Our Barcelona Adventure: Day Two

I know it's a good holiday when my biggest complaints are that the bed was too comfortable and the hot water in the shower too plentiful to get out of the hotel as early as I had planned. (As readers of this post, you may add an additional complaint to these: that the city was just too photogenic and I took way too many pictures!) We had breakfast both mornings of our visit at a bakery just steps from the hotel, and the excellent coffee and sugary ensaimadas (coiled pastries resembling croissants in texture) kept us going through many hours of wandering around the city.

Today we were interested in exploring El Raval, a neighbourhood just west of the Barri Gòtic, directly across La Rambla. For centuries, El Raval was the part of Barcelona where those aspects of city life that people didn't want in the reputable parts of town were located, including prisons, textile mills, slums, sanatoriums, orphanages, and red-light districts. In advance of the 1992 Olympics, entire blocks of the area were demolished, with displaced residents being moved to the edges of the city, "safe" from discovery by international camera crews. More recent reconfigurations of the area were made in 2000, when additional blocks were razed to create Rambla del Raval, an open pedestrian walkway not unlike La Rambla in form. Add to this a predictable influx of galleries, bars, restaurants, and significant student and immigrant populations, and El Raval is an area in flux, with a very different feel than the heavily touristed La Rambla and Barri Gòtic just a few minutes' walk away. In fact, after we wandered around El Raval a bit, we joked that La Rambla is like a fence that keeps many tourists from crossing west and just as many locals from crossing east. Since El Raval doesn't hold the same number of obvious destination attractions that the Barri Gòtic does, we decided to spend the morning following the path of an online walking tour that I had printed out back in London, and the route definitely gave us a sense of the varied landscapes of El Raval in just a few hours. As we began heading to the walk's starting point, we passed one of the gorgeous pharmacies that seem to be everywhere in Barcelona. This one wasn't just beautifully preserved on the outside; a peek through the doorway of Farmàcia Mallol Balmaña, which the heritage plaque told us has been at this location since 1842, revealed a breathtaking interior, complete with an ornate cash register, mortar and pestle on the shelf, and a pharmacist straight out of central casting.

Before we came to Barcelona, we read how La Rambla is always crowded with people walking its tree-lined promenade, but on this slightly drizzly February morning, we practically had the place to ourselves.

Just across La Rambla was our first stop of the day: Palau Güell.

Gaudí's first major commission, the mansion was completed in 1889 for Eusebi Güell i Bacigalupi, a wealthy industrialist who would become one of Gaudí's most important patrons. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984 (along with Casa Milà, which we would see later today, and Parc Güell, which we would visit tomorrow), Palau Güell is currently undergoing restoration to deal with structural faults that threaten the building. Although this work, begun in 2005, was supposed to be finished in 2007, the completion date has now been pushed to early 2009, so instead of being able to tour the various floors and roof of the building, our peek inside Palau Güell was limited to the ground floor and basement. The entrance to the building features two large archways (large enough to accommodate carriages) with this amazing sculpture in the middle,

and the tops of the archways are decorated with the initials E.G.:

Yellow pine lines the entranceway floor because of its ability to dampen the sound of hooves as carriages moved in and out of the house.

The basement area doubled as stables and servants' quarters, and apparently also served as a place for police to torture political prisoners after the Civil War (that last piece of information was omitted from the brochure we received upon entry).

A dog was hidden behind one of the pillars, very close to the external wall--a surprising find in a room with very little decoration.

The different curves and lines formed by the brickwork lent the space a pleasing feel,

and I found myself staring at some of the intersections of brick, mesmerised by the patterns.

Afterwards, I read that some critics have remarked that the pillars are like palm trees, with the ceiling bricks evoking palm fronds. Although I see how this makes sense after the fact, the thought never occurred to me while we were there, so I can't take credit for this interpretation. Actually, after visiting the interior of Gaudí's last work, La Sagrada Família, I can see how the pillars and ceiling of Palau Güell foreshadow the interior of Gaudí's church, with its tree-like pillars and ceiling canopy of leaves. A short distance from Palau Güell was one of our favourite sights of the trip: Església de Sant Pau del Camp.

When we spotted the church, Bob said the exact thought that jumped into my head, in the same awed tone: "Wow . . . we're in Spain!" On the simplest of levels, the church of "St Paul in the field" with palm trees all around made us feel like we were really somewhere else. Originally built in the 10th century, when it was surrounded by gardens and fields outside the city walls, the church is the oldest in Barcelona, and human remains dating to 200 BC found next to the church make the area one of the oldest in the city. The 13th-century figures gracing one of the entrances are some of the most charming I've seen on a church:

As we walked along Rambla de Raval, I spotted this sign, which I presume originally asked for dogs to be kept on their leashes. Someone has doctored the sign so that it now asks for cats to be kept on their leashes,

which could present a challenge, considering this nearby sight:

Many apartments buildings in the area looked abandoned, and there was something about this building's bricked-in windows combined with the fact that several of the blinds had been left down that gave the place a surreal feel--as if the residents would soon be returning home, smashing through their brick windows, and raising the blinds they had put down earlier in the day.

We walked down quite a few typical El Raval streets

before arriving at Antic Hospital de la Santa Creu. Founded in the 10th century, the hospital was long Barcelona's main hospital and has existed on its present site since 1402.

Perhaps best known as the hospital where Gaudí died in 1926 after being hit by a tram, the central hospital moved to another complex in 1930, and the former hospital buildings were reworked to house a number of educational institutions and libraries, including the National Library of Catalonia and the Institute of Catalan Studies. The courtyards are pretty and the few buildings we saw were interesting, even from the outside.

Our walk next took us down a narrow street that we were told used to be known for prostitution, and in the space of a few blocks, there were indeed many, many women standing around, chatting and waiting. When the route turned back, we chose another random street to walk up, and I'm glad we did, because we were rewarded with one of the best (dare I say, the best?) shopfronts I've ever seen:

You know an area isn't anywhere close to gentrified when a business that looks as great as this on the outside hasn't been transformed into a hip restaurant or coffee shop--Torrente Techno Industrial still deals in lightning rods and electrical and geothermal products from this site. Soon after, we walked past Barcelona's opera house, Gran Teatre del Liceu, peeking in to get a glimpse of the lovely interior.

Just behind the Liceu is:

Originally built in 1860, the hotel became a Modernista landmark after being renovated in the early 20th century. We had a look around the lobby, which was filled with English schoolchildren and their teacher-chaperones busily checking out.

The mayhem gave us the chance to peek at the dining room that appeared as if it were underwater. Bob was the first to notice that people were visible through the ceiling, and we asked someone checking out of the hotel what was above the dining room. She told us we should go and have a look, and we went up the stairs she had pointed to,

and this is what we found. I loved the brilliant way that allowing people to walk on the translucent floor created an illusion for diners below of creatures moving just above the waterline.

We looked into the courtyard of the Palau de la Virreina (built in 1770), now a centre for cultural events--this is a view from within the courtyard, looking out onto La Rambla:

Next door is the Església de Betlem, built in 1861.

Further along, I stopped and wondered how long the decorative carvings above this doorway have been here:

Next up was MACBA (Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona), which was closed today, but we weren't bothered because we hadn't planned on going in anyway. According to the architect's website, the Richard-Meier-designed building "establishes a rigorous dialogue between the area's historic urban fabric and the contemporary art within." While I'm sure there are many strands of architectural rhetoric to explain this that I'm not considering, as a layperson, my first impression upon walking through the neighbourhood and then coming across the museum is that it does everything possible to stand out, and away from, the neighbourhood in which it's situated. Glossy white where there are otherwise matte, muted shades of brown and grey, with an enormous plaza created for the museum where narrow streets are the norm, MACBA didn't seem that enticing from the outside. Of course, we weren't able to go inside--maybe the interior spaces are more pleasing.

By now we were too hungry to finish the last few bits of the walk, and decided to head down this appealing-looking street across from MACBA in search of lunch. (I only noticed the Space Invaders mosaic just past the street sign when I looked at this photo back in London.)
The Centre for International Relations and Development Studies is housed in the first building on the left, a 16th-century structure built to house a 14th-century organisation which cared for orphaned children. A remnant from that previous use is still found on the door:

I hadn't realised Casa Camper was on this street when we walked this way, and I was curious to have a look inside their lobby (after all, how many boutique hotels are run by shoe companies?), but it turns out you're not allowed to enter the lobby unless you're a hotel guest. The policy struck me as even more elitist than the hotel's high rates--after all, you can walk into hotels with more history and architectural splendour than Casa Camper and have a look around their lobbies and other public spaces. Anyway, I took a photo through the glass

before we left. I hadn't actually noticed a sign for the hotel; instead, this window display was what first caught my eye. (The upper square is a mirror--something that my photo doesn't show very well.)

The street made for a lovely walk

and we decided to treat ourselves to a bargain-priced menu del dia at this neighbourhood bar/ restaurant. Although the restaurant was almost empty when we arrived at the beginning of the lunch hour, it was completely packed by the time we left. By then, we understood why, since our three courses left us more ready for a nap than another round of traipsing around the city!

Bob had octopus for his main course, complete with plenty of crusty bread for sopping up the delicious sauce,

while I enjoyed my perfectly done pork chops, which came with the most amazingly textured roasted plantain.

After lunch we headed north, walking through Plaça Catalunya, a central square that marks the boundary between the Barri Gòtic to the south and L'Eixample to the north.

L'Eixample ("the extension") feels like a completely different city than the neighbourhoods we'd visited so far--probably because, in a sense, it is! By the mid-19th century, Barcelona was overcrowded and unsanitary; something needed to be done. The city walls were demolished and work on the city extension began in 1859. A competition was held to design this new addition, and Antoni Rovira i Trias's fan-shaped plan was chosen by the municipal government, only to be dismissed at the national level. The Spanish government instead chose Ildefons Cerdà i Sunyer's plan for an area of regular grids, with grand diagonal crossings. The plan stipulated the neighbourhood be divided in a mathematical manner, with each block being built on two sides and open on the other two for greenspaces, with the greenspaces being situated adjacent to each other so that they collectively formed larger parks; buildings limited to three storeys; and planned markets, schools, and hospitals providing services to residents. Perhaps predictably, when it came time to build L'Eixample, money won over plans, and the valuable land that was to be set aside for greenspace was built on instead, and with six- or seven-storey buildings rather than the two- or three- in the initial blueprint. The rich flocked out of the dirty city to L'Eixample, commissioning impressive Modernista mansions, many of which remain in this present-day architectural wonderland. We barely made a dent in our architectural wanderings, and if we had weeks instead of days, I'd definitely buy the Ruta del Modernisme guidebook and happily criss-cross the city in search of the 115 buildings that comprise the route. Even though we only had the afternoon, we still managed to see enough to amaze. (And as a sidenote, if you love looking at buildings as much as I do, I highly recommend a visit to the Antwerpen neighbourhood of Zurenborg, a kind of carnival of architecture, with so many different styles in a small area, all built at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.) Casas Rocamora was built in 1914, and is one of the largest buildings in L'Eixample. Joaquim and Bonaventura Bassegoda's complex would normally have been built as separate mansions, but Casas Rocamora was planned as one complex in order to impress with its size:

Even though the buildings on Passeig de Gràcia are impressive, I was drawn to the beautiful lamp posts that line the street.

Each lamp post ends in an equally beautiful two-sided bench

under which some spectacular tiling completes the effect.I didn't know anything about this trio of striking sights, but I learned that the lamp posts/ benches were designed by Pere Falqués at the end of the 19th century, and that they were restored in the 1980s. The tiles turned out to be a Gaudí design, originally conceived for Casa Batlló (but rejected by the client) and finally installed in Casa Milà in addition to being used to line Passeig de Gràcia. The most famous block on the street is the "block of discord," named because three very different buildings by important architects sit in the same block, demonstrating the range of Modernista style, and the extent to which wealthy homeowners strove to keep up with one other when it came to displaying their wealth. The first of these, Lluís Domènech i Montaner's Casa Lleó Morera is a 1905 conversion of an 1864 home. Unfortunately, the interior is closed to the public and ground-floor sculptures and arches were destroyed during previous renovations. Still, it's an impressive sight:

(Somehow the bit on top makes me think of those water tanks that grace many a roof in Manhattan--admittedly an incredibly ornate one, but still!) The next noteworthy building on the block is Casa Amatller, which is currently under wraps while it undergoes restoration, so we couldn't see the exterior (which looks more like it belongs in Brugge than Barcelona), but the foyer was open, so we went in for a look.

Renovated in 1900 by Josep Puig i Cadafalch (also the architect of yesterday's Els Quatre Gats) for the family of a chocolate baron (ah, to be a chocolate baron), what little we could see was like entering some sort of castle fantasy.

Bob turned around after reaching the edge of the stairs, but I called him back to look up, because he almost missed the best part!

The last of the block's trio of significant buildings is Gaudí's 1907 renovation of Casa Batlló (declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2005, along with La Sagrada Família, which we would see later today), which took us from a castle fairytale into something practically indescribable.

The more we walked through the building, the more awestruck I was by this amazing creation, filled with curves, attention to light, and a sense of fluidity.

Casa Batlló has five floors of apartments,

and thanks to lollipops, the public is allowed access to the rooms on the first floor, which are owned by the Chupa-Chups-lollipops family. We started on the ground floor,

making our way up the stairs

to the first floor.

Everything in the building seems to move and twist; even the wall behind the staircase railing, which at first seemed to be quite neutral, practically dances.

The fireplace (in what would have been the study) created a lovely nook. And again, notice how so much is going on in the walls!

Looking into the living room, the windows stand out:

While this is certainly true from inside,

they make an even stronger impression from the street.

Two of my favourite parts of the building are the living room light fixture and textured ceiling:

Even a humble light sconce becomes a shell in an ocean of waves.

Although we weren't allowed access to the apartments on the upper floors (because people live there), we were able to walk through the central, skylit area of the building that houses the main staircase and lift.

The back patio was also accessible:

I wonder how residents feel about having people gawking up at their windows all the time?

Another ceiling detail caught my eye in front of the gift shop,

and we continued making our way up another set of stairs.

I didn't notice it at the time, but Gaudí wanted the inner area to seem uniform in light and space, so he varied specifications of the tiles and balconies to achieve this effect. Apparently, the tiles gradually change in colour from dark blue at the top to grey at the bottom, so that the amount of reflected light remains constant and a person standing at the bottom perceives the walls to be the same colour all the way up. Additionally, the windows and balconies get smaller on upper floors, ensuring that each residence receives the same amount of light.

As I continued up the stairs, I couldn't help but be amazed each time I remembered that people actually live here.

Even the doors leading into the elevator shaft were beautiful,

and the glass added to the feeling of being underwater on a sunny day.

Next was the roof, accessed from the attic level that we would tour through next:

The roof made me feel as if there were a dragon on the other side of the chimneys,

and we got a better sense of where we were,

with a wonderful jumble of architectural details, scaffolding, and washing hung out to dry.

It's difficult to really see the roof from the street, and it's equally easy to forget about the skeletal balconies when you're inside the building.

Our last stop was in the attic, which wasn't built as a residence, but rather as a place to do and hang laundry--a bit more impressive than the average laundromat! The arches of the attic rooms coupled with the attentive lighting made for a very serene, relaxing space.

With our tour complete, we took the lift down to the ground floor

and continued our walk through L'Eixample, passing by the Antonio Tàpies Foundation, a contemporary arts centre (currently closed for renovations) that is topped with Cloud and Chair, a Tàpies sculpture that features a wire chair atop clouds. I think you can just make out the chair in my so-so photo:

Gaudí's last residential building is perhaps his most famous: Casa Milà, known as La Pedrera ("the stone quarry").

Its interior is accessible to the public, but the queue was staggering, and after a lot of standing around, wondering if we should wait or go, we decided to leave and return tomorrow, if we had time--which we didn't, in the end. Ah well, definitely another item for a return visit!

As we continued through L'Eixample, I saw this sign and remembered that Vinçon is meant to be a must-visit for anyone interested in design.

With a window display like this, how could it be anything but good?

After what I had heard, I wasn't surprised that the shop carried an impressive range of intriguing items that I could have spent an entire afternoon browsing through, but what I didn't expect was the amazing environment of the shop itself, which was set over numerous floors of a Modernista mansion.

We continued walking, passing Palau del Baró de Quadras, another Puig i Cadafalch building, built in 1904,

and Salvador Valeri i Popurull's Casa Comalat (completed in 1911).

Casa Comalat seems to owe something to Gaudí:

Apparently, the back of the building is quite a contrast to the front, but we didn't know that at the time, so we kept walking. Puig i Cadafalch's 1905 Casa Terrades is better known as Casa de les Punxes ("house of spikes") for obvious reasons:

With still a fair distance to go before we reached our destination, we hopped on the bus--the ten-ride card is a great deal, giving you ten trips (with transfers--unheard of in London) which can be shared between people, for only 7,20€. Along the way, we passed what was either a fairly tardy or extremely early Santa Claus:

Our last destination of the day was the most-visited monument in Barcelona (in all of Spain, in fact): Gaudí's Sagrada Família. I think that we both felt that this was unlike any other place we've ever seen or are ever likely to see. Begun in 1882, two years of disagreements with Josep Bocabella (the initiator of this church to be built by public subscription) culminated in head architect Francesc de Paula Viller being replaced by Gaudí, who was then all of 31 years old. When Gaudí died in 1926, after having dedicated the last decades of his life solely to the project (even living in an on-site studio), only the crypt, apse, and one side of the church (the Nativity Façade) were complete. In 1936, Gaudí's models and plans were destroyed by anarchists, although the church (unlike many in Barcelona) was spared because of its artistic value. Still, this setback stopped construction for some twenty years before work started again in the late 1950s. Since then, the Passion Façade has been completed, although the date of final completion has been variously estimated at another thirty to eighty years, if ever. Although we could see the tops of the spires peeking out as the bus approached, nothing prepared us for the amazing sight that is La Sagrada Família.

The Nativity Façade is worthy of every superlative--the overwhelmingly detailed façade shows the triumph of life through representations of the birth of Jesus, along with more than a hundred different plants and another hundred animals. Everywhere we looked, we saw more detail in the details.

My favourite part of the Nativity Façade is that it's all supported by columns being carried by tortoises with quite the facial expressions:

(You can see how much work the tortoises are doing in the previous two photos as well.) On the other side of the church, the Passion Façade was completed between 1954 and 1978, following Gaudí's plans, but with a very different style from the Nativity Façade. Josep Maria Subirachs's sculptures represent the last days and death of Christ with more than a hundred stark, eerie, even frightening sculptures crowned with columns shaped like bones. Apparently, Gaudí believed if he had started construction with this façade, people would have rejected the Sagrada Família, and he may well have been right.

The main façade, intended to represent the life and destiny of humankind, is yet to come. The interior of the church is a very strange combination of incredible space and building site.

Intentionally evoking a forest canopy, the columns branch out to form a beautiful roof for the main space.

The crypt contains a museum relating to Gaudí and his vision, including models currently being used in construction of the church.

Gaudí designed this 1890 candelabra which was intended for use in the crypt:

The original pelican and doves from the tree in the Nativity Façade were removed in 1990, due to damage, and are now kept in the crypt.

They were replaced with marble replicas which now occupy the tree:

On our way out of the crypt, I was intrigued by this donation box, but couldn't find any explanation about it:

Soon after we left the church, we came across a chocolate shop, and since we had planned on having a break of some sort earlier on, we decided to go in and get some treats to munch while we walked.

We arrived back at Plaça Catalunya to find the fountains had been turned on,

and walked across to the agreed-upon meeting place to look for Bob's friend Vince, whom we were seeing for dinner. Even though they haven't seen each other in years (Vince is the brother of Bob's sister's good friend, and has lived in Barcelona for a decade), they had no trouble picking each other out of the crowd. After a drink at a café overlooking a quiet square, we changed locations to this charming restaurant for dinner.

Our starters of various meats, cheeses (not pictured), and toast rubbed with tomatoes and garlic could have made a meal on their own,

but we followed our first course with roasted peppers and sausage (for Bob),

and anchovy escalivada (grilled aubergine, peppers, and onions) for both Vince and me.

My crema Catalana finished a great meal:

We left the restaurant, but not before I got Vince and Bob to pose for a photo, of course!

After a lovely evening, we said our goodbyes on La Rambla, and Bob and I wandered a bit more before heading back to the hotel for the night. We walked down La Rambla to this mural by Miró,

which is in the centre of the pedestrian path.

As we passed this open courtyard, I started to wander in for a look, but Bob said, "Oh, it looks like it'll be a bit crowded in there," and pointed to the ground after I gave him a strange look.

Thankfully, the courtyard wasn't filled with ants, and had an interesting sculpture at its centre instead.

With the evening lights making the Barri Gòtic even prettier than in the day, we were tempted to spend another few hours walking, but hopefully you can tell that we did a fair amount of walking already today! Anyway, our comfy room was looking pretty good right about now, so we walked for a bit before saying goodnight to the Barri Gòtic and returned to the hotel to think about what we wanted to do tomorrow on our last day in Barcelona.