Barcelona

This weekend started off all about Gaudi but ended up being so much more - how spoilt we are to be able to see so much of Europe in our weekends and holidays!  Last time we were in Barcelona our trip was cut short due to aeroplane problems and so although we toured much of the city we didn't manage to get inside any of the Gaudi buildings - so this weekend was it!!  Armed with maps and two different "Top 10 lists" of Barcelona we were ready for our next adventure...Gaudi was really quite an amazing architect - an inspiration to many others I guess - including Hundertwasse - both of them didn't like straight lines unless they were absolutely necessary, loved lots of colour, variety and creativity.  Gaudi was born in 1852 into a family of coppersmiths and died some 70 or so years later in quite sad circumstances.  Apparently, as a teenager he had rheumatic fever many times which meant he spent his time recuperating alone and quietly.  So, he began to observe nature and based his designs on palm trees, ferns, flowers, tree trunks, animals, people and in all the buildings this was quite evident. He was also a devout Catholic so we saw a few statues of apostles, Mary and Jesus, and some crosses as well. In the early 1900's a number of close friends and family died - which made him quite down - today we would probably call it depression.  The building of La Sagrada Família slowed down when this happened and when his patron Güell also died (we'll go to Park Guell later in our travel in this blog) life changed for Gaudi.  He became somewhat of a recluse and spent his last few years living in the crypt of the "Sagrada Familia".  In 1926 he was hit by a tram and because he was dressed like a tramp and had no money at hand no-one helped him - he was eventually taken to a paupers' hospital.  Eventually his friends found him but he refused to be moved to a better hospital saying "I belong here among the poor."  

Our first stop was La Sagrada Familia - while we waited for the lift to the spire (we weren't allowed to walk up) we admired the stone carvings in the walls and the ceilings and the stained glass windows.  At the top we could see all the little carvings - people, grapes, crosses, flowers etc and get an understanding of just how much more there is to do. Gaudí was so inspired by nature that he is quoted in saying "The great book that is always open and we should make an effort to read is that of nature". Walking down the spiral staircase was quite an experience.  Everytime we looked out a window our glasses would darken and then back into the darkness we had to count to 20 - before we descended further down into the incompleted church.  They are hoping that the inside will be completed sometime this year but the outside may take 20 years longer - just in time for the 100th anniversary of Gaudis death.  Work seems painstakingly slow as there is so much detail and the workers are trying to follow what Gaudí had designed but the last blue prints were destroyed during theSpanish Civil War. It wasn't noticeable to me, but I have read that it is possible to see the differences in the cathedral - parts Gaudi designed and other parts where others are trying to emulate him.

Then there is Casa Mila - an apartment block on a busy inner city street - it is better knows as La Pedrera.  I think I would enjoy the novelty of living in one of these apartments that millions of tourists come to see each year (only the entrance, top apartment and rooftop were open to us).  You could feel part of the excited throng but still have a balcony, cool atrium and some privacy - quite a life of decadence.  The apartments were opened in 1912 and were built for a wealthy couple from Barcelona who were returning from the Americas rather wealthy (from what I am not sure). Well to put the record straight - the money was made by the first couple, then the hubby died and the widow remarried a guy who liked money and rich living.  Friends were pretty sure he married the widow for her money and not her looks!!  Now, after renovation in the 1980's the apartment is a major tourist attraction and is furnished in 1920'scontemporary furniture that gives the lived in feeling. After wandering around inside we went upstairs to the roof - what can I say - just my type of thing, practical, futuristic and abstract all mixed together!!

Casa Batlló is just down the road from Casa Mila.  It was built in 1877 and renovated sometime in the early 1900's.  It is known as the "House of Bones" or Casa dels ossos.  Origonally designed for one family it is now a number of apartments but we could see so many more floors than in Casa Mila.  From the outside it looks quite unreal - we have bought a little house of it for our collection.  It has wooden stairways with banisters all wavy, blue tiled walls where the blue darkens as it goes up the walls so that with the natural light makes the colour look the same.  Mottled glass screens give the impression of the seaside, mosaics, a cross, a dragons back, lots of decorative chimneys - shall I go on?

Last but certainly not least is the Park Güell - it is an underground ride and a steep upward walk away  (though a few escalators put in does help the weary traveller) but well worth the effort.  It was built around the early 1900s and was originally part of an unsuccessful housing site. It was inspired by the English garden city movement - estates slightly outside of the city where people are meant to live and have everything close around them.  The Spanish didn't like this idea so it never took off. The site has great views across the city and we could see Sagrada Familia through the views of the two little 'gingerbread houses' which Gaudí did not design - but straight out of a fairy book. Apparently the houses were not bought and so Gaudí bought one and moved in with his family and Dad.  Now it is park where most Barcelonians seem to go on a warm spring afternoon in February.  There were more people up here than anywhere down town.  We loved it.  On the way down we stopped for a drink and some food before taking a trail down the side of the hill through pines which reminded us of our strolls up and down Mount Vic.

Then onto our next artist for the weekend Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (how many of us knew his real name?).  We wandered down some streets we hadn't been before and then through the museum which was quite an education on the art of a man I thought could only paint 'weird' looking pictures - not so - he is certainly up there with the best and I can see why his work is so famous.  We weren't allowed to take photos so you just have to imagine the walk through the gallery - where his paintings were arranged through time - so we could see the development of his unique style over time.  During his early life he painted realistically and life like but as he grew older he started experimenting with different techniques and looks.  He said somewhere that he 'painted what he thinks rather than what he sees' and during our wander I could see that the models began to lose their identify as faces became blurred and then distorted - it was as though the painter wasn't seeing them as people - but more as objects and he wanted to remove their personality.  I am sure others have different opinions.  There were some quite distinct periods in his lifes work:

• his early years when he painted people and landscapes
• his blue period where he painted works that were sombre in shades of blue and blue-green (funny how when Gaudi used blue at Casa Battlo he created a sense of relaxation, warmth and fun).  Models were often gaunt mothers with children, prostitutes and beggars. Perhaps an unhappy time of his life?
• the rose period with lots of orange and pink and cheerful people like circus people, acrobats and comedy characters often in checked clothing.
• an African period where he was inspired by African artifacts.
• cubism with lots of geometric shapes which was invented by Picasso and his friend Georges Braque. I quite like this quote describing it as a "juxtaposition of light and dark planes, the fragmentation of images and the extremely subdued colours of ochre, beige, grey and brown" and the beginning of paper mache and collage. 
• some ceramics, linocuts and engravings and then during the end of his life lots of different styles mixed up together to make his unique own.

Anyway, no photos of his great works cos we weren't allowed to take any but we did take some on our walk to the Museum.

On the Saturday afternoon we took another underground and wandered up another hill to Pople Espanyol Village.  It was on our walk to here and past the art gallery that I was reminded about the fountain that was on one of the Top 10 list.  So, we wiled away the hours around this hill until 7.00 when the fountain was meant to 'perform'.  Pople Espanyol was a village built for the 1929 International Exhibition - and was a whole lot of little houses built in Spanish architectural styles over the centuries.  After the exhibition it was planned to be demolished but some wise soul said "No" and now it is a tourist attraction as not only could we admire the buildings we could eat in cafes and explore lots of little boutique shops. The village was the creation of four people (don't know their names) who travelled around Spain taking lots of photos and making drawings of buildings.  This little village is a 'collage' of what they saw in 1600 towns and villages.

And on the otherside of the hill is the Olympic village - by this time we were feeling very weary and each time we walked we looked for a place to sit for a few moments.  We did go up to the stadium which is being renovated for another 55,000 spectators to see the European Athletic championships sometime this year, walk past one of the arenas which was enthralling a crowd with Disney on Ice and past some of the fountains which famous athletes of the 1992 Olympic games also walked past (eg Barbara Kendall who won gold,
Danyon Loader who won silver and bronze medallists Lorraine Moller for the marathon, David Tua for  Boxing, Gary Anderson in cyling (there were others but the list was a bit long to mention everyone). I wonder what they are all doing now.

http://www.bcn.es/turisme/english/turisme/llocs/02.htm

By this time we were pretty tired - a bit of an understatement really - so we wandered back through the park, down the hill back to the art gallery.  We sat for a while with a coffee and a muesli bar (that Jill and Graham had sent us from NZ) on the steps above the fountain and then slightly rejuvenated and with a bit of a numb bot from sitting on cold concrete we decided to have a quick wander through the art gallery.  In the entrance were some two seaters black leather couches - lots of them were full but I spied one that didn't have anyone in it and so we sat down and went to sleep for half an hour.  We weren't the only ones!! The couches, hiding behind pillars and filling nooks had people of all ages and nationalities snoozing on them.  Just before seven we all got up and ventured outside to the spot with a good view of the fountain. So, the art gallery was worth a visit - pity about missing the art (eg Picasso's Woman with Hat and Fur Collar) but ...

The Montjuic fountain was well worth the sleep and the wait.  It did look quite spectacular but was better when spurting water.  We were in for a treat. We were expecting a 10 minute light and water show, but ended up spending 2 hours sitting on concrete walls watching a spectacular sound and light show.  People danced near the fountain to many tunes including William Tell, Barcelona by Queen, Titanic, Waltz of the Flowers, Star Wars, Lionel Ritchie, Blue Danube and heaps more that I can't remember.  Harry, the photographer took more photos per minute (122 per hour - that's more than 2 per minute - that's one every 30 seconds or so) - a higher photo taking rate than at an air show.  Now the cynics might say it was possibly because he was bored, or not feeling romantic, but I think he just might prefer water displays to aeroplane shows - and with that thought I'll finish writing about our second trip to Barcelona.