Stunning Architecture of Barcelona

Like all visitors to Barcelona, I came excited and ready to visit the buildings of the most famous local architect, Antonio Gaudi.  However, I was delighted to discover these works by his contemporary, Lluis Domenich y Montaner, which are equally exciting and incredibly well crafted.

Right near our apartment, I found the Fundacio Antonio Tapies, which was originally built as a printing factory, but is now a museum of contemporary art, including the work of Tapies, who did the wire sculpture on the roof.  It's right around the corner from the Casa Batllo by Gaudi, which was in my last post.

I went on a guided tour of the Palau de Musica de Catalunya, which is Domenich's most famous building, and was totally blown away.  So much so that I got tickets to come back with Amy and our friend, Pudd, who has joined us here, to see a classical guitar concert later in the week.  We saw a guy named David Russell, who was born in Scotland and raised in Spain, and he's one of the foremost classical guitarists in the world.  His artistry totally blew us away.  Not to mention how exciting it was to sit in this theater at night and look around at all the beauty.

The main entry is now through a new addition, done within the last ten years.  They blew out the buildings across a small alley from the side wall of the theater to open up a plaza, and built a glass wall, seemingly suspended in front of the old facade of the building.  During the day, you mainly see the glass, but at night the old facade shines through.  Once inside, you get to this lovely cafe.

The balcony off the upstairs waiting room is one of the nicest, and most photographed, parts of the building.  Every tiled column is different, and it has the beautifully framed window at the end.

Then we got to go into the theater itself.  What can I say, but WOW.  One of the most beautifully spaces I've ever experienced.  Tile and sculpture everywhere, and the walls are all stained glass, as is the center of the ceiling.

I love having a zoom lens to let me really see some of the detail in a building like this.  This is the drop in the main skylight over the auditorium.  

I was so blown away by the Palau, that I made a special hike out to see this architect's largest project, the Hospital de St. Pau.  It's a complex of more than 20 buildings, which is still serving as a state of the art medical facility in a contemporary addition at one end of the site.  Most of the older buildings are now used as private offices, and some as a museum which visitors like me can tour.  You enter through the main administration building, which is at the opposite end of a long diagonal street from the Sagrada Familia church, which will be featured in my next post.

Passing through the main building, you enter a beautifully landscaped plaza, flanked by separate buildings for patients with different diseases.  All of these pavilions were designed as long narrow spaces with large windows on both sides for cross ventilation.  They're all clad in tile, and have lots of natural light.  They are connected by over a km of underground walkways so staff could get back and forth.

The detailing is again just amazing, with elaborate tile roofs and sculptural elements, stained glass, and beautiful brick work.

In the center is the surgical wing.  Each of the main surgical suites has large curving glass windows which face north to bring in natural light.  I wouldn't want to walk by through during a gory procedure!

This is the main stairway in the admin building.  I looked up in awe and the beautiful ceiling.

And finally, another interior view in the main building.  I just love the Modernista architecture from the turn of the last century.  It's creative, and full of artistry by a wide range of crafts people.  The imagination and joy is incredible.

And now for an architectural editorial comment, it saddens me that this joyful spirit was lost after the wars.  The majority of buildings in Barcelona, once you get out of the central area, are bland 10 story apartment or office slabs, both in good and bad neighborhoods, and they have no character.  The sense of street is lost in many areas, and the monotony is overwhelming.  I'm excited to see that in the past 15 years or so, there has been a resurgence of creative design - some in renovation, some in new construction, which has brought more dynamic buildings to the city, but none of those capture the joy and excitement of materials that i found in these older buildings.

Welcome to Barcelona

Welcome to Barcelona

Following our visit in Santiago, we flew to Barcelona, and arrived at our apartment, which we booked through Air-bnb.  What a place!  It's located on the Passeig de Gracia, one of the nicest boulevards in Barcelona, with all sorts of fancy shops and cafes.  We're right above Dolce and Gabbana, and Jimmy Choo shoes, where Amy keeps threatening to go buy some new pumps.  The ones in the window are only 1,200 euros!  Even more tempting, the Lladro store is around the corner!  I'm in BIG trouble.

It's just so nice to have a place of our own here, rather than staying in a hotel.  We were able to unpack, wash our clothes which were pretty nasty after a week of hiking, and cook many of our own meals.  Not to mention that we look out our window onto the boulevard, and directly across the street is the Casa Mila, also known as La Padrera, which is one of the most famous buildings by the architect Antonio Gaudi.

The whole neighborhood is full of "modernista" buildings, which were built around the start of the 20th century in a style which is the Catalan version of Arts and Crafts or Art Nouveau found in other cities in Europe.  This happens to be one of my absolute favorite periods for architecture, so walking around the neighborhood is a total delight.

I always love taking pictures of people looking out of windows or hanging on their balconies, and in this neighborhood, there are some great opportunities.

Another important Gaudi building, the Casa Batllo, is located around 3 blocks down the street, so it was the first one I was able to tour.

The building is a real candy land of a house.  It's like being in a dream, with powder blue light wells, organic curves, and visual delights all around.  It was packed with visitors, but well worth it.  It also sits on a block with many other notable modernista homes.

The craftsmanship and artistry blew me away.  I've since discovered that this is true in so many of the buildings from this era.

And you get to go up on the roof and see the wonderful community of tile clad chimneys that frame views of the city.

Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela

As we approached the plaza at the end of our hike, we were met on the final stairway by this bagpiper.  Turns out the bagpipe is an important part of traditional Galician music, so perhaps there's some relation to Scotland and Ireland.  Who knows.

Here's our hotel (yeah, a modest little spot), located on the same plaza as the Cathedral.

We were so lucky to be able to stay at the beautiful Parador de los Reyes Catolicos, an old hospital that was converted into a hotel and run by the government.  There are paradors all over Spain in important historic structures.  Ours was amazing, and so welcome after our days on the road.

Another view of one of the inner courtyards, which date back to the 1400's.

As a final celebration before sending the kids on their way to Croatia for the next leg of their vacation, we treated ourselves to an amazing dinner in the fine dining room of the hotel.  It was delicious, with great food, wine, and service.

On the way into town, I noticed a striking modern building up on a hillside, and recognized it as Peter Eisenman's center for Galician Culture.  I took a cab up the next morning, and explored the site, which was fascinating, and very unusual.  It took me until i was looking at the photos to realize that this red play structure is a whale, with his head and tail popping out of the pavement.  The complex includes a museum of Galician history, the main library and archives, and an incubator space for promoting new businesses, arts, and technologies.  It was the winner of a design competition held back in 1999, and i got to see models and drawings of all of the entries.  The next phase, a large theater, is now under construction in between the original wings.

The interior of the library was really dramatic.  I thought it seemed a lot of space for not that many materials or seats, but then when visiting the interior of the Cathedral, i realized that this was the same characteristic that made it so inspiring.

The view from our hotel terrace down into more of the historic town.  Beautiful.

This chapel was also at the end of the ramp that went down from the front of the hotel.

And here we are, getting blessed at the pilgrim's mass at noon in the Cathedral.  They acknowledged the countries of all of the Perigrinos who checked in at the official office at the end of the Camino, so we were pleased to be amongst those from the Estados Unidos.

The End of the Road

The End of the Road

We met a lot of great people along the way, and one of the cool things is that we would run into them every day along the path.  This is Laura, a nurse from Vancouver, Washington.  We met leaving Melide, and bumped into each other again on the trail out of Arzua.

There were more people along the trail in the later days too.  Part of this group are Elon and Sara from Australia, our fellow Jews on the trail.  We all sang Hava Negila together as were were walking along, and it was pretty funny.

Just liked this photo!

Of course, not all of the hikers are human.  We all had to pull aside at this cafe to let this crew pass

After the hottest day, we were so glad to reach our stop in Rua, where the inn had

a swimming pool.  The water was freezing and fantastic.  Here we are, ready to embark on our sixth and final day of hiking

Once again, the path led through beautiful forests, farmland, rolling (and not so rolling) hills, and finally into the city of Santiago de Compostela.

Little did we know that that last part through the city would seem to take forever, and others we met commented on the same thing.  But we made it, and soon arrived at our final stopping point, the square in front of the cathedral.  A welcome and amazing sight.

Standing in the center of the plaza, with tourists and fellow peregrinos, gazing at the historic cathedral.  People have been walking here since the 11th century, and we've now joined the ranks.  Way to go Family!!

The Road Goes On . . .

The Road Goes On - More from the Camino

Here we are, leaving the town of Melide, heading out on the next day of our adventure.  The weather got very hot.  The morning fog left us at this point in the trail, so by mid-afternoon, it was blazing.  Hit 102 degrees one day.  This made the afternoon parts of the walk more difficult, but we managed, with lots of water and family support.

You meet a lot of interesting people along the way, and this guy was a real surprise!  We could hear the flute playing for quite a ways, and then arrived to find a donkey holding fort over a Camino passport stamping station (the stamp even has the donkey's photo on it!) and then we happened upon the owner in his tent, playing away.  What a welcome treat.

Here's one of the few unposed shots I was able to get the whole time of Bennett, being a sport, and carrying 2 packs for part of the walk.

Of course, we had other kinds of visitors along the way too.  This dude was quite the lord of his herd.

We were stunned and delighted to arrive at our hotel for the night, the Pazo Santa Maria, after a long final uphill slog through the town of Arzua.  It was stunning!  Our room was huge, with chestnut beam ceilings going back to 1711 (although pretty much fully rebuilt around 10 years ago).  We had lovely wine and snacks on the patio, and a delicious dinner in the restaurant.  What a treat.  Nicest lodgings we had on this part of the trip, and the staff could not have been nicer, nor the shower more welcome!

The view from our window out over the countryside was also magnificent.

On the Camino

Buen Camino!

Here is a post for days 2 and 3 of our walk on the Camino.  The second day began in the lovely town of Portomarin.  They had a festival the night we were there, so we had a tough time sleeping with fireworks and music that lasted all through the night.  But our hotel had a pool, which was a miracle after our long day of walking.

The morning was foggy, which was a real blessing, as the afternoon sun gets really hot on the trail.

We got of to an early start, got our passports stamped at the church, and then headed off on the Camino.  Everyone you pass along the way wishes you Buen Camino.

We've met people from all over the world.  We stayed at a beautiful, very contemporary rural inn the second night, and had dinner there with peregrinos from Germany and Argentina, and another couple from Holland who have bicycled the entire Camino Frances.

Here we are, bright and refreshed as we began day 3.

Along the way, you stop into the churches and cafes to get stamps on the official Perigrino passport.  This was one of the largest churches we've seen, in the town of Palas de Rei.

At a rest stop, we met and sang songs with Peter, who comes from Germany.  Over the course of three separate trips, he has hiked from Nurenburg, Germany!  What a sweet man.  He only does a short way each day, but he is so happy to be here.

Our second sunflower field was no less magical than the first.  We met an older Spanish hiker from Pamplona who explained that they are raised for biofuel, along with much of the corn we've seen along the way.

Crossing this bridge, we arrived at Melide, our stop for the night.  This town is famous for it's pulperias, or octopus restaurants.  However, after a full day of walking, that's not the tastiest sounding dinner, at least for this humble blogger.   But Amy's already tasted the fresh churros, and highly recommends them.

On the Road Again!

Today we began our Camino, which is called the Camino Frances - it originates in St. Jean Pied de Port, France, and ends in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.  Our route covers the last 100 or so km, and we began hiking early this morning in the town of Sarria.

The first portion of the hike led us through the town, across a bridge, past railroad tracks, and up a fairly substantial grade, ending in a stunning field of sunflowers.

The morning fog lasted until around 11am, which was a real blessing, as, once the sun came out, it got quite hot.

There were a lot of hikers, but we also had a lot of times when we didn't see anybody.  The locals we met along the way were so hospitable, especially this older hombre, who came out to hug us and wish us a buen camino.

The path wound through beautiful scenery, with forests, fertile farmland, with stone walls, farmhouses, and villages.  Along the way, we got our camino passports stamped at various albergues and churches.

We spent the last several hours hiking with Ruben, an electronics engineering student from Madrid.  He didn't know much English, so we did our best with our limited Spanish.  What a nice guy.  At one point, we passed a farm, where the family had a table of drinks and snacks set up for all of the Perigrinos, which is what the pilgrimage hikers are known as.  Delicious fruit, and they insisted we try their homemade tortilla (which in Spain is a potato and onion omelette), and fill our water bottles.

We ended, sore and tired, in the beautiful hill town of Portomarin.  I guess our Marin vibe follows us around the world.

We owe a real special thanks today to our great travel agent, Karie Whitman, who, along with the local agency Tee Travel, helped locate Amy's suitcase which never made it here from Bilbao in time for us to start our hike, and had it brought to us by cab along our route.  They also arranged a well-organized trip, with lovely lodgings, which means a lot after long days of hiking.

Now, thanks to the miracle of modern technology, we're listening to John Miller call the giants/cubs game, and just heard Hunter Pence's home run!  We get an early start tomorrow to begin the next step of our journey.