Today is Saturday, September 16, 2023. We are in Barcelona, Spain, capital of Catalonia. We rode the orange and green lines of the Barcelona City Tour Bus, I.e., the Hop-on Hop-off bus.
We saw so many city highlights today, and we were able to take some beautiful pictures of the exterior of Sagrada Familia Church. Recall that yesterday we did get beautiful photos of the interior and exterior, but we could not physically linger because of the sometimes heavy rain.
We also captured some impressive cityscape photos from NMNCA, the National Museum of National Catalonian Art. It was eye-opening to see just how the Sagrada Familia juts out of the flatter environs!. I guess this would be a deliberate objective for Gaudi because the greatest of earth, God, should also be the tallest.
We saw the Casa Mila (Pedreira) and the Casa Botllo, both works of Antoni Gaudi. I love his modernist work as demonstrated in these house designs, and I didn’t know this guy before being introduced to his legacy in Barcelona. The influence and contributions of Gaudi to the Barcelona we see today are stunning! That he was left in the street for an indigen dead for two days, unrecognized for who he was, brought to the poorest hospital in town at the time, where he died two days later…is an incredible tale. He was recognized after that, however, and buried in his masterpiece work of art, the Sagrada Familia.
We saw the Gloriest Tower, the Golden Fish, the Olympic area, the cable cars over the harbor and on Mount Juic, the “sandy” beach (sand was imported from Egypt in time for the Olympic Games), and the beautiful blue Mediterranean that made its appearance once again! (I have missed it). We saw the wealthy, artsy part of town, some apartments growing their own olive tree in a small patio flower bed…. We saw the historic old town, and the part of the city where the common folks live.
Finally, recall that our journey began with a protest in Athens. This evening, all passengers were told to leave the HoHo Bus about one mile early because of a protest where the bus was supposed to stop! As we approached the Placa Catalunya, the official end point, we saw the peaceful protest, with some participants in red cloaks of Roman times, some people with helmets as in Roman times,…. Not 100% sure what the protest was about, but some of the signs suggest leafiness about vaccines, the COVID vaccine, and…?
Several large cruise ships were docked in the Harbor when we passed by. Additionally, this is a weekend. Thus, there were people everywhere! Funny, I want to say, People, too many of you here at once! Go away—as if I were a grumpy-but-grateful resident of Barcelona after having been here only two days! So difficult to get around and not lose one another today…. Then, I recall the crumpled flag in an Old City window yesterday that said in Catalan, Get out of my city! The Locals, while grateful for tourists to buoy their economy, simultaneously resent the imposition such crowds cause, making traffic impossible, making it almost unbearable to walk about in their city’s tree-lined streets, making going to your favorite restaurant a tedious and lengthy process, and so on. We did see a new living statue on Las Rambla on our hustle to dinner tonight, I.e., Spider Man! We could not linger, but he appeared to have been a contortionist.
It continues to be hot and humid here, prob because we are within walking distance of the Sea. Nevertheless, it also continues to be a most memorable trip for us!
Tomorrow is Sunday. We will attend Mass at the Barcelona Cathedral, a short, eight-minute walk from our hotel.
Our Travels 