Wanderung 27

Mediterranean Adventure

November - December 2012


 

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Thursday, December 6th, 2012: Barcelona, Spain

Bob:

I really wanted to see at least one of Antonio Gaudi's architectural works "up close and personal". Given the information from the port lecture on Barcelona, the three works available were Guell Park, a public park, La Sagrida Familia, an unfinished cathedral, or La Pedrera, an apartment building. Delayed by the bad weather, our ship arrived at 10:30 and that was just too late to see La Sagrida Familia. We finally settled on a plan of walking up Las Ramblas, the main pedestrian mall in Barcelona, and then continuing northwards to La Pedrera.

Since the shuttle bus provided by the port was 3.50 Euro round-trip compared to 10 Euro for the ship's shuttle service, we opted for the port shuttle. Although it is possible to walk into downtown Barcelona from the freight terminal where the cruise ships dock, it is a long, boring walk of at least 1.5 miles with nothing to see but containers, derricks, fuel tanks, and the other detritus of a busy modern port. We felt 3.5 Euro was a cheap price to be brought into Barcelona proper and then have the energy for walking in the pretty city itself.

The shuttle bus dropped us off at the statue of Christopher Columbus on a tall column, which lies at the lower or port end of the "Las Ramblas" pedestrian mall/street. The column is somewhat like Nelson's statue on a similar column in Trafalgar Square, London, so it is quite a distinct landmark.

Monika:

Last time we were in Barcelona we walked past some of the odd houses that Gaudi had built. This time we were going to actually visit one of them. We set off, taking the port shuttle to the end of the port at the Columbus statue and the beginning of Las Ramblas.

Bob:

We wandered slowly up Las Ramblas, just enjoying the sunny day and the wide variety of shops and vendors in the 60-foot wide pedestrian area of the 1.2 mile long street. Since the weather was nicer than during our last visit in Wanderung 19, we had far more people wandering around with us as well as more vendors selling flowers, street performance artists, and so forth, which was pleasant. The usual schtick with the sidewalk performance artists is that a person in some outlandish costume complete with face paint poses with some odd props. The two we saw on this visit both posed as bicycle riders, but on one of our previous visits we saw vampires popping up out of big, black coffins! Curiously, there was only one store selling small animal pets and birds compared to several that we had seen on our last visit.

There were also more of the sidewalk cafes with the al fresco seating available than I remembered, but that might have just been the balmier weather. It was an official holiday in Spain, so school was out and many youngsters and parents with children were wandering Las Ramblas, giving it a festive air.

Monika:

Right where the bus let us off was a group of pavilions with vendors selling local crafts and antiques. We did some looking, but decided to do some more intense shopping when we go back. Right now we had a goal in sight. Since it was almost 11, we decided to walk up Las Ramblas and farther north on a major shopping street until we got to some Gaudi houses.

Las Ramblas is always fun to ramble along. The large, wide median of the street is for pedestrians and sidewalk vendors and artists and probably some pickpockets too, but we were very careful. I was wearing my "thief proof" purse and was vigilant.


 

Bob:

At the upper terminus of the street we jogged over one block and continued North for another kilometer or so to La Pedrera.

Monika:

At the other end of Las Ramblas is a large square, from which several streets go off. We had gotten a relatively good map of Barcelona from one of the sightseeing companies and so had no problem finding the correct street that would lead us to the Gaudi houses.

We took pictures of one of the houses that he had renovated to be more airy and open and playful. Then we reached La Pedrera, our goal today. It was an 8 story corner apartment building with nary a straight line on the outside. Well, we wanted to see the inside and were shocked to find that the entrance fee was 16 Euros. But how often are we in Barcelona?

Bob:

The entrance to La Pedrera cost 16 Euro apiece, which was pretty steep and I almost decided to skip it. But in the end I coughed up the money and was ultimately glad I did because although it was expensive, we did get a lot for our money. The first area you see upon entering the building is the main atrium, which is open to the sky above. Like most of the rest of La Pedrera, there was not a straight line anywhere to be found in the atrium; we were surrounded by wavy lines of windows and balconies, curliqued wrought-iron work, and 8 oval-shaped floors leading to the roof. Even in the corridors the roofs kind of melted down into the walls so that there was no clear distinction, and that smooth surface was painted with what looked like frescoes--I couldn't get close enough to make those out clearly, however.

Monika:

So we coughed up the money and started out in the courtyard around which the apartments were built. Actually, there were two courtyards, a large one and a small one. It was fascinating to just look up. As on the outside most walls were curved. We spent some time down here trying to capture the uniqueness in pictures.


 


 

Bob:

After marvelling at the atrium, we took the non-stop elevator to the roof and spent the next half an hour wandering around all the nooks and crannies of the walkway atop the roof. The walkway is shaped like a really lopsided figure 8 and has hills, valleys, stairs, tunnels, chimney pots, ventilator shafts, and a low, thigh-high wall on the outside. Curiously, the inside edge of the walkway had just a 2 or 3 inch high curb that would just trip you up as you fell into one of the two atrium areas below. Safe, it was definitely not!

However, some safety-conscious person had added some god-awful chain-link fence on the inside edge of the walkway, presumably to avoid losing tourists. It was effective and decreased my sense of vertigo a bit, but it was strikingly ugly and completely out of keeping with the rest of the Gaudi-designed elements on the rooftop, the most striking of which were the chimney pots and the tops of ventilator or elevator shafts.

To my mind, the chimney pots were shaped to resemble the helmeted knights of medieval Spain. Particularly where they were arranged in groups, it looked rather like a phalanx of knights leading a charge in war, surely one of the oddest things I have ever seen on a roof.

The tops of the elevator and ventilator shafts were just plain weird. From one angle they looked like giant toadstools with holes punched in the stems, but from another angle they looked more like forest abodes for Hobbits in a tale by J.R.R. Tolkien. I tried to capture it as best I could with photographs, but part of the charm of it all is the way the entire set of elements changes its appearance from different vantage points along that rooftop walkway. So this may be the type of thing that one must experience for oneself. If you are ever in Barcelona, consider touring La Pedrera.

Monika:

Then we took the elevator up to the roof. And here you were in a different world of walkways, chimney pots looking like people and heating shafts. Everything looked like it belonged into a different world, except the completely un-Gaudi chain-link fence on the courtyard side. I can see where the powers to be (American idiom: "Powers That Be") did not want to have people fall 8 stories down into the courtyard, but couldn't they have found something a little more aesthetic??? On the outside was a chest-high wall which still gave you a good view over the city and down onto the next balcony, but there must have been something better than chain-link when the security fence was built.

We walked all around the roof that went around both courtyards. At one end you could see Gaudi's major masterwork, the Sagrida Familia, his still unfinished church. And like last time, there were still crane's around some of the towers of the church. We also got good pictures of the other Gaudi house across the street and of Barcelona.


 


 

Bob:

From the roof we descended into "The Attic", which was in fact the attic space below the roof and again one of the oddest places I have seen. Like the roof above, The Attic had that lopsided figure 8 shape, but when inside we saw that the roof was supported by a set of remarkably thin brick arches in the shape of catenary curves. Thus, when you looked down a section of The Attic, the ceiling, although only maybe 10 feet high, had the vaulted ceiling effect that you otherwise only get inside a cathedral.

The Attic was filled with videos on aspects of Gaudi's life and times plus scale models and explanations of some of his other works including the famous La Sagrida Familia, of course. One such project was Guell Park and another was an incomplete crypt area for some other church. Although we did not have the time to get out to Guell Park before dark, Pat and David did visit it and reported that it was quite interesting, with many odd architectural elements.

Monika:

From the roof we went down to the attic where they showed several short film clips about Gaudi and about his other major works together with models and drawings. The whole set of exhibits gave you a really good introduction into Gaudi's world.

Bob:

From The Attic we descended one more floor into the topmost apartment floor of La Pedrera, which had been outfitted with 1920-era furniture, appliances, clothes, and so forth so as to resemble its appearance when Gaudi had just finished the building. I was shocked to see my old Underwood manual typewriter and our Singer sewing machine on display as museum exhibits, but they did seem to fit the time period. Does that make me a museum piece, too?

Anyway, all the rooms except the maid's quarters (yes, they had maids then!) had odd, non-rectangular shapes. The dining area and living room were also combined into a "great room" area, but one that had curved walls and odd visual effects. Some of the other rooms were trapezoidal or wedge-shaped, but Gaudi had done a great job of making it all both beautiful and quite modern and functional. I thought I would be very happy to live in an apartment like that, and I later found out that four of the floors are still in fact occupied by tenants.

Monika:

A couple stories down, we could walk through one of the apartments, there are others that are actually occupied. It was very interesting to see how the interior space was used. It was basically a three bedroom apartment, but none of the rooms had a rectangular shape. They all flowed one into the other, but there were sliding doors that could be closed if you wanted some privacy. The furniture was 1920 style. But what was interesting were the door knobs and handles that had been designed by Gaudi to be ergonomic, and did feel good when I played with one in the public bathroom.

The kitchen was mainly functional, but the bathrooms were sumptuous. A large hallway also connected the rooms on the outside. It was fun trying to imagine living in such a place - of course, a maid would have to come with it.


 


 

Bob:

We exited through a gift shop 2-3 hours after we had entered, and so we didn't have any time to try to visit La Sagrida Familia or Guell Park. Maybe next time. The sun was getting low in the sky and the breeze was getting colder as we worked our way back down the street to Las Ramblas, having a quick bite to eat along the way. We walked slowly to look at all the shops and I found a packet of Barcelona post cards and a Gaudi-patterned ceramic spoon rest to replace the one we had purchased during our previous visit to Barcelona, but then accidentally broken. We bought some wine and beer at the Carrefours grocery store about a block down from the upper end of Las Ramblas.

At the lower end of Las Ramblas right next to our pick-up point for the shuttle bus, we found a set of small pavilions with vendors selling local crafts, antiques, and odds and ends. Monika was lucky to find a very nice amber necklace there for 22 Euro that had all the distinct varieties of amber: clear golden crystal, dark amber, off-white, and almost-black, so of course we took that along to the ship, where we had dinner and settled in for the night.

Monika:

We looked through the giftstore. They had some reconstructions of Gaudi designed chairs in which you actually were allowed to sit, and they were quite comfortable.

After having spent several hours in the house, we were by now quite famished. So we stopped at a "La Baguettia" where we had a nice ham and cheese baguette. I tried to look for "birra" on the menu and when I couldn't fine it settled for a latte. Of course, only later did I remember that I was no longer in Italy but Spain where I should have looked for "cevaza". But we were ready to now slowly get back. The big department store "El Contes Iglais" had at least one window somewhat Christmasy. We decided to walk a little into the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona, a historic district. Today was a holiday and it seemed that a lot of families were also out and about. But of course the post office was closed. So Heinke's birthday card had to come back with us to the ship.

On our way out, I had seen a Carrefour a European grocery chain. We were in need of wine and mouthwash. So we turned back to Las Ramblas and found the store. We picked up what we needed and felt free to browse along all the sidewalk vendors. I picked up another spoon rest in the style of Gaudi, since my earlier one had broken. Bob also found a set of postcards and I found a nice set of earrings. But our best buy came when we walked through the little fleamarket next to the bus stop. Here I found a nice amber necklace with all kinds of different pieces of amber, different colors and degrees of opaqueness.

We had to look around to find the bus stop for the port bus but were helped by a young man who waved to us and when the bus came took our tickets. We got to the ship shortly before 6, so we had enough time to wash and go to dinner. We were the only ones, since the others had not yet returned.

All aboard was not until later, but I was too tired to go out again. So we just settled in for some quiet reading.



Copyright 2013 by R. W. Holt and E. M. Holt


 

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