Sunday 13 November 2022
We decided to have an Autumn break in Barcelona as it's always been on my 'to do' list and JC was keen to revisit after a childhood trip. JC is a consummate travel planner - the guide books come out and a huge list created, which we whittled down to two main sites a day. Schedule in hand we landed in Barcelona Saturday night, made our way to our superb apartment 5 floors up (no lift so, yes, that was good exercise!), then found a wonderful local tapas bar and on Sunday we were ready to roll.
We orientated ourselves by finding the cathedral. It will not surprise anyone that this was one of the many items on JC's list to photograph, preferably at night. But he got a few day shots in too (you can see him up the alley way here).
In Barcelona on Sunday many palaus and museums are free so we stuck our head into Palau de Lloctinent quickly to see the lovely architecture.
Our first site for today was Casa Battló, the first commission Gaudi received from Güell. It's a magnificent array of wood, glass stone, iron and mosaics. As this was the late 19th Century, horses were the main mode of transport - we started in the basement, where the horses were stabled, and worked up.
There are reflections of gothic architecture here which I find a bit heavy/dark, but it's still an awesome place. You can see a very Gaudi feature here, the parabolic arches: this is the first time he used them. And the window design is truly magnificent!
The rooms are amazing although the best was definitely the roof top. How whacky is this?
Our first Gaudi ticked off, we headed to the waterfront for the Maritime Museum. This is a model of Ictíneo, the first submarine designed by Monturiol and launched in 1859.
Inside there is a life sized replica of the Royal Galley inside. With 59 oars it required 236 rowers, a mix of prisoners and conscripts (they were chained to their positions so I doubt it was a very voluntary occupation).
We then ambled down to the waterfront (Port Vell) for sun-downers - which tends to involve me having a glass of wine and a doing a crossword whilst JC has a coke and hops up and down for photos!
Then it was tapas time again. Tonight we headed for Barconletta where we munched on padron peppers, machego cheese and a daily dose of ham/salami for JC.
No comments:
Post a Comment