Barcelona

For our last travel hurrah of the year we visited Barcelona over the past 4 days. Tuesday was a holiday in France and I was given Monday off as well. This gave us time to make the 9 hour drive to Barcelona.

We have grudgingly adjusted our travel pattern since the campsites are closed. We broke up our drive toward Spain by stopping after 5 hours in Toulouse Friday night, and then drove the remainder Saturday. I had purchased tickets to a musical event Saturday night. My intention was to buy tickets to the Palau Theater, a classic building that is a site in and of itself. But not being careful enough while clicking on the website I ended up buying tickets to a show at the Petit Palau, a modern theater in the basement of the Palau. Oh well, I decided against buying another set of tickets.

Having dinner before we took the metro to the theater, we very much enjoyed the speedy Spanish service. After putting up with French waiters ignoring us for minutes on end, we were amused by the plates disappearing from our table as soon as we cleared them. The metro is exceptional and we were able to quickly get within a block of the theater. The show was on a small stage, 7 musicians (pianist, 2 guitarists, drummer, 3 violinists) arranged facing the audience with a small dance floor in front. Called an Operay Flamenco, the show combined opera singing with flamenco dancing. Two flamenco dancers and two opera singers alternated on stage, alone and in various combinations. Despite the language barrier it was quite enjoyable and I had to try my flamenco steps later on the walk home to Shereen’s great amusement.

On Saturday we took a walking tour of the neighborhood where Picasso grew up and spent a part of his career. We stopped at Els Quatro Gats (The Four Cats), a bar where he spent time, a mural that is his only outdoor exhibit in the city and the streets where he lived and had a workshop. The tour ended at a museum with a nice collection of his early work. Yes, Picasso was an exceptional painter of more traditional scenes in his early career. I don’t “get” all of his later work, and still prefer Dali to Picasso, but there is no doubt that his early work created a foundation of credibility from which he could create cubism.

In the afternoon we visited Sagrada Familia, a massive church initially designed by Gaudi that has been under construction for over 100 years and is not expected to be complete for at least another 50. I knew nothing of Gaudi before our visit, but after gained a tremendous respect for his work. We have seen more European churches than I can count, but even in its unfinished state the Sagrada Familia is the most impressive (including St Peter’s in Rome), both for the architectural design and the artistic details. Gaudi not only drew the sketches for his buildings, he also worked out the engineering details, using ingenious techniques including the “inverted model”. The inverted model of a building design was created by drawing the floor plan on a board, elevating and inverting the board, and hanging rope from the board with bags of shot to imitate the weight of the building. The rope would form catenary arches with tension stresses. These tension stresses were identical to the compressive stress in a building. Gaudi would take pictures of the model and invert them so that the building was now right side up. The catenary arch is self-supporting and does not require buttresses. The model enabled Gaudi to work out complicated geometries without using complex mathematics.

There are two main facades on the church, one called the Nativity, the other the Passion. The Nativity was completed while Gaudi was still alive and is an intricate splash of stone showing Biblical scenes and nature. I preferred the simpler Passion displaying scenes surrounding the crucifixion. The story of the Passion weaves in a reverse S-shape as blocky, stylized statues that appear unfinished show successive scenes. Near the scene of Judas kissing Jesus is a magic square, a grid of numbers, 4 high and 4 wide. The grid contains 4 number combinations that add to 33, the age when Christ was crucified. The scene showing the soldier piercing Jesus with a spear is a knight on a horse with his spear stabbing the side of the church.

Inside tourists are confined to walking around the main hall of the church; the center is piled high with multiple stacks of stone among which are scattered the work benches and tools. Unfortunately the craftsmen were not working while we were there. The interior is meant to mimic a forest. The columns rise a few stories and then branch into several smaller columns that angle upward like tree branches, disappearing near large windows at the ceiling. The effect is similar to light filtering through leaves. The columns are designed with different types of stone depending on the loads they support: the gray central columns are the strongest stone available, next are less robust red columns, and the smallest are a pale yellow stone. As in a forest with many types of trees, the columns are of different stone.

We were able to take the lift up inside one of the towers. The tallest towers have not been built yet, but the ones representing the apostles stand already. Exiting the lift we were funneled between narrow stone passageways, emerging on a narrow stone walkway high above the ground between two towers. Not a good place for those with a fear of heights. We chose to descend via the stairs, which spiraled down first around a large central opening, then in a tight spiral with no inner guard rail. There were numerous openings in the stone as we dropped from which to view the colorful fruit topping neighboring towers, the tiny people far below, and the construction scaffolding ensconcing the church.

The next day we visited another Gaudi building, Casa Mila. Having distaste for straight lines, his work is curvy, from the façade to the architectural structure. The displays gave a good explanation of how Gaudi used nature to dictate his designs. The numerous chimneys on the roof march as helmeted soldiers over the undulating surface around two large atriums.

For lunch we munched on tapas, typical of the area, small portions of meat or vegetables on bread. We sampled the cod and mussels. In stark contrast from the gentile French, the Spanish waitress barked at us to quickly choose something to drink. Amusingly two British women at a neighboring table were as frightened by the waitress as we were. We laughed while waiting for the food, but I actually prefer the up-tempo style of service; waiting for the more polite is a bit boring.

The restaurant was on La Rambla, a classic street that is the heartbeat of Barcelona. Two narrow one way streets are separated by a large pedestrian walkway crowded with starving actors in outlandish costumes performing for a few cents, a cacophony of caged birds, rabbits, and turtles for sale as pets, flowers of all types for sale, and starving artists displaying works and painting passersby. Midway down we turned off the street into a large market. Immediately we were drawn in by a colorful fruit stand with smoothies of all varieties and shades, and were soon sucking down mango and banana. A chocolate display was also too good to pass; purchased were samples of chocolate covered nuts and white chocolate “hedgehogs” with black chocolate spines. We emerged back in the mass of humanity that is La Rambla and continued walking to the harbor. Here we lay on the sloping boardwalk in the sun as the sea gulls chased bread crumbs and the boats rocked on the sea.

After a walk through the large modern mall on the harbor, we jumped on the metro to visit Park Guell, another Gaudi invention, a failed attempt at an upscale gated community that is now a public park. This park showcases a Gaudi favorite: using broken ceramics to create colorful patterns on walls, benches, and creatures. We entered the park from the side entrance and walked up to a great overlook of the city. Atop a pile of stone adorned with three simple crosses we could see Sagrada Familia backed by the sea and the sprawling city. From here we meandered down to the famous terrace surrounded by a curving bench covered in broken ceramic. The bench was full of people (we had to look hard to find a place) simply relaxing. No more than a large open sandy space surrounded by this unique bench, overlooked by a forested hillside. We stayed for nearly an hour watching a boy hide bread crumbs from the sea gulls under a pile of stones, a young couple fawn over their child (the woman with a video camera, the guy with a camera to cover every detail), a woman drawing the tile pattern on a small notebook, and the various positions of sleep. Leaving the terrace we stepped down to the columns supporting the terrace. Then down a few flights of stairs, past a large iguana covered in colorful ceramic, to the main entrance of the park.

We ended our day back on La Rambla, dining in cheap quantity on falafel, lamb, and bread. While eating we enjoyed watching a talented man bouncing and balancing a soccer ball for the crowd. Another way to make a buck. I wonder if he is an accountant by day. We enjoyed wandering down the street one more time, soaking in the activity.

I enjoyed big, boisterous Barcelona immensely; believe it or not Shereen thought it was too busy. Guess she is a small town girl after all.

Bruges

After traipsing France from top to bottom, Shereen and I ventured across the border to Belgium for a 3 day weekend (over a week ago as I write this). Specifically our destination was the town of Bruges, an idyllic, well preserved, medieval town, sometimes referred to as the “Venice of Belgium” due to its canals, but this being the ONLY similarity with the Italian city (and not a very good one at that, so forget the Venice analogy, Bruges is NOTHING like Venice). I’m also writing this after having watched the movie “In Bruges”, a non-classic with Colin Farrell as a hit-man stuck in Bruges. Since the plot and dialogue is terrible, the only redeemable feature of the movie is that it covers all of the key tourist sites in the city. If I didn’t know better I would think that the Bruges tourism organization funded the movie in exchange for using the film as a vehicle to advertise the city.

It was interesting driving through the checkpoint at the country border. Vacant toll booths served as a chokepoint at this vestige from before the European Union was formed. I’m not sure if they’ve kept the checkpoint due to lack of funds to tear it down or as a contingency in case the Union collapses and the need for border control returns. Our hotel was north of Bruges, in a town called Blankenberge, along the coast, with the beach running up to the door. This would have been a fantastic place in the summer, but with rain most of the weekend, the beach was no more than a nice visual.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and were able to drive into Bruges for the evening. This is the one city in Europe that has cheap parking: 2.50 Euro for the entire day at the train station, which is a short walk from the town center. The city is a medieval combination of cobblestone streets and stone buildings. Interesting despite the rain falling on our umbrellas. Our one mission was to locate the chocolate shops. Bruges is famous for pralines and chocolate chefs who concoct unique flavor combinations. We bought samples in two shops by pointing out the pieces of interest behind the glass counter. In addition to the various varieties with mint, nuts, and fruits, there were unique combinations with vodka and other exotic ingredients. Since we were a bit cold, a bit wet, and very hungry, when we saw a Pizza Hut in the square we were sucked in. Nothing like thick American pan pizza on a dreary evening.

The next day we walked in the rain through most of Bruges. First to the Gruuthuse museum (nice building, boring museum), next stopping at a small café for waffles with cream, strawberries, and cherries washed down with hot chocolate, then to a tour of the De Halve Maan brewery (tour in English, great rooftop view of the city, glass of beer included). We passed through the church in the afternoon which contains a Michelangelo statue of Mary then proceeded to climb the bell tower (the one described in Longfellow’s poem “The Belfry of Bruges”). Squeezing by those descending, we ascended the spiraling staircase, passing a glass pane in a door behind which a musician was playing the bells. At the top we were able to get a clear view of the mechanics that made the bells sing: a complicated web of cables and rods connected to the keys being played a few floors below. The area was cramped and we were within a foot of a large bell; fortunately the bell was not part of the music or we likely would have been deafened. It was still raining when we got back to the ground so we decided against taking a boat ride on the canal. The other major sites in Bruges are art museums, but having seen enough for our taste at the Louvre we stopped at the chocolate museum. And then ended our day with a dinner of mussels and fries under the awning of an outdoor café on the square beneath the bell tower. We definitely enjoyed the cuisine in Bruges better than in France: real Belgian waffles, real American pizza, Belgian beer, fresh mussels, thick-cut fries, and unique chocolate. We would go back just for the food! Despite the rain and cold we thoroughly enjoyed Bruges.