Barcelona

Barcelona
Last night was our first of six “formal” dining experiences. We got dressed up [Tie & Jacket is accepted as “formal” now] and had dinner with a couple from Perth, Australia. Murray and Lynn have a horse ranch and stud facility there. Lynn’s Arabian Palomino is one of the most beautiful horses I’ve seen with a white, silky tail to the ground. Of interest to at least two of you, they also have a Shelty… pictures to follow. The food on the ship is exceptional. I am most taken by their cold soups. We had cold Rhubarb a couple of days ago and last night it was cold sour cherry. I followed that up with Beef Wellington while the rest of the table went for the lobster. I can’t believe I didn’t dine like this on the last cruise… of course I didn’t have appropriate pants.
We left the ship at 9AM and took the T3 bus to the Placa Portal de la Pau at the foot of Les [or Las] Ramblas. The plural of the word applies as every block or so it is considered a different “rambla” [from the Arabic for a dry river bed]. There are 5, maybe 6 different monikers. Barcelona is truly a walking city. It seemed that in just a few minutes we were at the Placa de Catalunya at the top of the Ramblas [1.2 miles]. For all practical purposes the shops were closed. They get a very late start here, as they stay open very late. Few restaurants open before 8PM. Victor Hugo and Garcia Lorca both sang the praises of La Rambla. The architecture is varied with highlights like the Casa Bruno Quadros by Josep Vilaseca near the Placa de la Boqueria. This Art Nouveau / Moderisme confection draws from the popular Japonisme influence with crests, geishas, parasols and Ukiyo e images. A great blue dragon protrudes from over the door and it hovers over an umbrella escaping from a Rene Magritte painting. WE walked one more block east to Placa d’Urquihaona for a sit-down. We then walked down Carrer de Trafalgar to the Modernisme Arc de Triomf, a red brick Modernisme monument decorated with bats, angels and allegorical figures. Southeast toward the sea we came to the City Park, which houses a Zoo, Modern Art Museum and geological and zoological museums. We walked SW to the 14th Century Cathedral of Barcelona. It is undergoing a facelift and the area was quite crowded. We then grabbed a cab to the “other” cathedral. I must say I was disappointed with La Sagrada Familia. It’s not as big and imposing as I had hoped. It is still absolutely magnificent in design and execution. The crowds were overbearing and we headed for the Bus Touristic. This is a great way to see the city. The lower level is enclosed and air-conditioned. The upper deck is open. The seats are as bad as Coach on United Airlines. They do provide an excellent recorded tour with free earbuds. How do people keep them in their ears? I’m deformed. They will not stay in there. If you wish to see and photograph everything go up top. Many of the seats below have limited visibility especially if you sit tall. The windows are also partially covered with that pointillistic screen advertising so photos suffer. There are long lines at the big tourist draws but everywhere else the on and off feature was great.
We rode up into L’Eixample and the West then down through Montjuic and back to the port. We saw the old Exposition site and the Olympic Stadium as well as the new Barca Stadium, Calatrava’s Radio Tower and the funicular [tram] that provides bird’s eye views of the mountain and port. We hoped back on the T3 and were back on the ship by 5PM. Craig and I went out later for a few hours using our “all-day” pass to take the green line out to the Forum and Diagonal del Mar, a 3-story shopping mall that sprawls over a couple of city blocks. We returned to the ship by 10:30PM and we were underway by 11PM.

Barcelona

We arrive in Barcelona on Tuesday, 11 August, at 7AM and we have 16 hours there. This is the longest port day we get on this cruise, but what better city to have that time in. We can have a leisurely breakfast onboard as we won’t have to co-ordinate with an excursion group. The temperature should be between 75f and 82f [20c-28c] and it is not likely to rain. Quite a few friends have visited Barcelona over the past few months and I have been given many suggestions and recommendations.
Barcelona is the capital and most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 [2008], while the population of the metropolitan area is twice that. We had planned to purchase [on-line beforehand] a one day tour-bus pass for each of us at 21 Euros each. The buses start running about 9-9:30AM from various locations. One recent suggestion was that sometimes these buses are very crowded and one must wait in line to board or wait for the next bus. They travel about 5 to 25 minutes apart depending on the time of day and season. One friend said it was fine, others said don’t bother. Perhaps more research is in order.
If we employ the bus we will board near either The World Trade Center [Pei, Coob, Freed & Partners: architects], or the “old” port [Port Vell, Moll de Barcelona ] it’s about a mile from the ship’s terminal to the city downtown [on the Blue route which runs along the waterfront from Port Olìmpic]. There are 3 routes [Red, Blue, and Green] they intersect at various spots. We can get on and off as often as we like. The full circuit of the Red and Blue Lines take about 2 hours each. The Green line is shorter at about 1/2 hour. We have several guide books and the bus-line gives you a multilingual tourist guide pamphlet. There are also multilingual speaker guides on each bus to point out attractions. When we decide what we want to see the most we can figure how much time to spend and when to get back on the bus. I believe that when we get on the Blue line at the WTC we will head west along the waterfront past the Port Olìmpic and then do a u-turn back toward the Barri Gòtic where we will switch to the Red line past the Casa Batlló to the Sagrada Família, then to Gaudí’s Parc Güell. We will then head over the top of the city down to Palau Relal and the Pavillions Güell to the Plaça Franceso Macià where we will switch to the Blue line and head down into Montjuïc and then back to the waterfront. Toward the end of the day we will try to find a good tapas bar near the port to enjoy a typical meal before getting back on the ship.
The most important site in Barcelona, in my not-so-humble opinion, is the unfinished Sagrada Familia [The Holy Family Cathedral] by Gaudí which has been under construction since 1882, and is still financed by private donations. As of 2007, completion is planned for 2026. It has been recommended that it would be wise to see it in the morning to avoid crowds. Another tip was to not bother going inside as there is little complete on the interior. The other big church is The La Seu Cathedral. It is in the Barri Gòtic [Gothic District]. Another point of interest we might try to explore is the site of 1992 Summer Olympics [Frank Gehry’s airy fish sculpture].
Of Barcelona's parks, Montjuïc is the largest, with just over 500 acres, located on the mountain of the same name. The Labyrinth Park (22.5 acres), named after the garden maze it contains.
Barcelona has a great number of museums, which cover different areas and eras. The National Museum of Art of Catalonia contains a well-known collection of Romanesque art while the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art focuses on post-1945 Catalan and Spanish art. The Fundació Joan Miró, Picasso Museum and Fundació Antoni Tàpies hold important collections of these world-renowned artists.
Several museums cover history and archeology, like the City History Museum, the Museum of the History of Catalonia, the Archaeology Museum of Catalonia, the Barcelona Maritime Museum and the private-owned Egyptian Museum. The Erotic museum of Barcelona is among the most peculiar ones, while Cosmocaixa is a science museum that received the European Museum of the Year Award in 2006.
The Barri Gòtic ("Gothic Quarter" in Catalan) is the centre of the old city of Barcelona. Many of the buildings date from medieval times, some from as far back as the Roman settlement of Barcelona. Catalan modernisme architecture (often known as Art Nouveau in the rest of Europe), developed between 1885 and 1950 and left an important legacy in Barcelona. A great number of these buildings are World Heritage Sites. Especially remarkable is the work of architect Antoni Gaudí, which can be seen throughout the city. Barcelona won the 1999 RIBA Royal Gold Medal for its architecture, the first (and as of 2007, only) time that the winner has been a city, and not an individual architect. There are many World Heritage Sites in Barcelona including the works of Lluís Domènech i Montaner, Palau de la Música Catalana [There is supposed to be quite a good tour of this facility] and Hospital de Sant Pau, included in the list in 1997. Gaudí’s work is also recognized by WHS including Park Güell, Palau Güell, Casa Milà, Casa Vicenç, Sagrada Família (Nativity façade and crypt), Casa Batlló, Crypt in Colonia Güell. The first three of these works were inscribed as World Heritage Sites in 1984. The other four were added as extensions to the site in 2005.
The most well-known public market [and a must-see recommendation] in the city is the Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria, or simply La Boqueria. Located along the La Rambla, Barcelona in the heart of the city, it is both a tourist attraction and a functioning food market. The market consists of a series of open sheds, built in 1853 under the direction of architect Mas Vila. Though the building dates from the 19th Century, a market has existed in the same location since the 12th Century. The Mercat de Sant Antoni is located in a triangule of Eixample blocks in between El Raval and Poble Sec, the Mercat de Sant Antoni is one of the larger markets in the city. It has been in operation since 1882. It is laid out in a Greek-cross style plan inset in a larger square.