Our first tour was 'The Old City' tour at 11am with a fantastic guide named Gorka. I don't know if I have ever heard anyone speak English so fast as a second language. I speak fast and even I sometimes had to fill in the blanks to make sense of it. Although his strong accent probably had me working the hardest. We started in Placa Reial, which features a gorgeous fountain in the middle, and many cafes and restaurants around the outside. From there we spent 2 1/2 hours walking around ther city hearing the history of many of the larger buildings such as the Cathedral and Santa Maria del Mar (church of The lady of the sea). but we also heard about other small hidden treasures like some of the stones (many being headstones from cemetmeries) with Hebrew writing on them, randomly scattered on the sides of old houses. These bricks were carried from other parts of the city and reused to build new buildings in the city centre. We even had a lovely old man stop and tell us an old tale of the building he lived in. The story goes, that some jewels were going missing from the house and only one of the girls who lived there knew about them. Her father had no choice but to have her imprisoned. Years later when ther church was being excavated, a pile of jewels were found. It was believed that a crow had been stealing the jewels and taking them to its nest.
This is Placa Reial, where our tours started from. Lots of place to eat.
The art on the buildings in Placa di Pins, beside the Santa Maria del Mar
This is in memory of Eulalia, who became a patron saint of Catalunya after she refused to change faiths. She was made an example of and had some horrible things done to her.
We had just enough time for a quick walk around and some (overpriced) lunch. We went for a walk down by the water front and found yet more sculptures and statues.
This is the lovely man who told us the story of the girl and the jewels. Of course only about 5 people on the tour spoke Spanish so the rest of us just stared :)
St George, one of the Patron Saints.
The 13 geese at La Botiga Claustre de la Cathedral, in memory of Eulalia, one for each year she had Ben alive when she was 'made an example of'. (yes, she was only 13)
Some of the photos on our lunchtime walk along the waterfront
Cap de Barcelona
We think it's a lobster...
Mirador de Colom- the Columbus statue
Now that's a big glass!
The next tour we did was ther 'Gaudi' walking tour. We visited four buildings that were designed by Gaudi. Each one was very different but had a distinct similarity. See the next entry for a detailed description of the Casa Batllo and Sagrada Familia. Here you can see the photos of the four buildings from the outside.
This is the only photo I got of part of Palau Guell because you stand 5m in front of it and can't really get much in the photo.
Casa Batllo
Detailing of the balconies
This is La Pedrera. Another house designed by Gaudi. The owner (who had married a rich widow and proceeded to spend all her money on this house), wanted a house bigger and grander than the Casa Batllo. He got his wish. His wife hated it and once Gaudi died, she plastered over the interior of parts of the house.
The chimneys. Do these look like storm troopers to you? Some people say that George Lucas got his inspiration for them after visiting here.
Some of the detailing on the house.
Next up we vi sited Sagrada Familia. This building is phenomenal!
The photos just don't do it justice on size and detailing
The two photos above are from the facade depicting the birth of Jesus.
This photo is from the facade depicting the death of Jesus.
Not a Gaudi building but beautiful all the same
After the tour finished at 7pm, we thought we'd try to sneak in a visit to Parc Guell. This was yet again another venture that took too long as we went the wrong way out the metro and tried following our noses instead of the map. It doesn't pay to rush things. A lovely 20-30 minute stroll later, we found the park with only 20mins to see the 'House of Gaudi'. We saw a man at the gate which we thought was a scare tactic to get people to leave, however at 8.58pm the gate was already locked and we found ourselves trapped (for not the only time). Luckily there was a way out higher up the hill.
Photos from Parc Guell
We decided to visit the Magical Fountain on the way home, but it was just a. Few lights. The fountain only works at certain times, and this wasn't oner of them... The story of our life. At the same metro. Stop there is an old bull fighting arena that had been turned into a shopping and cinema complex that has a 360* view of the city. Of course it's a bit hard to see anything at night, but the lights were pretty
The magical fountain being not so magical.
The arena turned into a shopping mall.
Thus view from the top of the mall.
On the way back to the hotel were were serenaded by a lovely oldish man singing 'Achy Breaky Heart' in Spanish on the subway.
I've noticed a few things while being here, and come to a few conclusions...
1) I really miss my city, as new as it may be compared to somewhere like Barcelona, but I'm sad that I won't see it again, not in the way it was when I grew up.
2) People here wear their pants unfashionably short or rolled up in just as undesirable manner - but why... Well I worked that out on the walking tour - dogs. Yes, dogs. Dogs wee everywhere! So it doesnt pay to have your pants dragging around on the ground like I usually do in Chch.
3) Supermarkets are under- rated in NZ!
Until tomorrow...
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Location:Barcelona, Spain
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