The whole gang flew into meet us in Barcelona for 10 days. It was great to see the family/ familiar faces and have a spacious home base to cook and lounge in rather than a cramped hostel. It was a week and half of family dinners, fine dining, raucous nightlife, beach bumming and city wandering. Barcelona turned out to be a perfect break from our fast paced Europe tour.
The view from our 19th story beach front abode. Thanks Graham’s Mom and Dad.
One of Barcelona’s many crowded beaches
The whole Barcelona gang, Clockwise: Ian, Colin (Ian’s girlfriend) Patrick (friend of younger brother Colin), Colin, Marv, Sue, Graham and Fran. Confusing we know.
Just like every other city in Spain, Barcelona had its own tent city full of protesters. The inhabitants of this particular one showed extra resourcefulness, building tree houses (complete with mattresses) in the main square.
By chance we found ourselves in the middle of a major protest march….we just sort happened to be going the same way and the crowd kept getting bigger and bigger.
The roof of La Pedrera – An apartment building designed by famed and progressive architect Antoni Gaudi in 1910.
Front gate and entry way of La Pedera.
Parc Güell, another famouse Gaudi piece, is a large park built atop one of the tallest hills behind Barcelona city.
Tile mosaic tile domes in the ceiling and pillars supporting the courtyard of Parc Güell
Father’s Day outing, We rode cable cars over harbor and visited the Olympic park (Barcelona hosted in 1992) though much of the park dated back to the 1930-60’s.
What at first appeared to be a giant work of art actually turned out to be a telecommunications tower. Sort of reminded us of the Space needle….sort of.
Marv in front of Museum Nacional d’Art de Catalunya
Fruit and juice stalls at Mercat de la Boqueria, which claims to be Europe's oldest outdoor market.
Sue in the jaws of a gigantic alligator sculpture that doubled as a slide
An interesting sculpture on the way to the Salvador Dali Museum in the town of Figueres (just outside Barcelona). The mess of a face painted on the ground only becomes clear when seen through the curved reflection of the shiny pillar, and is in fact a portrait of the surrealist artist (the droopy clock guy)
One of Dali’s famous paintings. Up close it is a painting of the backside of Dali’s wife, Gala, looking out to sea with a sort of Cubist background. From far away, and especially through the lens of a camera, it appears to be an outline of Abraham Lincoln. Yes, Dali was a very strange fellow.
Segrada Familia, The Catherderal’s construction began in 1882, and the project was soon taken over by Gaudi who worked on it until his sudden death in 1926. Construction continues to this day, following detailed modles left by Gaudi. Current estimates have it being completed in 2026. (The Spanish like to do things slow….) The 18 towers will represent the 12 apostles, 4 evangelists , Mother Mary, and the tallest tower standing 170 Meters for Jesus.
The Passion facade on the west side of the building
The Nativity façade on the east side
Gaudi took his architectural inspiration from nature. Here you can see the columns resemble trees, branching out at the top and increasing the load bearing capacity
Looking straight up at the ceiling of the Cathedral
Throughout our 10 day stay the night sky was periodically punctuated by fireworks, usually set off by locals and at least one professional show
June 23 Is Saint John’s day in Barcelona, also celebrating mid summer’s eve/solstice . Thousands of people flocked to the beach to light off fireworks (occasionally accidentally into the crowds of people), and drink and dance until the sun came up (or pass out on the beach trying). We made it until 5 a.m. before heading back to the condo.
We left Barcelona and headed to the south of France for two quick stops in Marseilles and Lyon. After that we're headed to the Alps!
No comments:
Post a Comment