Travel diary - Spain, 1999

1999-08-25T18:27:00.000-07:00

Portland -> Atlanta -> Atlantic Ocean
Barcelona - first day
Barcelona - Barri Gotic
Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona
Modernisme
Barcelona
Pamplona -> Iranzu
Pamplona/Iruñea
Monasterio de Santa Maria la Real de Iranzu
Iranzu
Iranzu - animals
Iranzu
Iranzu - eclipse
Iranzu (and neighboring villages)
Iranzu
Iranzu
Iranzu - first concert
Iranzu -> Leyre -> Poblet
Monasterio de Leyre
Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Poblet
Poblet -> Montblanc
Montblanc
Montblanc -> Santes Creus -> Montserrat
Reial Monestir de Santes Creus
Montserrat
Montserrat
The trail to Santa Cova
Montserrat -> Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona - last day
Back home

Back home

1999-08-24T18:04:00.000-07:00

I wonder how my kitties are.

Got up at 6am, dressed, checked out, and bused to the airport. One last cafe con leche and fresh squeezed orange juice.

A long flight over the Atlantic (in front of a couple of unsupervised children), a long lay-over in Atlanta (real, and real expensive, lattes). Napped on the flight to Portland, to find my luggage waiting for me (It had taken an earlier flight). Found the bus stop before I found the taxi rank, so came home the slow way. Got home at midnight, er, breakfast time, er, I don't know when.

Barcelona - last day

1999-08-23T18:02:00.000-07:00

Used up my T-1 getting into town. Confirmed my plane ticket (I'm to check in by 8:00 am!), bought lunch (and some food stuffs for Kay) at El Cortes Ingles, walked down Las Ramblas (for the last time, I promise) to look for spices in the market, checked out an instrument shop (all modern, including a whole room-full of American guitars) and back to the air-conditioned El Cortes Ingles to shop.

Back to the hostel, siesta, walked up into Parc Guell. Weird, wavy organic rock formations. Like a medieval church with a bad hangover.Parc Guell
Gaudi
This was another of Eusepi Guell's commissions. It was meant to be a gated community for the city's wealthy, but the only house that was ever built in it was the one that Gaudi lived in while working on the site.

Walked to Lesseps Pl., bought some fruit in a supermercats, then back to the hostel, showered, ate, and packed. Good-night.

Barcelona

1999-08-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

I had a choice of three museums to visit, and chose the Museu-Monestir de Mare de Déu de Pedralbes, because it was supposed to be peaceful, and I was still weak from the night before. It was peaceful, though I was a bit disappointed in the restorations, which seemed undecided about which century they were restoring to (and which never got close to the 14th century, when the monastery was founded.) But then, the monastery was in use until 1983, so multitudinous improvements had been made. (The nuns are still on the grounds, but have been moved to a more secluded part).

I walked down to Parc Reial, and sat down to rest.
Parc del Palu Reial di Pedralbes
This once was the Guell family's private estate, then became a royal residence, and now is a public park, with museums housed in the buildings.
Ran out of ink in my favorite pen.

Came back to the hostel to siest. (Met a Czech woman who had been robbed of her passport and bus ticket home.)

Bused down to Gracia, and found the fiesta pretty much over. Walked into Barri Gotic to eat at a vegetarian restaurant (where smoking isn't allowed) and found it closed. Ate on Las Ramblas with a bunch of foreigners.

Barcelona

1999-08-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

Said good-bye to departing people at breakfast, packed, and took the metro and bus to the hostel.

Alberg de Mare de Déu de Montserrat

This is the main youth hostel in Barcelona, and is tucked in a quiet neighborhood a bit away from the center of town. It
used to be a private estate, done in mudéjar style.

Joined the end of a crush of people checking in. Consigned my bag and found a supermercats to buy lunch in. Then back to the hostel to eat, then un-consigned my bag and moved into my room. Put the bag (and my money belt) into a locker and went sight-seeing, starting out by taking the bus to the end of the line.

Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau

Domenech i Montaner

This is still a working hospital, consisting of 48 separate and unique pavilions. The bright colors were meant to cheer the patients.

From there I walked down Avda. de Gaudi to La Sagrada Familia. Truly gaudy. Gaudi's last building, and the one in which he went over the top. Only three of the four facades have been built. If it's ever finished, it will have seating for 13,000. Gaudi copied numerous Gothic styles in his facades, and modeled his towers after the swelling shapes of the rocks of Montserrat. I couldn't bear to go in (especially when I saw the queue) but circumvented it, gawking. (and eavesdropped on a family from St. Petersburg)

Headed up Diagnol, picking out more modernism, until I hit Gracia, which was preparing for another night of Fiesta.

Dashed back to the hostel to change and unload day stuff, then back into town to walk down Las Ramblas one more time. The group assembled at the restaurant, except that the reservation had been changed and we were a ways from the new restaurant. Some hiked there, while my group walked back to Las Ramblas to catch a cab, found none, and walked down to Colon and caught a bus to Port Olympic, walking from there.

Seafood restaurant. I ate something to which I seem to be allergic.

Montserrat -> Barcelona

1999-08-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

Hiked out under Los Delsodos before breakfast. Hardly any people, but the trail was entirely within earshot of the road to the entrance. Many shrines to various Virgin Maries. Many more impressive rocks.
On the way back to the hotel I stopped in the church to visit with the Black Madona.

Packed. Sat in front of the bacilica and sketched rocks, eavesdropping on Russian tourists.

Back on the bus, and back down the mountain and on to Barcelona. Checked into the hotel, packed my concert things into my daypack and bused down to Las Ramblas. Walked to Eglesia de Santa Maria del Pi, and had lunch, and chocolate, in the plaza.

Dressed, rehearsed (a bit of polishing, and, by the way, Levantou is back as an encore). Sang O virgo Splendens one more time as a canon.

Free time. Quickly tried to learn Dutch in time to sing a freshly minted comic song for the party.

One last concert in the Esglesia de Santa Maria del Pi (whose motif is a pineapple) in Barri Gotic. It was finished in the 14th century in the typical Catalan Gothic style, reaching for breadth instead of height. (A beggar wandered up and down the center aisle during one of the instrumentals.)

After the concert we walked en masse into El Raval to dinner. Comic song, speeches, wine, toasts. During the course of the meal there came toasts and speeches. Peggy gave a rendition of the Seven Joys of ZommerZang, with a chorus, in Dutch, rendered by the non-Dutch-speaking singers. After dessert, the instrumental staff launched into the pork-chop cantiga, and dancing erupted, while the wait staff cowered in the kitchen. After we had calmed down and sat down, they ventured out to serve coffee. Strong, black coffee.

At 12:30, we walked en masse back to Las Ramblas, where the bus picked us up and took us back to the hotel.

The trail to Santa Cova

1999-08-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

Santa Cova is the cave where the Black Madonna used to be kept, until her translation to the basilica. The cave has been absorbed into a small church, and the path to it is lined with shrines that chronicle the life of Mary, from the Annunciation to the Assumption.

Montserrat

1999-08-19T17:57:00.000-07:00

Got up early, dressed in the dark and walked partway down the trail to Monistrol to sketch.
After breakfast, a bunch of the singers (the instrumentalists were rehearsing) took Ina up the funicular to the top of the mountain. Jan and Fraiche maneuvered the wheelchair while the rest of us stood below to act as the emergency brake.

The view of the flatlands was not impressive, possibly because of the haze. The view down to the monestir was heart-stopping however. And the rocks were simply awesome.
We wrestled Ina back down to monastery level, then I bought a 'vegetable' sandwich (mostly eggs and tunafish) and hiked to Santa Cova. Numerous shrines, depicting the life of Mary form the Annunciation to the Assumption, with a tiny recently restored church at the end, built over the holy cave (The Madonna used to be here, before they moved her to the basilica.)
Dressed, warmed up, rehearsed a shortened concert, and pored over an excellent facsimile of the Llibre Vermell. After much searching, we found the harmony parts to Stella Splendens and Imperaritz.

We sang and played to tourists and to the stream of pilgrims mounting the stairs to the Madonna. Unscheduled applause for Los Set Gotx. Because it was in Catalan?

Tapas. Vespers, Salve Regina, motet.

Most of my women's small group assembled to try O Virgo Splendens as a canon (rather than as a chant, the way that we're performing it). It was emotionless, but beautiful.

Dinner, followed by more round serenades.

Montserrat

1999-08-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

Montserrat was nothing like what I expected. While all of the monasteries that we had thus far visited had been serene and peaceful, Montserrat was noisy and crowded. It has one road, that works its way up from the valley floor to make a long sinuous loop through the cluster of hotels that have grown up alongside the basilica. That loop is lined with cars, while the big parking lot around the corner is filled, and buses pull into their allocated slots to disgorge their loads of passengers.

The monastery was founded (by Benedictines) in 1025 in honor of an appearance of the Virgin on the mountain. It was almost completely destroyed in 1811 by Napoleon's soldiers. When it was rebuilt in the 19th century, it turned into a monumental example of European kitsch, and is now not only a pilgrimage center, but also a tourist trap.

It's tucked onto a tiny ledge of the mountain of Montserrat, with some buildings backed up against the living rock, while others are perched over the abyss. The name means serrated mountain, and the monastery's symbol is an 'M', formed to looked like a pair of peaks, with a medieval saw cutting into them. The rocks are truly awesome.

The mountain is traced with trails, all the way from the train station at the bottom to the highest point. In addition, there is a cable car that runs between the train station and the monastery, and two funiculars that both start at the monastery, one running up and the other down.

One of the Cantigas de Santa Maria is set in Montserrat, and tells of the Virgin's intervention in diverting a falling rock so that it missed the church.

The basilica is overly ornate, not only with paint and gilt, but with nooks and crannies and statuary that fragments the sound. It easily had the worst acoustics of any place that we sang, at least to the performers. When the boys choir sang, however, the sound was as clear as a bell from the audience.

During the day, when the day trippers are there, there seems to be an unending stream of services running in the basilica. (Our concert was cut down to an hour in order to fit in between them.) The Black Madonna lives in a shrine behind and above the altar, and there is a steady stream of pilgrims visiting her. The line passes through a passageway cut through the shrines on the right side of the church, past the choir, out of sight up a flight of stairs, and then reappears in the window through which she looks out over the altar. (If you visit her before breakfast, however, there are no crowds - just the cleaning crew.)

After the last public service of the day, a bit after 7:00, the last of the day trippers evacuate, and the sidewalks roll themselves up to sleep. The semi-feral cats creep out of their hiding places to play and eat, while the restless overnight guests aimlessly wander the streets of Montserrat. Many of the hotel employees gather in the square to sing rounds until the church bells toll 11:00.

This is where the Llibre Vermell was written, and where it now resides (after a brief sojourn in France, where it fortuitously missed the destruction of the monastery).

Reial Monestir de Santes Creus

1999-08-18T17:55:00.000-07:00

Founded by Cistercians. It isn't a working monastery any longer, but has been restored as a museum. The tour started with a multi-media presentation in some of the old vaults, then continued with a human guide, wandering through both cloisters and various rooms and palaces, and even up to the cemetery.

By an old tradition, if you had one cypress tree growing in your courtyard, it was a sign to travelers that they could buy drink at your house. If you had two cypress trees in your garden, then they could get a meal as well. And if you had three, then you'd also put them up for the night. So you had to be careful how many trees you planted.

Montblanc -> Santes Creus -> Montserrat

1999-08-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

Slept through most of the bells for Matins and Lauds, and woke just in time to get to mass. Scurried back for breakfast, packed, played ping-pong and boarded the bus for Santes Creus.

We had lunch in a restaurant in a park down by an irrigation ditch (I never saw the alleged river.) I attempted to order my sandwich in Catalan, which was a kick for the proprietors.

Back on the bus and over the ridge to Montserrat, slowly looping around the mountain and up to the monastery. There's only a single road, which loops and circles among the hotels in single file. The bus couldn't make the bends, so let us off at the bottom to drag our luggage to the hotel.

Went to Holy Rosary, and heard the priest repeatedly pray to Shanta Maria. The Black Madonna is located high above and behind the altar. A steady stream of pilgrims passed by to touch or kiss her.

I stayed for vespers. The monks have fine, if delicate, voices. I wish they wouldn't depend on the organ so much. After vespers the boys' choir filed in and sang polyphony, and then a motet, between the monks' and congregation's chant of Salve Regina.

Checked out the start of some of the hiking trails. By the time I got back, my water was gone and the shops (such as they were) were closed.

Wandered the empty streets of Montserrat after dinner. The tourists (those staying the night) were in hiding, while many of the employees of Montserrat had gathered in the plaza to sing rounds until bedtime.

Montblanc

1999-08-17T17:53:00.000-07:00

This is another medieval walled hill-town, with narrow twisting alleys for streets. The streets are hard enough for the Spanish subcompact cars to navigate - they were a physical impossibility for our bus. So for both the rehearsal and the concert, the bus left us off at the bottom of the hill to let us walk up to the church, and then waited for us to walk back down again.

In Montblanc, our concert seemed to be the highpoint of the week. There were posters stuck up in shop windows, and someone had translated the program from Castilian to Catalan and reprinted it. When I went into a shop to buy postcards, I was accosted with one of the posters and engaged in a conversation that was helped immensely by a Castilian/English dictionary.

This concert started at 10:00pm. That's actually the normal concert time for this church in the summertime - it gives the church a chance to cool down after the heat of the day. The church was packed, mostly with fan-waving ladies, and the front doors were left open so that the crowd could spill out into the street (that was the smoking section).

Poblet -> Montblanc

1999-08-17T17:51:00.000-07:00

Woke up with the Matins bells.

Got up an hour later, dressed in the dark and walked down to the monastery for Laudes. Walked back up for breakfast, bused back down for a tour, hung around and sketched until I had used up the sketchbook, then walked back up to the hotel.

Bus to Montblanc, rehearsal. many changes, including a speaking bit for me. Back to the hotel for dinner, then we dressed and drove back to Montblanc for a 10pm concert.

Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Poblet

1999-08-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

Poblet is a "real" monastery. Here monks dress the part (in white, being Cistercians). There are a few men in civilian dress, but they're secular priests, who have come on retreat. The monks serve in multiple services each day, from matins, at 5:15am, through lauds, mass, and vespers, to compline, at 9:30, and if their voices are not perfect, well, then, God calls men to the monastic life for other reasons than for music. The church bells ring shortly before each service, to wake the monks or to bring them home from their chores, and so the country round can use the church as a rough clock.

Our tour here was supposed to be in Dutch and English, but ended up being only in Dutch, with Margriet translating for the Americans. This guide didn't mind the extra time spent, however, and led us in round-about ways to keep allow other, speedier tours to "play through".

At one point, this monastery was the preferred final resting place for the kings of Aragon. (Catalunya and Aragon were joined through a political marriage way back in the 12th century. Catalunya/Aragon didn't get linked to Castille until the marriage of the Catholic kings, Ferdinand and Isabella, in the 15th century.) The crypts in the church never contained whole bodies, however, but only bones. One of the towers of the monastery is a turris pudoris, a tower of corruption, where the body would be stored until the flesh decayed. (Supposedly, this tradition has been restored, and the body of Juan Carlos's father is currently corrupting in a tower in Madrid.)

When the monasteries were nationalized, all of the bones were taken up and translated to a cathedral for safekeeping. They were restored when Poblet was rehabilitated, but had gotten jumbled in the meantime, and so each bone probably didn't end up back in the crypt from which it started.

Monasterio de Leyre

1999-08-16T17:50:00.000-07:00

As with the other Spanish monasteries, it was abandoned in 1834. When it was revived in this century it was heavily remodeled, with the monks moving into seclusion in a new cloister to the south of the church, while the old cloister to the north was partially dismantled, and the remaining buildings were turned into a hotel.

Our reservation for a tour in English somehow turned into a tour in Castilian, with the guide resentful of the time spent by Marcelle repeating everything in English.

The church was built in the Romanesque style, and later added to in the Gothic style. To accommodate the increased height, they added a flying buttress. (I wonder if there's a matching one on the other side, in the monk's cloister).

The cellars were originally twice the height they are now. At some point a floor was added to divide it into two stories. So at first, the capitals would have been overhead, rather than at shoulder lever, but they still would have been outlandishly over-sized.

The carvings over the main door of the church include concentric rings of animal parts. Because of the break in the monastic tradition, no one is quite sure what they are meant to represent.

Iranzu -> Leyre -> Poblet

1999-08-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

Got up early, breakfasted, got on the bus, and drove to Monesterio de Leyre, where we took the tour.

We continued out of Navarra, through Aragon and into Catalunya. We're getting further south, and it's getting warmer and warmer.

We dropped off our luggage at the hotel, drove down the road to the monastery of Poblet. We tuned and trooped in to catch the end of vespers, then got let into the choir. We gave two short abridged concerts, one for the parishoners (while the monks were eating supper) and another for the monks when they returned.

I stayed for compline, then walked back to the hotel, where I finally got my supper.

Iranzu - first concert

1999-08-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

Last minute tweaks. Polished some songs. Walked through the concert. The final set list ended up being:

Laudemus virginem
Splendens ceptigera
Polorum regina
Stella splendens
O virgo splendens
Mariam matrem

Cantiga 260
Cantiga 20
Cantiga 26

Los set goyts
Imperatritz
Ad mortem festinamus

Cantigas de Amigo (Martim Codax)

Cantiga 160
Cantiga 200

Al flores del pino

Cantiga 26

Levantou s'a velida

I was permitted to touch the kittens for the first time.

First concert, in the church. The kitchen ladies showed up, along with the priest and one of the gift shop ladies. The rest seemed to be tourists or picnickers who had serentipitously stumbled upon a concert. Standing ovation. Champagne.

Packing.

Iranzu

1999-08-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

Run-through in the morning, with transitions and choreography. Second run-through in the afternoon, with cuts and new transitions and new choreography.

Small groups before dinner and listening to CDs (and cow bells and sheep) afterwards.

Iranzu

1999-08-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

Wisps of clouds, sunny and warm.

Free after dinner. With a bunch of others, walked over the ridge to the west and down the valley to Abarzuza, where a fiesta was happening. (Straus waltzes, very loudly on electronic instruments). Walked back along the road, admiring the stars.

Iranzu (and neighboring villages)

1999-08-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

High clouds and haze. Not too hot.

Break from lunch to lecture. After several false starts, I found the trail over the ridge to the east, and walked into Ibiricu, then village-hopped back to the monastery.

Iranzu - eclipse

1999-08-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

Mostly sunny and mild.

The schedule was adjusted to allow for eclipse watching at noon. We gathered in the yard and gazed through special glasses, mylar filters and a welder's mask, while Margriet sang a medieval eclipse song.

Wandered through the garden with a Dutch woman, telling each other the names of the vegetables.

Sketched in the church during siesta.

Iranzu

1999-08-10T17:43:00.000-07:00

Partly cloudy, pleasant.

Schedule the same as yesterday.

Bought a map in the monastery gift shop and went hiking during siesta.

Iranzu - animals

1999-08-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

We're surrounded by animals. A herd of goats is supposed to be penned in a field, but usually manage to escape during the night and have to be retrieved the next day. A herd of sheep sometimes connects with the goats, and the rams and the billies will start butting heads. A few donkeys wander around, seeking the shadiest spots. There are a handful of cows, mostly with calves, and a few horses, who are shuttled from field to field as the grass allows. There is one bull, who stays securely in his own field, across the road. There is a whole building full of chickens (and the chicken truck comes to visit just before bedtime every few nights), and a pen for the roosters, ducks, geese and pea fowl.

A couple of dogs guard the chicken coop, and a pair of cats patrol outside the complex, keeping it free of mice, and eating the non-compostable garbage.

The goats, sheep and cows all wear bells, so there is a constant clanging going on outside.

Iranzu

1999-08-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

I woke to the sound of a fountain, cow-bells, sheep, bells, roosters, peacocks and songbirds.

Stretching exercises, vocal warm-ups, learning a song by ear.

Breakfast (coffee and milk with bread, butter, preserves and pate).

Large group rehearsal, working on a song that I hadn't prepared.

Coffee break.

Small women's group rehearsal. Nine women, seven of whom are Dutch natives and one of whom is an American living in Holland. We spoke English.

Lunch (in two courses - one in the bowl and one on the plate, and remember to keep your silverware when the kitchen ladies took the bowl away).

Mixed group rehearsal. Four instruments, six men, eight women (all altos).

Siesta. Walked over to the bar and phoned Barcelona to add a night to my hostel reservation. Did laundry. Sketched in the claustro.

Lecture.

Dinner.

Tutti rehearsal.

Finally, free time until the 11:00 curfew (so that we wouldn't disturb the monks).

Monasterio de Santa Maria la Real de Iranzu

1999-08-09T17:39:00.000-07:00

Founded in ???? by the Benedictines, taken over by the
Cistercians, abandoned in 1835 when the monasteries were
nationalized, revived and restored by the ????? in 1940,
after Franco came to power.

The layout is typical Benedictine - a square cloister, with the church on the north side, where it won't block the sun. The (no-longer-used) chapter house is next to the church on the east side of the cloister. On the south side, the cloister has an appendix into the square to hold the fountain, where the monks used to wash their hands before going into the refectory to eat. And next to the refectory is the (now-unused) kitchen. The abbot's residence was on the west side of the cloister, while the monks cells were on the second floor of the east side, with a stairway down into the church for the night services.

The current set of monks don't sing the services. They don't wear habits, so it's difficult to tell a monk from a plumber. For a livelihood they run the monastery farm. They produce a soft white cheese, and a liquor from endrino, a berry that looks like a blueberry, whose Latin name begins with prunus, and which is, as far as I can make out, sloe.

Pamplona/Iruñea

1999-08-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

An old fortified hilltop city. A lot of the wall still stands, and has been incorporated into city parks, as has the 17th century citadel in the center of town. This is the only place that I saw joggers in Spain, but then young men in Pamplona would have a need to stay in shape.

The cramped medieval quarter is tucked up in the north-east corner, behind the bullring. The rest of the city is spread open, with fountains, squares and public art, with both modern skyscrapers and mudejar apartment buildings.

The second language here is Basque. It's totally unrelated to any other language in the world. It's thought that the Basques were the first settlers in Europe, and that later waves of Celts, Visigoths, etc. washed over them, hemming them in until they had shrunk to a few provinces in the mountains of Spain and of France.

Even Basques will speak Castilian to foreigners (not that it helps me much). I don't hear the Castilian lithp, though. Instead I hear the lishp that I learned for Galician and Catalan.

Pamplona -> Iranzu

1999-08-08T17:34:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Pamplona at 5:30am. Read and dozed until the cafeteria and restrooms opened. Checked my bag and walked into town (passing a baby catalpa in a nursery on the way).

There's a 17-18th century citadel, turned into a city park, fountains, public art, lots of churches (and church bells on Sunday morning), mudegur architecture, modern buildings, and a medieval quarter. And, oh yes, a bullfighting ring.

I sight-saw until mid afternoon, but got too exhausted, so caught a bus back to the train station to nap until the charter bus appeared. Met Ginger and her daughter, Eleanor, then a few more participants, then a few more, and then even more, with countless introductions. The bus arrived and took us over a high ridge (many switchbacks) to Iranzu.

I caught a bit of mass, mostly in Spanish, with a tiny male choir but with plenty of harmony from the congregation.

Dinner, with more introductions.

Barcelona

1999-08-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

Cooler (Thank God!)

A very bad night. I only managed to cool off enough to sleep by dampening my nightgown. Got up several times to pack and repack and check the location of Saturday night's hotel, and discovered that Saturday night's hotel is really Friday night's hotel, and that I have no reservation for Saturday night.

From the façade of the cathedral --->

Got out of bed at 7am and set off with my bag to the railway station. Called the hostel reservation number from Las Ramblas, and got a recording. Well, it's early in the day. Left the bag in consignment, had cafe con leche and chips (with extra salt) for breakfast, couldn't get any phones in the station to work (not with coins anyway). Went to L'Eixample and got a phone to work (after several tries). A recording again. They must close on weekends. Tried Friday night's hotel. They're full. Tried the hotel desk in the tourist info booth. They only reserve for that day. Tried the closest reasonable hotel to Plaça de Catalunya. They don't have singles, period. Finally gave up. I'll deal with it later.

Went to see the 'apple of discord' and some of the rest of L'Eixample. Then the Arc de Triomf, the Parc de la Ciutadelia and La Ribera.

Was too tired to sight-see any more, so went to the train station way early. There's a no-fumar section in the waiting room, but it's full of ashtrays and cigarette butts and smokers.

Modernisme

1999-08-07T17:32:00.000-07:00

This style of architecture, characterized by flamboyant use of color and forms, emerged in the 1880's. Its leading architects were Antoni Gaudi, Lluis Domenech i Montaner, and Josep Puig i Cadafalch.

In addition to grand public buildings, they also designed apartment buildings in the new, planned section of the city called L'Eixample (the enlargement).

Three of these buildings stand in the Manzana de la Discordia. This translates as both Block of Discord and Apple of Discord, (They kept the Castilian word for 'block' to retain the pun.) and refers to the wildly differing styles of the modernista apartments. The one on the corner is Casa Lleo Morera, by Domenech i Montaner. Two doors down is Casa by Puig i Cadafalch. And right next to that is Casa Batllo by Gaudi.

Finca Guell Gate
Gaudi
The porter's house for the Guell estate.

Count Eusepi Guell was a major patron of Gaudi.

Palau de la Musica Catalana
Domenech i Montaner

Barcelona

1999-08-06T17:31:00.000-07:00

Partly sunny, some cool breezes.

It turns out that El Ravel is not the best of neighborhoods. There's traffic (and sirens) most of the night, and after the bars close people (travelers mostly?) flood out into the street to continue their carousing. Then shortly after they give out and go to bed, the regulars start to stir and the traffic starts up all over again.

When I went out at 8:00, I headed north instead of making straight for Las Ramblas (figuring that it would be safe at that hour) and got some cold stares from the locals.

Wasted most of the day getting reservations for the train and the hostel for the end end. Bought a T-1 transit ticket, and used about half of it already.

Wandered through a corner of Park Guell, then metro'ed back to Plaça de Catalunya to eat. Was too exhausted to sight-see any more (well, much more anyway) and came back to the hotel to siesta. Woke up at 9pm and decided to bag the evening. (I actually had my fill of promenading Las Ramblas several days ago.)

Baixada de la Gloria

This street leads to to Parc Guell. When it becomes too steep for cars, it turns into a staircase. And then it goes one better and hitches on an automatic escalator that turns itself on whenever someone steps on its foot, and turns itself off after everyone has left its head.

Barcelona

1999-08-05T17:29:00.000-07:00

Sunny and hot.

Got money from a machine (directions given in 5 languages), had breakfast (There's no way that a cafe con leche and a croissant will keep me until 2pm), and went searching for a cheaper place to stay. Most everyone was full, but I found a room in the Hotel Levant. I also found a supermarket. Still have to find a post office.

Well, I take that back. No room at the inn. But the proprietor found me a room in another hotel in El Raval.

Had lunch at an overpriced restaurant in Las Ramblas.

Headed for the waterfront, to the Monument a Colon (OK, he was in Barcelona once), through the Maremègnum, down to La Barceloneta. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the Museu d'Historia de Catalunya. They had a temporary exhibit on Montserrat, which included a small space for the Llibre Vermell, showing a few pages of facsimile and playing Polorum Regina and Stella Splendens over and over again. I also went through the first half of the permanent historical exhibit, from neolithic times up into the 18th century.Mere de Deu de Montserrat

When I come out it was still 35 degrees, but the the was getting low, so there was shade available.

Barcelona Cathredal
Wandered back through Barri Gotic, stopping in to see Eglesia de Santa Maria del Pi. After dark I took the camera out to Plaça de Catalunya to try some night shooting, and ended up riding the Moon Express on its rounds.

Plaça de Catalunya
An open square at the head of Barri Gotic, and ringed by department stores. An excellent place for people-watching or promenading, by day or by night. The plaça is hollow, below ground level are a souvenir shop, an information desk, a desk for making hotel reservations, a Metro station, a commuter rail station, and a national railway station.

Barcelona

1999-08-05T17:26:00.000-07:00

It seems that August is not the best month to visit Barcelona. It's hot and muggy and full of tourists. Many of the locals go on vacation to spend the month in cooler weather. Many of the small shops are closed, while the big ones are running their August sales, to get some revenue from the depleted population.

Barcelona lives in a time zone all its own. You might find a coffee bar open for breakfast at 8:30, but you'll be its first customer. Breakfast consists of a tiny cup of café con leche and some sort of pastry. Around 1:30 or 2:00, the shops start shutting down, and everyone walks out for the big meal of the day. At 4:00, everyone goes back to work till around 8:00. Then they go home, open all of the windows to catch the evening air, and go out again, to promenade or sit in a bar, or have dinner in a restaurant. You can nibble on tapas early, but nobody would consider sitting down to a real meal before 9:30.

The second language here is Castilian. The first is Catalan. It's supposed to be closer to Provencial than to "real" Spanish. I find it very close to Latin. I have to listen carefully during church services to tell which language they're using.

Catalunya was a hotbed of Republicanism during the Civil War, and Catalan was suppressed while Franco was in power. After his death, however, the language resurfaced.

Barcelona - Barri Gotic

1999-08-04T17:28:00.000-07:00

The old medieval quarter was built on the ruins of Roman Barcino. Bits and pieces of Barcino can still be found in the Barri - concrete Roman tombs, bits of Roman wall that have been patched over and over again through the centuries, the odd bits of architecture hiding in more "modern" buildings' basements.

The center of the Barri is occupied by the cathedral and its square (the only sizable chunk of open space here). The cathedral was built in the 13th to 15th centuries (though the façade didn't get done until 1870). The façade was done from a 15th century design, but even so is not typical Barcelona High Gothic, but has the intricate spires of a more northerly medieval Gothic church.

The cathedral is usually packed with tourists and vibrant with camera flashes. It's a wonder that anyone still comes in to worship. Stationed at various points around the cathedral are buskers - mostly classical guitarists, but also accordions, hammered dulcimers, balalaikas, and saxophones.

Wrapped around the cathedral are dozens of churches on postage-stamp sized plazas, and "streets" that are no more than alleys, too narrow to let in the sun. Considering the heat, this is a relief.

Most traffic here is by foot. The occasional car or moped noses through the crowds, and the garbage truck and the street sweeper roll through at night, when everyone is either in bed or on Las Ramblas.

Barcelona - first day

1999-08-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

Clouds over most of Spain and Portugal. Hot and muggy in Barcelona.

Found the hotel, showered and changed and went wandering through the Barri Gotic.

Pedestrians rule here, with cars squeezing though as needed. Here are cell phones, and McDonald's and KFC, and even kopakelli.

At 1:30 or 2pm the city starts shutting down. The shops close and everyone shifts to the restaurants or goes promenading down Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is a paved area between the two lanes of the street, filled with stationary shops, restaraunt annexes, and street artists, the sort who sketch and paint, as well as living statues, who point their faces and clothing silver or bronze or gold and pose.

At 4 I gave up and went back to the hotel to siesta. I got up at 7, in time for the evening promenade and the night busking in the Plaça de Catalunya.

As the night wears on, the people forsake the pedestrian lanes and the garbage collectors move in. There are also people rooting through the garbage left on the street (recycling) either homeless or travelling people. Others sleep in the out-of-the way parklets. And kittens come out to beg.

The moonlight express starts making its rounds - a tourist train (rubber-tired) that meanders through the now-empty lanes, spouting commentary in several languages.

I slept without the air conditioner, to prove that I didn't need it. But since the hotel is on an automobile alley, there was a stream of traffic - a convention of mopeds (at closing time?), the garbage truck, a water truck, and God knows what else.

Portland -> Atlanta -> Atlantic Ocean

1999-08-03T17:14:00.000-07:00

A raccoon attempted entry around midnight.

Clear skies in Portland. Overcast and muggy in Atlanta.

Travel diary - Spain, 1999

Table of Contents

Back home

Barcelona - last day

Barcelona

Barcelona

Montserrat -> Barcelona

The trail to Santa Cova

Montserrat

Montserrat

Reial Monestir de Santes Creus

Montblanc -> Santes Creus -> Montserrat

Montblanc

Poblet -> Montblanc

Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Poblet

Monasterio de Leyre

Iranzu -> Leyre -> Poblet

Iranzu - first concert

Iranzu

Iranzu

Iranzu (and neighboring villages)

Iranzu - eclipse

Iranzu

Iranzu - animals

Iranzu

Monasterio de Santa Maria la Real de Iranzu

Pamplona/Iruñea

Pamplona -> Iranzu

Barcelona

Modernisme

Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona - Barri Gotic

Barcelona - first day

Portland -> Atlanta -> Atlantic Ocean