bCN

11 May 2013 - 16 May 2013

A grand, old City by the sea - Barcelona is the only European city to where I have returned.  I LOVE this place.  What, exactly, it is... I can't rightly say.  But for some reason (though maybe not for only a single one!) I am completely captivated by the City.  Not only was that sentiment reaffirmed this time, but whilst here during the opposite end of the calendar it was reinforced.  

Barcelona cityscape and the Mediterranean in the background, from atop Park Guell -
quite literally one of my favorite parks in the world. 

Mostly underground and particularly old (even for this part of the city), La Oveja Negra is a super fun and lively hangout, despite its location in a back-alley spot of an already antiquated district.  This place boasts at least two amazing drink specials: a mighty house drink called 'Panthers Milk', and 5-gal fountains of wine for your party.  Barrio Gotic, Barcelona, Spain. 

No joke - the resident kitty at the hostel tucks herself in with the curtain, and naps all day here by the window and wood-burning stove (winter only).  I don't usually plug specific businesss, but I'll shout out here to one of my fave spots to stay at in this grand old city, and, frankly, in the whole world: Hostal Malda, Barrio Gotic, Barcelona. 

I had to throw this one in here...and then only after some research.   To us bilingual latinos, this seemed at first like some pretty overtly racist signage for "barber shop" (though possibly it could have been a play on words by a savvy Asian business owner, here), since we spell it "peluqueria".  But apparently, this is just how they spell and say it in Catalan! 

Placa d'Espana with the Museo Nacional d'Art de Catalunya on the hilltop behind.  Barcelona, Spain.

A very awesome home-cooked meal, a la Hermano y Amigos.  So grateful for the very amazing friends & family I get to be around and spend time with at home and abroad! Chez Barbara, Barcelona, Spain. 

Basilica de la Sagrada Familia - 

Yes, you'll read and see everywhere: it's a marvel of design, engineering, and craftsmanship, etc.  Readers of this blog would know that I particularly appreciate sacred spaces and places of worship and reverence.  While I was once in Barcelona before, this trip was the first time I finally went inside the Basilica.  

Now I can confirm - it is hands-down one of the coolest structures I've ever been inside of!  

Gaudi's structural design - images and elements of which I tried to capture - evokes an open, airy outdoor grove of enormous stolid trees and concentric, radial forms throughout.  At the same time, two other artists across the decades have been charged with the details housed without, upon, and within the superstructure; I tried to capture some of that, too.  Remember, also, that this Cathedral's construction has survived two world wars, fascist dictator, and a turbulent series of economic fluctuations across its nearly 130 years of development.

Overall, I snapped lots and lots of photos of the Basilica, and selected just a few (proportionally) to share here, as well as some info I picked up.  

Cousins posing in front of the towering Torre de Naixement of the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, and already we were about 9 stories up...

...while here I was at the bottom of the same tower, and looking up.  

Stained glass windows on the left, with colors like a rising sun.  Interior central entrance of the Basilica on the right, looking like an old-growth forest with sunlight streaming through the trunks.

 

Another view through the 'forest' - from the Oceania Pillars (see below) - and down the main aisle towards the central altar of the Holy Trinity.  Taken with flash!  Basilica de la Familia Sagrada.

Green filtered light streaming through the glass into the interior.  It's not typical I use a filter... but the new camera has a whole set of features that was especially fun to experiment with here.  Inside Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain. 

This one was pretty cool - detail of an alcove and statue of St. Joseph above the North entrance to the Basilica - and if I recall,  taken with #nofilter!  Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain. 

Shot of an interior rear gallery of the Basilica.  The colors from the sunlight through glass, and the lines of the cieling and mosaic throughout were magnificent.  Basilica de la Sagrada Familia. 

Through the 'trees' and up towards the 'canopy', the entire structure is an incredible achievement of ingenuity and technical skill, begun in an age before the Titanic sailed - and whose construction still continues today!  It was a time when building any structure over a dozen stories tall was a nigh impossible task.  At the point of design and early construction King Alfonso XII ruled in Spain, Grover Cleveland was President of the United States., Queen Victoria was monarch of the United Kingdom, and Pope Blessed Pius IX held the Papcy in Rome.  The computer was nowhere on anyone's radar when construction began - and the only thought of reaching the heavens came from communion with God... 

.. and when hand-calculated plans and scale physical models were the primary engineering tools for this mind-boggling structure.  This,  an inverted rope-and-sandbag model of the interior spires, was used to  evaluate the integrity of the design for the Basilica's roof.  Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain.  

Here, some drawings of the Basilica from design documents throughout it's construction. On the left, a hand-drawing of the intentional symbolism of the main columns and spaces in and around the Basilica; frankly, a rather intricate characterization of the mythology of Church and much of the related politics endemic to Spain. On the right, an early computer model of the past and predictive progress of Basilica across its over 120 years of constriction.  

Less grand, but no less important to the overall majesty of the Basilica, here are is an example of the care applied to the details.  A a statue drawing (left) and the same artists' style applied to the actual statues themselves (right).  

More example of exterior statuary in that cold, angular, greco-esque style of the sculptor.  Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain. 

In the midst of a barrage of (presumably) lines of scripture, the artist here decided to highlight some key questions, including: What is the Truth?  Door to the main South entrance, Basilica de la Familia Sagrada, Barcelona, Spain.

Very early side-view drawing of the Basilica by Gaudi once he had taken over the project in the role of primary Cathedral designer.  Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain.   

More Gaudi - and an iconic Barcelona image - in series of mosaic-encrusted benches along the outer edge of an elevated square inside his custom-designed Parc Guell, Barcelona, Spain.

Off of Gaudi now, and to an older part of Barcelona - here the Port building in Port Veill.   Last time i was here I snapped a shot of some of the detailing of a portion of the building, and that at night; so here it is in it's full splendor, as Colombus may have seen it whilst sailing away towards the Americas, from slightly afar.  Port Building, Barcelona, Spain. 

Finally, an even older spot - Barcelona Cathedral.  Here - in a very fun night shot to capture with the new camera - stands my patient cousin, with the haunting front entrance looming over her shoulder.  Barcelona Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain. 

Up next - the ride to Florence and on into Italy!! 

The photos laid out heretofore are taken with a Sony Cybershot DSC-HX30V 

 
These works by Tim Paez are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License