BARCELONA 2014
The Barcelona Adventure Early in 2014, the Rowes and the Ellefsons started talking about a trip to Barcelona. The dream became a reality in October 2014. For Jane, this would be the 40th anniversary of her year living there. For Jan it was a return to a city she had visited only briefly. For Bill and Tom it was a completely new experience. For all of us it was a delightful trip that included a good mix of certain must-see attractions and great visits with Jane’s friends from 40 years ago.
BARCELONA 2014
BARCELONA 2014
BARCELONA 2014
BARCELONA 2014
BARCELONA 2014
BARCELONA, SPAIN October 22 - November 5, 2014 Wednesday 10-22: Arrived in Barcelona, checked in to Le Meridien hotel on Las Ramblas, walked down Las Ramblas to La Boquería market and grabbed a seat at El Pinotxo for some tapas. Golondrina excursion around the port area and on to the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas where Jane taught. An evening stroll to the Plaza Reial for sherry and olives, then dinner. Thursday 10-23: La Sagrada Familia, lunch at Carmen’s place on Plaza Sagrada Familia; El Trabucaire. Friday 10-24: Montjuic - Museum of Catalan Art; Pueblo Español; Olympic stadium and pool. Saturday 10-25: Montserrat and Tarragona with Arturo and Paloma Sunday 10-26: Gothic Quarter; Cathedral - Lauds, cloister, sardana; breakfast at Milk; Plaza del Rei where Ferdinand and Isabella received Columbus; guitar concert at Santa María del Pi. Monday 10-27: La Example and Modernist architecture; Casa Batlló; dinner at Los Caracoles. Tuesday 10-28: Picasso Museum; El Born district; Santa Maria del Mar church; met Arturo at El Born center, Roman ruins, Central Borne Arqués and wine shop; lunch with Arturo, Paloma, Paulina and Marta at Cosmo Caixa Museo de Ciencias (catered by Arturo’s firm); Parc Güell at dusk; dinner at Pilar’s house. Wednesday 10-29: Churros and chocolate at Granja La Pallaresa; tour of Palau de Música Catalana; tour of Gaudi’s home and studio; shared a magnum of wine compliments of Arturo and Paloma’s 25th anniversary; Manuel Gonzalez guitar concert at Palau de Música Catalana.
Thursday 10-30: Tom and Jan depart Barcelona; Museo de Arte Catalana; Caixa Forum - Small Treasures from the Prado Museum, Genesis - photos by Sebastiao Salgado; waited and waited for Montjuic fountains, which never materialized. Friday 10-31: La Boquería; El Raval area; courtyard of Els Infants Orfes orphanage; Paloma picked us up to go to Cadaqués. Stayed at Hotel Tarongeta; had wonderful fish stew at a restaurant along the beach. Saturday 11-1: Castañas along the waterfront; Dalí’s home and studio in Port Lligat; Dalí Museum in Figureres; return to the Arqués home in Bonanova, Barcelona. Sunday 11-2: Monasterio de Pedralbes; Xavier and Gloria - seafood in Barceloneta, La Vila Olímpica de Poblenou; Tibidabo; tortilla española cooking lesson with Paloma in her kitchen. Monday 11-3: El Raval; Museo Marítimo; back to El Born area; Basque pintxo bar; dinner with the Arqués family and Paulina. Paloma prepared a delicious typical Catalan Christmas meal Escudella i carn d’olla (broth with stewed meats) and with the broth she made a rich soup with pasta shells. Jane taught Paloma how to make Grandma Touby’s Apple Crisp and Paloma served that for dessert… with candles for Jane’s birthday! Tuesday 11-4: Tour of Hospital Sant Pau; walked back to Sagrada Familia and around Jane’s old neighborhood and Carrer Sardenya; went to Carmen’s and then met Pilar; went to Taktika Berri, a Basque tapas bar, where we had pintxos and montaditos with Txakoli, a white Basque wine. Wednesday 11-5: walked to Sarriá and explored the village; Sant Gervasi church; bought a chocolate raspberry cake at Foix de Sarriá; took the Arqués family out for a final dinner and came back for cake and cava champagne. Thursday 11-6: Departed for USA
Tapas at Pinotxo Bar in the Sant Josep BoquerĂa Market
Golondrina excursion: Barcelona port
Barcelona port: statue of Columbus
Isabella receiving Columbus on his return to Barcelona, base of statue of Columbus
“Cabezudo” shop near Plaça Reial
Bar at the Escuela Oficial
Escuela Official de Idiomas where Jane taught in 1973-74
Santa Maria del Pi (Saint Mary of the Pine) Catalan Gothic church built 1319-1391.
Plaรงa del Pi
Plaรงa Reial
La Sagrada Familia
View from Carmen’s bacony
Pilar Sturla
Jane, Pilar and Carmen
Portrait of Moisés Cadierno, Carmen’s brother
Carman’s pepper plant!
Jan, Carmen, Pilar and Jane (the girls!)
Montjuic: Pueblo Espa単ol, Museum of Catalan Art, Olympic pool and stadium
Las Ramblas: Canaletas water fountain
A day in Montserrat
La Sardana
Paella
Roman ruins in Tarragona
Castellers: human towers
Cloister of the Cathedral
Lauds before Mass on Sunday morning
Sardana in front of the Cathedral
Plaรงa del Rei where Columbus was greeted by Ferdinand and Isabela
Picasso hung out here as a young artist
Guitarist Luis Robisco
Gaudí’s Casa Battló in La Eixample
Ram贸n Bofarull
Then and now: Bofarull signatures from 1974 and from 2014
Los Caracoles Restaurant
Santa Maria del Mar
El Born
Cosmo Caixa for “la comida” with Marta (Arturo’s sister), Paloma, Bill, Jane, Paulina (Arturo’s mother) , Tom, Jan and Arturo
Parc G端ell at dusk
Arturo standing in the same spot as his father in the photo below
Escola wine and spirits shop
Fransesc Escola
Arturo with his two English teachers, Jane and Pilar
Tom and Jan
Granja La Pallaresa, Carrer Petrixol: Breakfast
Churros y chocolate
“La cena” with Pilar and Carmen
Palau de la Música Catalana
Gaudí’s home and studio
Els Infants Orfes courtyard
Barcelona from Montjuic
Barcelona: Sagrada Familia in the distance
Cadaqués
Dalí’s home, Port Lligat
Salvador Dalí’s home and studio
Cadaqués
Dalí’s home - Port Lligat
Arturo and Paloma
The ArquĂŠs family: David, Paloma, Ignacio, Arturo and Arturo
El Monasterio de Pedralbes
The ArquĂŠs home
Olympic Stadium (1992 Olympics)
Barceloneta
The church of Pedralbes
Tibidabo
With Gloria and Xavier Tomรกs at El Tunel del Mar restaurant
The ArquĂŠs family: Paloma, Ignacio, Arturo, David and Arturo
Maritime Museum
Basque tapas bar
A typical Catalan Christmas meal
Paulina Arqués
Escudella i carn d’olla
Apple crisp for Jane’s 64th birthday!
Hospital Sant Pau (1905-1930) designed by Domenich i Montaner
El Trabucaire Bar
Calle Cerdeña / Carrer de Sardenya
Carmen, Jane, Pilar and Bill on Jane’s 64th
Pintxos with Txakoli, a white Basque wine
271 C. Sardenya, Jane’s apartment: 2nd floor
Carmen Cadierno
Basque tapas bar: Taktika Berri
A quiet street in Sarriรก
Our last night with the ArquĂŠs familyy
Bill and Jane
Arturo and Paloma
Arturo and Ignacio
Jane, Bill and David
Fresh seafood at La Boquería market
Café cortado with panellet
Seafood platter at Los Caracoles
Tortilla española
Escudella i carn d’olla
Paella
Basque pintxos
Churros y chocolate
Grilled artichokes in a typical paper cone
Chocolate raspberry cake from Foix de Sarriá
FOOD Each morning we looked forward to café con leche or churros y chocolate! The seafood in Barcelona was amazing. We tried a variety of tapas, and were treated to wonderful meals in the homes of Carmen, Pilar, and Arturo and Paloma.
Plaça Reial, mid 19th century arcaded plaza
Hospital Sant Pau
Casa Batlló
Plaça del Rei
Roman ruins in Tarragona
Courtyard in the Gothic Quarter
Roman aqueduct near Tarragona
Palau de la Música Catalana
Port Lligat (near Cadaqués)
Art Deco building on the Ramblas
Gaudí’s home
ARCHITECTURE We saw the gamut: Roman ruins, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Italianate, Art Nouveau, Modernist, Art Deco, Coastal Mediterranean, and very contemporary structures.
Montserrat
Montserrat
Tarragona
Cadaqués
Barceloneta
Port Lligat near Cadaqués
View of Barcelona from Montjuic
Port of Barcelona
Sagrada Familia in the distance
View of Barcelona from Parc Güell
Tarragona
GEOGRAPHY Barcelona on the Mediterranean in northeastern Spain… we traveled by bus, metro, taxi, aerial cable car, boat, and on foot. Our home base was the Hotel Le Meridien on Las Ramblas and later Bonanova at the Arqués home. Excursions to Montserrat, Tarragona, Cadaqués and Figueres.
“La Tuna” minstrels: Los Caracoles restaurant
Arturo and Ignacio cast their ballots
ARTS & POLITICS OF CATALUNYA In the days leading up to the November 9 vote to garner public opinion, banners were prevalent on balconies in favor of separation from Spain. A statue of Salvador Dalí was draped to show support. We visited the Picasso Museum, the Museum of Catalan Art in Montjuic, Dalí Museum and home; attended two guitar concerts: Luis Robisco and Manuel Gonzalez; and heard La Tuna minstrels at Los Caracoles.
FRIENDS Carmen Cadierno; Pilar Sturla; Arturo and Paloma Arqués and their sons, Arturo, David and Ignacio; Paulina and Marta Arqués; Francesc Escola; and Gloria and Xavier Tomás.
WINDOWS, DOORS, BALCONIES & STREET LIGHTS
Sagrada Familia
Santa Maria del Pi
Montserrat
La Seu - Barcelona Cathedral
Tibidabo
Santa Maria del Mar
Monestir Reial de Santa MarĂa de Pedrabes
Church of Pedralbes
CHURCHES
Barcelona’s Churches Saint Paul mentioned in Romans 15:24, 28 that he was on his way to Spain. St. Jerome asserted that St, Paul founded the first Christian community in the city of Tarraco (Tarragona). At the time of the Apostles, Tarragona was the capital city of the large Roman province of Tarraconensis (all northern, central and eastern Spain). Barcelona was a small city on the road to Gaul. Founded in the early 4th century, the Cathedral of Barcelona (1298-1448) stands on the ruins of a temple dedicated to Jupiter which was on a small hill the Romans called Mt. Jupiter. With the legalization of Christianity under Constantine, the Christians renamed this hill Mt. Tabor. Following the Muslim invasions of the 8th century, when Barcelona briefly fell under Islamic rule, the cathedral was turned into a mosque. When the Franks took Barcelona back from the Muslims in 801 AD. In 877 when the new church was completed, the relics of St. Eulalia were transferred here. Moors again raided in 985, the Romanesque building was begun in 1046, and the Catalan Gothic Cathedral was begun in 1298.
Santa Maria del Mar is the finest Gothic church in Barcelona. The first structure of Christian worship was built here in 998. St. Eulalia, Barcelona’s original patron saint martyred c. 303 AD, was originally buried here, but later transferred to the Cathedral. Santa Maria del Mar was significantly burned by leftists during the Spanish Civil War in 1936. The Basilica of Santa Maria del Pi (St. Mary of the Pine) was built 1319-1391. The foundation of this Catalan Gothic parish dates back to at least 413 AD. The Royal Monastery of St. Mary of Pedralbes was built 1327-1500. The church of Tibidabo overlooking all of Barcelona from a mountain top, was built 1902-1961. Its name is derived from Latin (this to you I give) and refers to the temptation of Christ on the mountain top (Luke 4:6). The Basilica of Sagrada Familia has been under construction since 1882. One year after construction began, the project was handed to Antoni Gaudí who guided design and construction until his death in 1926. The church is built entirely from private funds. Gaudí once commented about his project, “My client is not in a hurry.” www.catholicbarcelona.com
Barcelona! You are a charming city filled with exuberant life at all hours on Las Ramblas and in the plazas of the Gothic Quarter. You are a vibrant commercial center in the proud region of Catalonia, nestled between Montserrat and Tibidabo and the Mediterranean, and sprawling beyond. You are home to magnificent architecture spanning several centuries, mouthwatering cuisine, extraordinary musical and artistic talent. Your citizens are warm, friendly, generous and very, very intelligent. You welcomed us into your homes and we are forever grateful for the pleasure of knowing you. Barcelona, you have stolen our hearts! Special thanks to Carmen, Pilar, Arturo, Paloma, Arturo, David, Ignacio, Paulina, Marta, Francesc, Xavier and Gloria! We are forever grateful for your hospitality.