Bumbling about Barcelona

Thursday, bright and early, we (twenty-four students from Calvin, twenty-five high school aged students from Juan Chabas, and three professors) headed up to Cataluña, first stop Tarragona. In Tarragona: Roman ruins, coffee (at a very friendly pastry shop), a gorgeous Church . . . a good time. 

 

We stopped at Parque Güell, designed by Gaudí, en route to the seminary where stayed (which, p.s. was gorgeous) just outside of Barcelona. Wow, colors, funky, natural, dinosaurs . . . those are the words that come to my mind when I try to describe Gaudí, but more specifically Parque Güell. 

Friday we headed into Barcelona—first stop: La Pedrera y la Casa Milà. Second: La Sagrada Familia. The work designed and started by Gaudí and still not finished. This place is enormous. From a distance, it is a little unsightly, but upon approaching (once over the shock of size that is expanding with step closer) the intricacies become clear and the immensity of Gaudí's vision begins to seep into one's mind. This is, of course, before even entering the cathedral. The pillars, the stained glass, the precision and craft . . . wow . . .

 

The remainder of Friday is Annie wandering, bumbling about Barcelona. One thing I adore in Barcelona, and many of the Spanish cities that I have seen: shutters. The streets become narrow, the buildings are all tall (five or six stories), and in stretches of three to four (and sometimes more) windows, these never-ending structures are divided by color and material and matching shutters with miniature terraces. It was difficult for me to keep walking instead of pulling out my camera in attempt to capture each picturesque vista, an impossible feat.

 

Besides bumbling up and down the relatively quiet ways (that is to say, not swarming with tourists like myself), I passed some time sitting and staring at ruins while eating my bread I picked up at a panadería amidst my wandering, if they can be called that. I do not recall the name of the pictured structure, but I first spotted the wall simply glancing down a street from a main road et voilà: look what we have here.

 

Age is awesome, literally awesome. But so modernism. El modernismo catalán is the Spanish version, the version of Cataluña (and thus Barcelona) and of Gaudí but also of Lluís Domènech i Montaner, the architect of the Palau de la Música. Unfortunately, the Palau is private and pictures are forbidden but wow. Light and flowers. Mosaics and muses. Local materials. This place dazzles—as in I was dazzled out of my mind by its brilliance, by the way that the colors dance and compliment, by the concise details, by the meticulousness that prevents an overwhelming array of light and color from crossing the into obnoxious. It is so much as to dumfound but just enough.  Brilliant.

Saturday we visited el Montjuic (the mountain, which gave to quite the view of the city), the Villa Olímpico, el Barrio Gótico, el Barrio del Born, a church, and a cathedral. The summer Olympics in Barcelona was the spark of Barcelona as a modern city, a tourist attraction, a known name. And although I could tell yall all about the Olympic centers we saw—my favorite part was the church.

The church and the cathedral were started at the same time, but the cathedral has yet to be finished—the church was constructed in fifty years (it was a functional demand—it was to be the religious base for the people living in the area and therefore the its construction was willed and voluntary). The church is visibly smaller (but still huge . . . okay, okay, dinky in comparison to La Sagrada Familia), constructed in the gothic style, with much fewer details than the cathedral; it could be deemed as simple. 

 

For lunch—the Pike’s Place Market of Barcelona: la Boqueria. I just love the colors.

 

Last stop Saturday—Casa Batllo also constructed by Gaudí. Modernismo Catalán: light, very few if any straight lines, intentional use of the natural. Casa Batllo is full of light, of stained glass, and of ocean. The colors of the glass, the waving of the walls, the entry of through the center staircase, the colors of mosaics evokes the idea of an aquarium—not with the feeling of stuffiness or that of being stuck inside (usually where I am at after hours at the Monterey Bay Aquarium) but rather with the openness of the ocean; the overhead arches give an illusion of size and the stained glass is situated as to glow even in the most interior rooms. From the top of this maze of art, I watched a rosy sunset.

 

Sunday—the drive back. Boring. Actually, the sky was gorgeous, and the landscape provided a pleasant distraction. But. Cavas Codorniu—much more interesting. Very interesting. Cava is the Spanish version of Champagne. Yup, we went to a winery, oh gasp. I won’t put you all through translating what I was taught about the making of wines and champagne (a name claimed by the French, therefore, the beverage made in Spain is “Cava,” the Catalan word for Cave, seeing as that is where it is made), but it was fascinating. There is even a Codorniu vineyard in Napa, California. It wouldn’t be the same, of course, the climate is different and the soil is different . . . maybe I’m preaching to the choir but go on a tour of a winery—the science and art behind it all is absorbing.