statue honoring the ACCOMPLISHMENTS of Christopher Columbus. Yes, that’s him way up at the top!
The following morning we jumped on another on-and-off tour bus headed to another “Guadi” stop at Casa Mila, better known as La Pedrera (1906-1910), which was commissioned by Pere Mila i Camps. Gaudi designed the house/apartments around two large, curved courtyards, with a structure of stone, brick and cast-iron columns and steel beams. The façade is built of limestone, which is covered in white tiles, evoking a snowy mountain. It has a total of five floors. Originally, the top floor was for the Mila family. It has a loft made entirely of catenary arches, as well as two large interior courtyards, one circular and one oval. The roof is, once again, an amazing work of art. The façade was to have been completed with a stone, metal and glass sculpture with Our Lady of the Rosary accompanied by the archangels Michael and Gabriel. A sketch was made by the sculptor, Carles Mani, but due to the events of the Tragic Week in 1909, which was the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, the project was abandoned.
The three of us took the bus on a complete circular navigation of the city, then dropped Clyde off at the hotel and Jackie and I stayed on the bus so we could jump off when we wanted to.
Love the kid behind me :) ahhhhh….the teen years….
The first place we got off at was at the Museu Nacional D’Art de Catalunya. It was originally the Spanish Pavilion at the world Fair of 1929. After extensive renovation it was reopened in 1997 and houses more than 260,000 works of art and is the largest and most important museum in Barcelona. Unfortunately, it wasn’t opened on the day we arrived, so we enjoyed the view and then decided to walk back to our hotel, which was a very long and interesting walk. We got to see the ‘real’ Barcelona as we walked by neighborhoods, school children walking home from school, grocery stores…just all the things that make a community. It was a wonderful walk…and we didn’t get lost!
The Museu Nacional D’art De catalunya
It was a LOng entertaining and fun walk back to our hotel.
Because of the narrow streets and the lack of parking for cars, the majority of people ride motor bikes EVERYWHERE.
I have never seen mermaids on a church before! actually, these look like fighting male mer-mans. Very strange. Would love to know the story behind the art work.
We arrived back at our hotel in time for dinner at our favorite restaurant in the Old Section of Barcelona, Mi Burrito. No, they didn’t serve burritos, but the food was excellent.
And then off to see some Flamenco Dancers. After all, what is a trip to Spain without seeing the Flamenco Dancers?
When visiting Barcelona, virtually EVERYONE goes to Anoni Guadi’s architectural masterpiece, Sagrada Familia. So, on our last day in Barcelona, we grabbed a tour bus and headed out to the church.
From 1915 until his death in 1926, Gaudi devoted himself almost exclusively to his masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia. He drew no designs of the church, but worked exclusively from architectural scale models, even when figuring out the engineering. When you first enter the church you actually enter into a museum that explains how he designed and engineered the church. It’s complicated, but both fascinating and amazing. After Gaudi’s death his assistant Domenec Sugranes took over the construction; thereafter it was directed by various architects. The construction is still going on today and isn’t expected to be finished until 2026.
Should you decide to visit the Sagrada Familia while visiting Barcelona, please take a tour because tours get preference to enter the church. The church was crowded when we were there and it was March. We heard that during season (summer) it is so crowded that it is almost impossible to get into unless you’re with a tour.
Heading toward the Sagrada Familia with CONSTRUCTION CRANES working on the towers
Front entrance
This is a DEtail shot of the entrance
This is also a detail shot even closer of the entrance. Notice how every face has it’s own expression. Truly an amazing work of art!
Interior of church — Notice how small the people look!
looking up at CEILING
It is impossible to capture the magnificence of this church with a camera. It kind of reminds me of trying to capture the vastness of the Grand Canyon with film. It can’t be done. There are some things in life that you just have to experience because there are no words for the breadth and beauty before you. Sagrada Familia is one of the things that you have to physically experience in order to grasp the beauty.
If we had more time in Barcelona I would have taken a tour to see ALL of Gaudi’s works. He was not only ahead of his time, he’s still ahead of our time today!
Our time in Barcelona was all to short. This city is certainly one that should be on everyone’s bucket list! Our next adventure was the drive to the Salvador Dali Museum in Figueres, and then onto our hotel in Cadaques.