Barcelona makes me happy! Isn’t that crazy? But that’s how I felt. I really liked this city. It is like all big European cities – crowded and built up on hills and mountain. There was something different here which I cannot explain. I really would like to come back and spend a lot of time exploring the jewels this city has to offer. I was quite impressed.
Just some background information: Catalonia, not Spanish, is spoken here. Their pronunciation and many words are different than Castilian Spanish. It’s like taking someone from New England and asking them to talk to someone from the hills of Appalachia. Our guide spoke excellent English, but with a pronounced accent – and she spoke English like Catalonian, FAST.
Michael and I escorted the same tour today, but on different buses. My tour guide was good, while his was so bad he had to take over and do parts of the tour himself. According to Michael, “They would ask me what something was and I would tell them, ‘it’s old … and very important’.” I saw him several times and he just shook his head and wondered how someone like that could get such a gig. However, everyone on his bus was a good sport about it.
Barcelona is an old city, surrounded like all old cities in this part of the world, with a medieval wall that was demolished in 1859. It was originally a commercial/industrial city until the 1992 Olympic Games, and since has become a tourist destination. In fact, we started the tour with a stop at Montjuic Mountain (Jewish Mountain), a huge recreational park that was the actual site of the games and offered up an incredible view of the city below. We drove by the Olympic stadium and saw the torch, the one they lit with an arrow.
Our next stop was Spanish Village that was built in 1929 for the world exposition (in fact, many of the buildings in the city were built then). This village represented the architecture from the different regions in Spain. Today, there are workshops, artwork and a number of museums and shops. We feasted on tapas and wine – at 9:30 in the morning! So what the heck ... this is Spain!
While driving through the city, we saw the royal palace – WOW IMPESSIVE; a bull ring that is being turned into a shopping mall, fountains, squares, and the craziest architecture you ever saw. Apparently, there was no zoning laws and an architect by the name of Gaudi, designed some absolutely wacky houses that are right on the main drag. Buildings were Moorish, Roman, Gothic, modern – that’s what made the city so interesting. Some of the buildings were simply amazing. Churches and fountains were gaudy, with more doodads and gingerbread than Hansel and Gretel had ever seen.
Next up was the Gothic Quarter (old town) and its old cathedral and narrow streets and hidden plazas. We saw a fountain that had a floating egg on top of a spray of water. That was really cool. This was actually part of a religious ceremony is performed this one day of the year only, so it was our good luck to be visiting today.
Our final stop was the jaw-dropping Sagrado Familia, a Catholic Cathedral detailing the life of Jesus that has been under construction since 1882. When finished, which is projected to take another 25 years, it will have a total of 18 towers. It already is a masterpiece, by Gaudi of course, and so big that it is almost impossible to take a picture of it.
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This was an excellent tour. Upon my return to the ship, I got a massage. Tomorrow is a sea day and hopefully I will have some time to catch up on some rest.
Just some background information: Catalonia, not Spanish, is spoken here. Their pronunciation and many words are different than Castilian Spanish. It’s like taking someone from New England and asking them to talk to someone from the hills of Appalachia. Our guide spoke excellent English, but with a pronounced accent – and she spoke English like Catalonian, FAST.
Michael and I escorted the same tour today, but on different buses. My tour guide was good, while his was so bad he had to take over and do parts of the tour himself. According to Michael, “They would ask me what something was and I would tell them, ‘it’s old … and very important’.” I saw him several times and he just shook his head and wondered how someone like that could get such a gig. However, everyone on his bus was a good sport about it.
Barcelona is an old city, surrounded like all old cities in this part of the world, with a medieval wall that was demolished in 1859. It was originally a commercial/industrial city until the 1992 Olympic Games, and since has become a tourist destination. In fact, we started the tour with a stop at Montjuic Mountain (Jewish Mountain), a huge recreational park that was the actual site of the games and offered up an incredible view of the city below. We drove by the Olympic stadium and saw the torch, the one they lit with an arrow.
Our next stop was Spanish Village that was built in 1929 for the world exposition (in fact, many of the buildings in the city were built then). This village represented the architecture from the different regions in Spain. Today, there are workshops, artwork and a number of museums and shops. We feasted on tapas and wine – at 9:30 in the morning! So what the heck ... this is Spain!
While driving through the city, we saw the royal palace – WOW IMPESSIVE; a bull ring that is being turned into a shopping mall, fountains, squares, and the craziest architecture you ever saw. Apparently, there was no zoning laws and an architect by the name of Gaudi, designed some absolutely wacky houses that are right on the main drag. Buildings were Moorish, Roman, Gothic, modern – that’s what made the city so interesting. Some of the buildings were simply amazing. Churches and fountains were gaudy, with more doodads and gingerbread than Hansel and Gretel had ever seen.
Our final stop was the jaw-dropping Sagrado Familia, a Catholic Cathedral detailing the life of Jesus that has been under construction since 1882. When finished, which is projected to take another 25 years, it will have a total of 18 towers. It already is a masterpiece, by Gaudi of course, and so big that it is almost impossible to take a picture of it.
This was an excellent tour. Upon my return to the ship, I got a massage. Tomorrow is a sea day and hopefully I will have some time to catch up on some rest.
sounds like an excelent day in town. you didnt awnser me if you write everything down from your tours or not? how can you remember all this information? love deb
ReplyDeleteHere is what we do. Take cryptic notes, use tour information, use photographs to refresh our memory and just plain memory. If we both do same thing, we generally both contribute what we remember. Nothing magic just hard work.
ReplyDeleteAs always, I'm enjoying reading/seeing about your travels. As beautiful/interesting as it is, traveling IS a lot of work. Some news - Ivonne is pregnant; due late November. Dad is well, but forgetting words more often. Aunt Ruthie is critically ill after abdominal surgery. Weather getting hot here as usual. Nothing else new here. Love, Janet
ReplyDeleteI am getting excited, will be in Spain for 3 weeks in September. The last 5 days will be in Barcelona. Better start fine tunning my slow talk Spanish. My Grandparents came from Granada, I learned a lot from them. Keep it coming, love opening email and seeing one from you.
ReplyDeletePhyllis (knitting buddy)
You are doing a great job on your blog! We're in London today. Tomorrow on to Paris You should see me on stairs & escalators now!
ReplyDeleteYou are in a part of the world I've visited. We were absolutely blown away by the Gaudi architecture in Barcelona and by the sculptures of Michael=
ReplyDeleteangelo in Florence and Rome and the Vatican treasures. Very dear friends
of ours from Berlin also have a house in Luca, which we were never able to
see, but we enjoyed the olive oil from there. I really look forward to talk=
ing to you about those places and about these other wonderful places you
are taking us to. The big news here is the oil spill which is unspeakably
horrible. Do you get the news? Love, Bobbie