Five Days in Barceloní/Barcelona/Barcelone

The View Down La Rambla

Barcelona is the geographic and cultural heart of Catalonia.  I didn’t know this though until arriving in Barcelona on the 24^th of November.  I certainly never realized how prevalent Catalan was in Northern Spain.  Catalan is the largest language on signs, waiters speak in Catalan, and schools are taught in Catalan.  In the past, Catalan was banned in schools and was supposed to be eradicated.  The Catalan cultural resurgence started in 1874 and has been gaining energy since then.  In 1979 Catalan became the co-official language with Spanish in Catalonia. 

The Spanish Arc de Triomf

Despite an apparent similarity to Spanish, Catalan is an entirely different language, not just a dialect.  The Catalan kingdom developed in the Middle Ages as the predominant part of the Crown of Aragon, with Catalan being the language spoken in southern France and northern Spain.  The power of Catalonia began to wane with the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand and their focus on reconquering Andalusia.  I can only snatch snippets of Catalan conversations—the general meaning of discussions eludes me.  It was quite a shock to be suddenly immersed again in an incomprehensible language.  Fortunately, everyone also speaks Spanish. 

The compact city center of Barcelona gives the impression of a small university town where something is always happening.  The medieval city and La Rambla* are thronged with tourists and locals at all times of the day and night.  However, Barcelona has not been a small, contained town since its birth as a Roman garrison.  The population of Barcelona has been growing steadily since then, now the city has swelled to

The Mercado Off La Ramble

1,621,537 people and covers an area of 101.4 km².  My mother was shocked to discover that she was actually enjoying the sixth largest city in Europe. 

I love seeing how fashion changes with the borders.  In France, the clothes tend to be dark and somber; the jackets are usually black; and the scarf becomes the only splash of colour in the whole ensemble.  In Barcelona, the colours suddenly became vibrant and bright.  Black is still the predominant colour in a crowd, but suddenly the trend for women’s jackets have become colorful and whimsical.  Desigual, a Spanish brand, have been successfully been promoting their brocade, coloured jackets.  Their jackets have splashes of colour across the shoulders and bright colours woven through the hem. 

Desigual Jacket

Each design is art.  Each jacket is expensive though, so I would have though that few would buy them.  Nevertheless, everyone seems to be wearing these jackets.  I think that colorful clothes increase as one travels south.  However, everyone in Europe wears jeans, not the black pants that all the European dressing guides describe for tourists. 

The metro connects every part of Barcelona.  The trains are fast, relatively clean, and tourist friendly.  There are panels in the train the show the next stops and the route with bright lights.  We were staying near the Sagrada Familia, so we took the metro from our apartment into el centro each day.  Initially, the maze of passages that connect the different train lines were confusing and we got lost as we missed the correct signage indicating our train.  By the time we left however, we had become very familiar with our train route and the complex tunnels that connect the train lines.  I like to think that we were indistinguishable from the locals, except for our Keens, sensible clothes, and touristic map. 

Vegetable Coca From Orígens

Our quest for new food is perpetual.  Tapas, specialty Catalan food, Spanish cheese, and paella were on our culinary agenda for Barcelona.  Quite by accident, we found an amazing tapas restaurant a short walk off La Rambla.  Eating tapas is like ordering a whole dinner of appetizers, which is perfect for our family since we always want to taste each dish on the menu.  We ordered small peppers fried in salt and oil, which were just slightly spicy; fried small fish, shrimp in olive oil, tomato bread, and many other, artfully prepared delightful dishes.  Unfortunately, this is the one time no one brought a camera to dinner. 

Traditional Catalan Almond Cake

The next day we went to a Catalan restaurant called Orígens.  There, we learned about “Coca”—a thick, light bread garnished with either vegetables or meat.  We ordered one that was covered in peppers, onions, eggplant, and a tomato paste.  My mum ate a stuffed eggplant, while I drooled over a zucchini and codfish confection that I can’t describe.  Georgie feasted on wild mushroom and truffle soup.  Then, once we had sufficiently tasted each dish, we traded plates to sample everything. 

The menu was also amazing.  Each dish had a short summary on where in Spain it had originated, where the ingredients had been domesticated, and how they had come to Spain.  This meal ranks with some of the best food I have eaten this fall. 

Chocolate Stand in the Mercado

Three years ago we took an extensive holiday in Mexico and I noticed Spanish influences throughout the culture and country.  So, in Spain, I watched to see if there was cultural contamination the other direction.  Did the conquered influence the conquerors?  Apparently, they did.  A Catalan tradition is to have a small snack at about six o’clock—to tide them over until dinner at ten.  The traditional drink is hot chocolate (so thick it could be classed as pudding) with a variety of spices and very little sugar.  Chocolate, of course, comes from Mexico and South America.  Furthermore, spicy foods and peppers are a large component of traditional Spanish cuisine—also from Mexico. 

The Foyer of a Gaudi House

Gaudi is a late nineteenth century Spanish architect famous for his curved lines, whimsical Hansel and Gretel houses, and brightly coloured mosaics.  To some, Gaudi was a genius.  Or, as a guy told us on the bus, he was completely “loco”.  No matter his psychological state, he created brilliant avant garde architecture – 100 years ago – that still attracts tourists and artists alike.  He was also very religious and regarded his work on the Sagrada Familia to have the utmost importance.  Apparently, during the Popes 2010 visit to the Sagrada Familia, he proclaimed it a minor basilica and also canonized Gaudi.   

The Sagrada Familia

We were standing in the cavernous, airy nave of the Sagrada Familia.  Like a forest, the columns of basalt, marble, and granite rose to the vast ceiling.  The girth of the pillars was wider than most trees and their branching form supported many areas of the ceiling. The recently proclaimed basilica can hold up to 13,000 people, so the steady stream of tourists barely made an impression on the echoing space. 

Work on the Sagrada Familia began in 1882 and has a projected completion in 2026. This date continues to change as the giant project continues to run into funding issues.  The 2009 budget was 18 million€, funded entirely by tourist tickets and private donations.

Branching Columns in the Sagrada Familia

The revenue from the tourists must be copious, 12 € per person, so we can’t figure out why they would ever want to complete the church and lose this revenue.  I also can’t imagine the spacious church ever being filled in this modern secular era—the whole time we were inside only one person sat in the section reserved for prayer. 

We learned in an exposition that Gaudi was inspired by the natural world around him.  He tried to emulate the feeling of a forest and trees with the columns in the Sagrada Familia.  About halfway up the pillars there are jagged depressions that are intended to resemble pruning scars on a plane tree.  The capitals on the columns resemble foliage.  The geometrical forms of the towers are taken from the twinned form of pyrite crystals.  Gaudi looked for patterns, geometrical shapes, and structural forms in the natural world and he replicated them in his architecture.  Mostly, he invented the techniques used to replicate them, techniques which are still novel in modern architecture. 

Pruning Scars and Foliage

Usually churches are dark, but the Sagrada Familia is filled with light.  The windows that line the nave have a hyperbolic structure that magnify the light and create a space full of an airy sense of sacredness.  For Gaudi, architecture was not just about the meeting of math and art, but also was an intense study of how the world is organized.  This love and respect for nature is reflected and amplified in all of Gaudi’s creations—and Barcelona has many homes, museums, and parks showing off his work. 

It's Bigger Than It Looks

There is a street musician’s guild in Barcelona.  Consequently, musicians play in every square and melodies ricochet through the Barcelona’s historic quarter.  The maze like streets creates wonderful acoustics; usually you can hear the harpist or opera singer before you see them.  My dad and I also wanted to play some fiddle on the streets, but we were warned that we could be fined and put in jail if we were caught without a permit.  So we didn’t play. 

If we were not careful, we could have missed one of the oldest synagogues in Europe.  It was first built in the third century CE, but the records are not clear if it was used for religious purposes at that time.  The records first show irrefutable proof that the building was used as a synagogue in the thirteenth century, but the usage in the time between the two dates is lost.  The synagogue was used solidly until 1492, when the “Edict of Expulsion” was executed and all the Jews were forced to flee, die, or convert.  Later, it was used publicly as a dyeing shop, but was secretly used for prayer.  This lasted for 11 years before the owners and organizers were caught and killed.  Then the synagogue was forgotten about until after WWII.  A historian discovered its existence in some city records and began searching its whereabouts by recreating the route of a 13^th century tax collector that ended in the synagogue.

The Inscription Above the Synagogue Door

The synagogue was rediscovered in 1987.  The synagogue now appears to be a small innocuous basement room, but this is only because the street level has risen from nearly a millennium of accumulated dirt.  Through a complicated set of plot twists, a Jewish Association bought the building in 1995.  Now it is half museum and half synagogue, but no regular services are held there. It is sad to me that such a historically important building is only used for tourists. 

Our guide in the synagogue, Matan (from Israel originally), was wearing a T-shirt showing various musical instruments.  My mother, always looking for musical opportunities for us, queried if he was a musician.  It turned out that Matan plays percussion and drums and he was thrilled to discover that we played violin.  We arranged to meet later that day and jam together—two violins and percussion.  I was happy at the opportunity to play, but confused at how we would create music with no guitar, and thus no chord structure. 

The jam was fantastic.  Since there was no guitar, Matan set the groove and feel, and my father and I improvised a melody overtop.  I did my best to stay out of their way, while my dad composed spectacular melodies with complex syncopation.  I learned about rhythm and decided I need to practice.  A lot. 

* La Rambla is the walking street at the heart of touristy Barcelona.  It leads from Plaça Catalonia to the sea and borders the old city of Barcelona.  The street is lined with vendors, mimes, and pickpockets.  A quintessential Barcelonan experience, once you realize most of the people meandering along are locals.