A Modernisme Stroll Through Barcelona

After the Castellers, we took the Metro from Poblenou to Urquinaona (I just call it Ur-quinoa, which isn't close to being right).

I relied on two travel books to meticulously plan this trip -- National Geographic on Barcelona, and Rick Steves's Barcelona.  They both feature detailed self-guided walks.  The Nat Geo book has a great 2.7 mile walk on Modernisme history.

We are not architects.  We are not even amateur architects.  But there is something about Modernisme architecture that we are drawn to.  Obviously, Antoni Gaudi is the most famous of the bunch, but there were quite a few practitioners back in the day.

First, we headed over to Placa Catalunya, where we hung out for a bit, enjoying the scene.

Casa Pascual i Pons was finished in 1891, is a medival throw back look on a modernisme building.  We then stopped for lunch at a theater cafe named, interestingly enough, El Glop.  The food wasn't just glop, however.  Carol had some tasty shrimp in garlic, and I had the secreto Iberic -- one of the best parts of the pig.

I Googled it so you don't have to:

"The Iberian secret is a piece that is in the internal part of the loin next to the mallet of the palette, between the bacon, in what would be the armpit of the pig."   

If eating armpit is wrong, I don't want to be right.

The only problem with sitting outside at a restaurant in Spain is that, invariably, the Eurotrash at the table next to you are smoking.  Even though there are multiple directions the smoke could go, it invariably wafts right at us.  Despite that, it was a very pleasant place to eat.

Casa Rocamora was not finished until 1920 by the brothers Amigo (apparently they were blood relations AND friends, which isn't easy to do).  The conical tower is a famed sight in the city. 

Casas Cabot are actually two buildings conjoined on a small side street.

Casa Calvet is an early Gaudi, completed in 1899.  It is noted for his unusual restraint, but the front of the building (pictured above) is still stunning, and gives off hints (to me at least)  of the much more detailed Casa Battlo facade.  To me, this is a pretty cool picture.

And then we came to the Illa de la Discordia (the block of discord), which has three of the most famous modernisme building in Barcelona.  I didn't post any pictures of the Casa Lleo i Morera, but the above is Casa Amatller.  We did not go in, but it has opened to limited tours since we were last in Barcelona in 2009.

Casa Battlo is the piece de resistance of Modernisme homes.  We have tickets for later in the trip.  I still remember the thrill I had taking the tour in 2009.  Sometimes, when you've gone someplace once, you don't have to do it again.  Battlo is NOT one of those places.

I mean, look at this cool facade.  I got other great pictures of it from different angles, but am trying to show restraint by not posting them all.

This is still from Casa Amatller

This paean to the working man has to be from the 1930s or so.  Ironically, it is in the entrance to that favorite store of the working man, Lacoste.  As John Madden once said during a football game he was broadcasting, "irony can be so ironic."

Casa de las Punxes (the four pictures above) was pretty stunning.  It has six towers, each crowned by a conical point.  As the guidebook notes, it looks like a cross between a European mansion and a Loire Valley chateau.  

Just up the street is Casa Comalat, designed as a homage to Gaudi.  You can really see it in the window here, but the whole facade is very cool.

Here you can see part of Hotel Casa Fuster, which has a beautiful lobby.  I know I've mentioned the facades of a lot of these buildings without showing the whole thing.  That's because Barcelona has a lot of trees, which is quite nice.  Trees and squares (Placas, which is the Catalan word for Plazas, which is the Spanish word for une place de la villa, which is French for ein Statplatz, which is the German word for a city square.)  Let's face it, the Spanish win that word comparison.  Simple, clear, and yet elegant.  Square?  Not so much -- it is harsh off the tongue.

(Editor: Okay, Mr. Language Person, you've kind of drifted off here.  Blogger: Well, at least I'm not ranting about the idiotic spelling of "Woah" which every cultured person knows is actually spelled "Whoa."  Editor:  No one cares.  Blogger: Well, they should!  Editor: You've done it again -- gotten us into an argument instead of advancing the narrative!)

Pretty statue and fountain at the end of 

the famed Passeig de Gracia.

"Here she comes again, when she's

dancing 'neath the starry sky."

-- thanks to Ric Ocasek

Human Towers

Barcelona is famous for its Castellers, or Human Towers.  They have a website with a list of their performances.  There are numerous teams, so on any weekend, three might be performing in one park, while three others may be across town in another park. 

There were two performances at noon on Sunday, September 15th, including one at Poblenou Park, just four Metro stops away from our stop.  So we headed there, not quite sure what to expect.

We, like others, went to the wrong part of the park first (there are many, many trees, and it is much bigger than we thought when we first got there.  At noon, we decided to leave where we were and walk around.  Just then we heard some cheering and music, so we knew which direction to go.

We came upon the groups in a clearing surrounded by trees.  We clearly had found the place, as there were red teams and blue teams.  

They did single towers to start, as

a warm-up, I suppose

The columns of four are quite cool.

Little kids were the toppers,

and they scrambled up like

Peter Parker.

We grabbed chairs, sat down under the trees, and watched as the teams milled about.  There seemed to be mass confusion, until suddenly they all built single towers.  There was music from teammates playing trumpets, recorders, and drums.  

That was neat, but I was hoping for the four column tower.  And that came next, after the smoking and talking break (not everyone smoked, but more did than I would have expected!).  

First the red team went up.  It's very cool to see -- and there were less than five hundred people to watch!  Next Sunday they are doing it in the heart of Barcelona during a massive festival, so the place should be packed!  I will definitely go see it Sunday (if we can get close enough).

I'm not sure what the coolest part is:

• Watching them form up the base?  
• Watching the next tiers scramble up the backs and shoulders of the base?  
• Watching additional people provide support to the base?  
• Watching the kids scramble to the top, looking like young Alex Honnolds?  
• The burst of applause from the audience when success is reached?  
• The choreographed movement down?

Actually, the last moves might be the coolest part of it all, just because what goes up, must come down, but in a seemingly synchronized fashion.

We headed back to the Metro through the neighborhood, pretty darn happy to have gone.  As we left, we walked past kids in the colored shirts with their parents, sitting on blankets playing games.  It was like a swim meet -- lots of sitting around for a few minutes of action!

There's a pretty good chance Carol and I were the only tourists there.  And that's kind of neat. 

Standing Room Only

We went to El Xampanyet for dinner.  A little tapas bar known for Cava, it was fantastic.  We crowded in.  We couldn't get a table, so we stood in the back by the minibar.  

Carol and I are not big on tiny bubbles, but the Cava was a hit with us.  It wasn't too sweet, and we drank it from small water glasses.  For dinner we had anchovies in vinegar, jamon, stuffed peppers, and tomato bread.  

A view from the back.  

Our minibar, soon to be filled with

food.  The small water glasses

aren't how they normally serve Cava,

but it added to the experience.

Our waiter kept trying to get us a table, but every time he waved us forward, someone else had snagged the table.  It was fine, I was perfectly happy to be standing in the middle of this amazing scene.

We invited a younger American couple to share the minibar, and they did for a while.  Turns out they live in Old Town Alexandria, so we were practically neighbors.  This was her first time to Spain (he had been once before), and they loved it (who doesn't?).  So we chatted, until they got a table.

Then I overheard an American sitting near us talking about living in Vegas.  I looked over, and he was wearing a Golden Knights shirt (they are the hockey team that lost in the Stanley Cup finals two years ago to the Capitals).  So I leaned in, and chanted "Let's Go Caps."  He got mock angry, and we had a great conversation between the eight of us.  

It's hard to have a more fun evening.

Saturday In The Park

After our nap, we walked over to Parc de la Ciutadella.  It's just around the corner from us, and turns out to be VERY cool place to hang out. 

When we first showed up, I said, "ah, this is a 15 minute park."  And then we started walking through it.  No humidity.  Humanity all around, but it wasn't crowded.  Adults, couples, kids, dogs, all enjoying the park.  There's grassy areas, and then a pond with rowboats.  

And then we came to the famous fountain, designed by Josep Fontere, with possible contributions by a young Antoni Gaudi.  Apparently no one knows for certain, so we'll just say he had a hand in it.

This is us, at the fountain in Parc de la Ciutadella.

At the entrance to the park

Seems pretty serious.

Quite the zoom lens.

This was taken from the same

spot as the photo above.

The bubble guy was awesome.

As is this picture of his handiwork against the

sky.  It was a beautiful way to spend the

afternoon in the park.

We're getting this for our house.

We'll put it in the backyard

as to not be ostentatious.

Whoa Nellie!  These horses are clearly as upset

as I that Merriam-Webster may add the

incorrect spelling of whoa to their dictionary.

We then walked over to the Catalonian Parliament building.  Just then, a flock pigeons flew fast, and nearly out of control, at us.  We ducked multiple times, but there were no collisions, and, thankfully, no pigeon dropping on us!  

There is a beautiful sculpture in a pond, and kids were playing soccer with their dads, and dogs were roaming around (under control).  And it was perfect.

This downspout is on the Parliament building.

Perhaps a comment on politicians?

I'm showing this sculpture with

Parliament behind it so I can

Put this photo in context. Despite the

broken pinky finger, it's a cool shot. 

Whimsical whimsy in the park.

After that, we headed over to the Arc de Triomf, which is at the end of an extension of the park.  It's not as famous as in Paris, but it is quite cool nonetheless.  Street shows were going on, and everyone was happy.

Do you like the story arc so far?

Afterwards, we went back to the main park, sat on a bench, and watched various families playing.  Very chill. That's an advantage of a month in one place -- instead of rushing through the park, we took our time, people-watched, and enjoyed the heck out of the place!  Better than rushing through it in 15 minutes! 

It's Time For The NFL

But I'm not watching.  I'm trying to live the Barcelona life.

I am checking on ESPN.com.  Here, when you click on Football, you get the soccer scores.  So you have click on "Other" than "F American" which seems kind of a harsh comment on us Americans.  Or an inside joke.  Yup, that's what I will go with -- and inside joke.

For "rushing yards," the headline is "hauling yards," which actually makes more sense.

Well, the Giants lead 7-0, so that won't last.

Luck Is The Residue of Design

One of my all-time favorite sayings is from Branch Rickey, "luck is the residue of design."  It's a particularly adroit way to say, luck happens because of your effort.

Sometimes, however, you don't make your own luck, it is just happens to you.  As is the case with the location of our apartment.  We are right between the Barceloneta neighborhood and the El Born neighborhood.  Head a few blocks southeast, and we are at the beach, as in the Med.  Head northwest and we are wandering around narrow streets of bars, restaurants, churches, and shops.  There is only a couple of straight roads near us.

Right outside our door is the Barceloneta Metro stop.  Right across the street is a neighborhood of tapas bars, a market, and great restaurants.

Okay, I KNOW that tapas is not a Catalonian-thing.  As Tommy Lee Jones said in the best-delivered line of "The Fugitive," I don't care.  (Admit it, you click on it, and gloried in all of his "I don't care-ness."  Go ahead, do it again.  Yup -- it DOES make you feel good!)  We love tapas, and the Barcelonians have realized it is a great way to both make people happy AND make money.

(Editor: Glen, time to get back on track.  Writer: Um, what?  Since when has this blog ever stayed on track?)

Anyhow, we blew through immigration like a rocket sled on rails.  Literally there was no line, no questions from immigration, and we raced down to get our bags.  Thanks, United, it's a good thing we had to wait 45 minutes for that, or we might have been impressed by Spanish efficiency.

As our cabbie had never heard of it, we had to spell out the name of the road the apartment is on.  And, you would think, with us staying there, everyone in the city would know the street!  Mark me down as surprised.

The airport was closer to the city than I had thought, so we got there relatively quickly.  It helped that it was Saturday morning, with rush hour not happening.

We staggered into the apartment, with Milena there to greet us.  She showed us around the apartment.  On first impression, it seemed a bit rabbit warren-y (better than the other kind of Warren), but it turns out to be perfect.  Not large, but not small.

The AC works well, the location is perfect (I may have mentioned that), there's a washer and dryer (most Spanish apartments have washers but not dryers), an HHI fridge* that is on the large size, two bathrooms, hot water that is hot, a dishwasher, and excellent wifi.  Really, the only thing missing is a blue tooth music player, but we will live without it.

(Right now, Carol is napping, I'm blogging, and listening to Dwight Yoakam.  Not exactly Spanish, but much of the Spanish music I've heard in the 32 hours I've been here is either American/English pop, or Spanish rap.  I did hear an Everly Brothers song in a restaurant, so that was unexpected.)

(*HHI fridge is our code for a small fridge like on the HGTV show, "House Hunters International."  In every episode, the Americans moving overseas are shocked and disappointed by the small fridges.  You can NOT tell me they weren't aware that before doing the episode.  We were actually pleasantly shocked and anti-disappointed by the size of this fridge).

Milena then went over a map of nearby and far-away (sort of) attractions to see.  I then made the mistake of showing her my planning documents.  The level of detail may have frightened her, but it's always good to send a message that they aren't dealing with any old clueless American schmuck, but instead with the Iron Tourist American Schmuck (ITAS™).

(Re-reads sentence to self.  "Wait, that didn't come out right."  Editor: yes, but at least you gave your readers a guffaw.  Writer:  Good use of guffaw.)

After she left, we headed out to the Barceloneta Market.  Full of seafood markets, there were also some nice veggie and fruit stands.  We wandered around, taking it all in, and then went next door to an actual supermarket.  We bought an initial foray of food, such as cookies, yogurt, limes, sparkling water, bread, and a few other staples. 

After dropping that into our kitchen (at some point, I will post a posting of pictures of the apartment, but doing so too early in the blog could bore my loyal readers, and you'll go read some other blog by someone spending a month in Barcelona!) we went through the maze of streets of El Born to the Formatgeria Le Seu, which is our local -- 12 minute walk -- specialty cheese shop. 

The cheeses are fabulous (no pictures allowed of the shop, which thankfully will keep the Soviets and ChiComs from stealing NATO's cheese shop secrets, if we still lived in the Cold War era) and we had quite a long, and somewhat confusing chat with the cheesemonger.  She's from Scotland, and we started talking about cheese, moved on to her previous work history in Scotland, including the times she was sexually harassed by the Scottish oafs she worked with, and then her brogue got stronger and we had no idea what she was saying. 

It brought us back to our honeymoon, when we asked the husband of the B&B owner for directions and could understand only every tenth word, even though we were theoretically speaking the same language.  Same thing here, and just a few minutes earlier we understood everything she had said. 

So as she talked and as we didn't understand, we enthusiastically nodded, squeaked out a few expressions like, "huh," and "doesn't that beat all."  And I swear I've never used the latter one in my entire life to date, so I can check that off my bucket list.

It was time to wrap up, so I cut in to ask if she could recommend a good nearby wine shop.  She switched back from the Klingon Scottish she was speaking into English Scottish, so we actually got clear, simple directions. 

Meanwhile, we are quite cognizant we're strolling, with inexpensive cheese that would cost a fortune in Paris or Whole Foods, through some very cool streets.  We bought some wine, and stopped at the apartment to drop it off.

Then we went to one of the local tapas bars recommended by Antonio (who runs the place we rented), but it is closed until September 20, because the owners are on a month vacation.  We couldn't really fault them for that, so we picked another place. 

The beer was cold, and, more importantly, the jamon was fabulous, along with the Piquillo Peppers, the Spanish omelet, and the chicken croquettes.  Normally I wouldn't have a beer with lunch but I wanted to ensure I napped after eating. (Editor: Actually, it was two.  Writer: By ordering a second, I was channeling Kris Kristofferson's greatest lyrics, even if it was lunch, not breakfast).

I hadn't slept on the plane, so the 150 minute nap was glorious. 

First Morning Photos

Tower from Santa Maria del Mar

Part of the wedding party.  The parents, bride,

and groom were getting their photos taken.

The front of the church

The tops of the Cathedral,

from a distance.

First tapas lunch, at a place in Barceloneta,

just a few minutes walk from the apartment.

So, I'm Pretty Sure This Is Peak Iron Tourist

The idea of living overseas for a month came to us from Neil and Mary Newhouse.  They rented a place in Paris for a month several years ago.  One piece of advice Neil gave me is to come up with a list of 30 things you want to do during that month, so that you do one or two things a day without having had half the month slip by and doing little.

I thought that was good advice, but carried it further.  Much further.  (Warning: if obsessive planning and organization for traveling is not your thing, read no more of this post!).

I broke Barcelona into seven neighborhoods/areas.  Most were along the normal neighborhoods, although some I combined.  For each neighborhood, I typed up a list of "To Do's" -- as few as nine (Barceloneta), but as many as 25 (Barri Gothic).  I also added lists of recommended restaurants from our landlord, friends, people I don't know, food critics (Tom Sietsma), and random other places.

An example of my

neighborhood planning

In toto, there are seven of these.

Go ahead and call me obsessive.

It's actually taken as a compliment.

And here is one page of the itinerary.

We don't have to hit every place on the lists, either sights or restaurants.  But, this way we won't waste time trying to figure out what to do or where to eat.  And, the restaurants are a range of places, from hole-in-wall tapas bars to Michelin Star restaurants (there are 22 in Barcelona, we're eating at four of them, including the famed Disfrutar!).

I've also done a five page itinerary (many days are blank, but sometimes you need to make restaurant reservations or buy timed tickets, especially for Gaudi).  We have two sets of guests coming.  Maddy is heading to Amsterdam for a few days later this week, and then coming to Barcelona on Saturday.  She leaves Monday night (we'll be doing a lot in those three days!).  Tuesday, Don and Jennifer Minnis join for nearly a week before they head to London.   I've got a lot planned!


  

Living the Barcelona Life

So, here we are, early morning in Barcelona, in our apartment we rented for a month -- mid-September to mid-October.  Right now I'm feeling the grogginess of not quite being caught up from not sleeping on our trans-Atlantic flight with the giddiness of joy at being here for a month, and the lucky nature of our location, which is absolutely fabulous.  More on that later.

A mix of grogginess and giddiness makes for a strange combination, so I try to be coherent as I write this.

As we have been planning this for nearly the last year (making sure you have a sufficient place to live for a month takes planning -- you just can't wait till one month before and book a central location with air conditioning, washer/dryer, wifi, etc.), we've gotten a couple of FAQs from our friends.

Why a Month?

Several reasons.  First, as Carol likes to say, this is her study abroad program.  By graduating in three years, she never got to go overseas for a semester.  So we're doing that now (and I get to tag along!).

Second, and bigger reason is, we'll never choose to live overseas.  As tempting as it is, we have three great reasons to stay in the U.S. (Julia, Maddy, Torie).  There is no way we could leave for several years, maybe only seeing them once a year.

Third, travel is our passion, and this is a new way to experience it for us.  Typically when we go places, it is to spend a few days in a city, beach area, or mountain region, and then move on to the next place.  

This trip, we are immersing ourselves in a city and culture that we love for 30 days.  We are not using Barcelona as a spring-board to visit other European cities.  Yes, I've got some day-trips planned, but we plan to spend every night at our apartment, and these trips are still within the Barcelona region.

Fourth, we're maximizing the empty nest life.  All three of our daughters are launched, it's a non-election year (except for some elections), and hey, guess what -- there's Wifi in most places in the world (including here!).  So why stay home when we can live, even for just 30 days, some place else.

Why Barcelona 

Well, we had originally talked about London or Paris, but our last time in Spain (spring of 2018), we had an epiphany -- Barcelona!  Why?  Because we LOVE Spain.  This is Carol's sixth trip to Spain, and my fifth.  Every time we have truly adored the culture, the history, the architecture, the food, the wine.  Everything about Spain is incredible.

We came to Barcelona in August of 2009 for a few days.  It was great, but it was not peak-Barcelona.  It was hot/humid, many restaurants were closed, and we also believed that we had only scratched the surface of the city (well, to be fair, it's quite the surface that we scratched)!

So This Is Pretty Different, Huh?

Yup.  We are not renting a car.  Everything we do will be done by walking, taking the metro, a few trains, and maybe the occasional cab.  Some days we will do a lot, and other days we might just do one or two things.

Oh, don't worry, I've come prepared!  

We're always excited about our travels, and we are giddy about this one.  Come and join us on our journey for the next month!