A few days we've just gone out wandering so this blog is just a few photo's from those outings.
The Caixa Forum Social and Cultural Center ( sponsored by the leading Catalan Bank) is housed in one of Barcelona's most important Art Noveau buildings. In 1911, Josep Puig i Cadafalch, an archtect often overshadowed by Gaudi designed the Casaramona textile factory, which showed off Modernista design in an industrial rather than a residental context. It functioned as a factory for less than a decade, than later served as a police station under Franco. It was fully refurbished in 2002 and reopened as a great center for bringing culture and art to the Barcelona people.
The famous Caixa symbol designed by Miro. Do you see the person dropping a coin in the box?
These were the Fairgounds for the World Expo in 1929. The Montjuic area morphed ito an extravagant center for fairs, museums and festivals. The expo's theme was to demonstrate how electricity was about more than lightbulbs: electricity powered the funicular, the glorious expo fountains, the manypavilion displays, and even the flame atop the fountain marking the center of Placa d"Espanya,
Placa d'Espanya .
The Las Arenas , formerly a bullfighting ring. Bullfighting was outlawed in Barcelona and so the question was - what do you do with this grand Neo-Moorish Modernista Placa de toros which functioned as an arena for bullfights from around 1900 to 1977? It was turned into a shopping center and reopened in 2011. It has lots of brand-named shops. a food-court basement, a 12 screen cinema complex and a rock-and-roll museum. The rooftop terrace , with stupendous view of Placa d'Espanya and Montjuic, is ringed with eateries. We walked over there later on our walk and enjoyed one of those eateries.
The Catalan Art Museum at the very top of a very steep climb.
This is the area where the Magic fountains are located. Right now they are being cleaned and repaired. Hopefully before we leave Barcelona they will be up and running and I can do a blog on it!
Remember that climb I mentioned. We did most of it but soon discovered this - an escalator.
Wonderful views from the top!
The museum has a very nice rooftop restaurant which would be fun to go to sometime but for now we settled for a nice warm cup of coffee on the terrace of the museum.
The rooftop restaurant we settled on.
Sandi and I shared two dishes. One, a tangine prepared chicken and the second one a squid with sauteed vegetables. They were both amazing! Sharon enjoyed a hamburger. Sharon thought our squid bounced on the plate. It might have looked like bouncing rubber but it was very tender and so mild. I tried to get her to try a bite but she wouldn't. It was every bit as good as good as the whale we had in Bergen.
One of the places we want to visit is the Palace of Catalan Music - Palau de la Musica Catalana. They were having a wonderful concert with a singer and a Spanish guitarist one Friday evening but we weren't able to get tickets on line so we went to the theater a couple of hours before the performance to see if we could get any tickets. The only seats available were a few scattered throughout the theater and many without any view of the stage. Instead we decided to forego that performance and got tickets for a future performance. The architecture of the Palace of Music is supposed to be absolutlely beautiful. It was designed by Lluis Domenech i Montaner. Hopefully I can get some good pictures. The interior is supposed to be fantastic.
A vew pictures of the exterior.
After leaving the "palace" we found this cute art gallery.
Loved these woman figures. Of course no night out would be complete without a little vino and food.
Last Sunday we decided to go see the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau. We got there just in time to see the facade and nothing else. the gate was closed. The hospital was designed by LLuis Domenech i Montaner , the same designer of the Palace of Music. It was designed as a community for those suffering from the plagues and contagious diseases. We will go back to view the buildings and the gardens. This is one of the overlooked sights in Barcelona.
We just walked down the street and again the view of the Sagrada Familia was just ahead.
This market, built on the ruins of an old monastery was renovated in 2006 with a swooping roof and shell built around its original white walls. The much delayed construction took so long that locals began calling it the "Hole of Shame". It's Catalan architect is best known for designing the Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh.
Everyone was getting ready for the parade - its Carnival. One week before lent Carnival is celebrated throughout the city and chidren and adults are seen everywhere in costume.
These signs showing a one way street are located throughout the El Born and the Gothic Quarter.
This 14th century church, "Del Mar" means "of the Sea" and that's where the money came from. This is where shipwrights and merchants came to worhsip. The proud shippers built this church in less tha 60 years, so it has a harmonious style that is considered pure Catalyn Gothic. To this day, its fully supported not by the Church of the city, but by the community.
Avid watchers of the parade for Carnival.
One day we just went out to find some places in the El Born area. One was a special coffee spot. El Magnifico which is reputed to selling the city's best coffee beans.
Mighty good and mghty pretty!
We next visited the El Born Cutural Center. It was at one time the mainproduce market of the area. Today it is home to a permanent Barcelona 1700 exhibit as well as tempory displays.
The excavation below the market hall comes with a story. Before 1714 thie neighborhood lost an uprising against the Spanisih. Residents were forced to destroy their homes and use those very stones to build the citadel for their Spanish overlords - a fortress symbolic to this day of foreign control over Catalunya. The citadel came with a one-kilometer wideopen zone, so no buildings were allowd where the market stands today. Then in the 19th century, a big marketplace was established. It was a thriving market for a hundred years - 1871-1971. The large market stood vacant , but recnt construction work revealed the medieval foundations of those pre-1714 buildings.
We next tried to find, and were successful in finding Casa Gispert, which has been roasting nuts int he same wood-fired oven since 1851. I walked out with 25 Euro's worth of nuts.
The old oven!
Sharon in the nut house.
We were also told about this bakery which has the "best chocolate cake in town"! Well, one just has to try it, right? We had a hard time spotting it but then right in front of us - the big sign.
Sandi was with us but since she had water we didn't feel like she should get her picture taken here. One has to indulge to get your picture on "the blog"!
I had lost one of my "cute" hats so have been looking for a replacement and saw one the other day but had to give it some thought. Finally went in and bought it. The little lady in the store was so darling and told us that the hat company has been in existence since 1905 in France - Celine Robert. I think I'm going to have to move to someplace cold so I can wear all my hats.
Looks like I'm a happy new hat owner and with that I'm going to end this blog.
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