Day 80 ~ Barcelona, Spain—Part 1

The world is a book and those who do not travel only read one page.
~ St Augustine

When you look at a political map, all the countries of the world are quite flat. I was a little surprised to discover the coastline of Spain is mountainous. In fact, the first destination on our tour was the top of Mount Juic, so named for the Jewish cemetery on the summit. Our guide was careful not to mention the persecution the Jews experienced here at the hands of the inquisitors, or the fact that they were systematically expelled from Spain, along with most other European countries, at various times in history.

View of Barcelona from the front of the museum. That dark brooding structure in the distance with 18 spires is the Sagrada Familia, Church of the Holy Family

Along with the cemetery, there are several venues left over from the 1992 Olympics and the Museu Nacional d’Arte da Catalunya. If we ever make it back to Barcelona, this will be my first destination! We learned from Candy and Greg, fellow Harmony choir members, that the collection is filled with frescoes rescued from crumbling churches.

a remarkable classical guitarist

BTW, our guide pronounced Barcelona as if it were spelled “Barthelona.” I’d heard that at one time, a Catalan ruler had a lisp and couldn’t pronounce the “s” sound. His entire court adopted his method of speech. But don’t quote me. It’s just a rumor.

Spain is proud of its history as a major seafaring power. Christopher Columbus is still celebrated here as a great explorer. His statue stands at the top of a high obelisque and is surrounded by more lions than Trafalgar Square. Usually, I don’t like the results of photos taken through the bus window because of the glare and reflection, but these flaws gave this particular pic a wonderful sense of movement.

Like so many of our stops, the streets of this great city are flooded with people. I was glad to be viewing it from our bus instead of trying to elbow our way through the crowds. The focus of our tour is the architecture of Antoni Gaudi, but his are not the only remarkable buildings. It used to be common for families to build a several story house, live on the entire first floor (2^nd floor for us Americans!) and then rent out the apartments on all the higher stories for their income. That’s why the lowest balconies are usually more ornate than higher ones. The owners lived there.

Gaudi’s Casa Batllo is an example of one of these family owned buildings. The man was obvious allergic to straight lines.

Notice the more highly decorated owner’s floor. But Gaudi couldn’t resist spreading his whimsy to the upper balconies as well. Don’t they look like Mardi Gras masks?

We disembarked from the bus about 6 blocks from the Sagrada Familia (the Holy Family Church) and walked toward it. Gaudi began work on his unfinished masterpiece in 1882. As we drew near, I confess, the outer façade confused me and even repulsed me a little. It struck me as grotesque. It’s what the First Church of Who-Ville would look like, if that imaginary church was melting.

And then I started to really look at it.

More soon…