Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona, Spain for two days Sunday and Monday, May 1 & 2, 2022
Barcelona. Jerry and I spent some days here in 2012
(we’ll check this), having rented a car and taken time to really enjoy the cultures in
various parts of Spain. Returning to
this major city for just hours at a time reminds us how grateful we are for
before.
When one
speaks about Barcelona, key topics are artists and architects Picasso and
Gaudi, bullfighting, the 1888 World’s Fair and the 1992 Olympics.
Barcelona itself has a 2000-yr.
history starting with Emperor Augustus, then the Visigoths who divided the area
into Catholics and Moslem, then the 13th-15th Century of
the Kingdom of Aragon and the marriage with Catherine of Avila. We walked the Old City (visible from the
port) that is decorated in Romanesque and Gothic architecture complete with
enclosed bridges over the streets and gargoyles that stretch horizontally and
leer down at us. The Cathedral of
Barcelona and King Square displays the above history in eye-popping detail. The Museum of Barcelona is on our list for
our next visit as we had no time today.
Two
world-wide events opened Barcelona to the world and have left behind structures
and stories: Barcelona hosted the
World’s Fair in 1888 and the Olympics in 1992.
The World’s Fair gave the excuse for a face-lift for the Cathedral as it
was deemed to be outdated (Middle Ages didn’t offer ornate) so note the new
façade with the 12 apostles, ornate doors, and St. Eulalia. (Each city has its own patron saint.
Originally, Barcelona had a different saint, but according to legend, because
that one didn’t work well enough during the Black Plague, it was replaced with
St. Eulalia.)
By far the most visited place for locals and tourists in Barcelona is the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, translated the church of the sacred family. Antonin Gaudi was commissioned at age 31 to replace the first architect and to design and build a magnificent structure in homage to Mary, Joseph, and Jesus (but Joseph doesn’t quite make it…) and he was dedicated to using the structure to teach about the Bible.
Gaudi designed some other structures in Barcelona, but his life’s work was at the basilica. He died at age 73 and other architects have worked to achieve Gaudi’s dream despite interruptions of various civil and territorial wars, on-going lack of sufficient funds, and Covid. Current technology, however, has sped up the process by allowing marble to be electronically cut off-site and then delivered like a jigsaw puzzle piece. It was hoped that completion could be celebrated on the centennial of Gaudi’s death in 2026, but that’s been postponed, too. Primary work, now is on the three soaring towers picturing the life of Christ, the death of Christ, and the glory of Christ. Google the site for more info if you are intrigued. This visit, we saw only the exterior cuz tickets to get inside are scarce and require lots more time; thankfully we toured the interior at our previous visit. Three soaring towers can be seen from anywhere in the city and are still under construction 133 years later!
From this iconic site-in-progress
we bused to the Spanish Square which is a pay-to-go-inside taste of Spain with
Disney-esque models of the many provinces in Spain, cultural souvenir shops for
each, a few large restaurants, an audio-visual representation of impressive cultural
events such as the running of the bulls Running of the Bulls 2022 | Pamplona
Bull Run 2022, building a human tower Castellers
- the human towers in Barcelona, the Holy Week tradition of Semana Santa What is Semana Santa?
(with pictures) (infobloom.com), etc., etc., etc. Then we enjoyed a HUGE 3-course meal with
wayyyyy too much local wine before heading into the shops or around the square
for more vistas and photos.
Our bus then took us to an even
better vista overlooking the city before heading us back to the ship and a
blessed nap.
Day two bussed us out of the city
for an hour and up the mountains, into and out of low-hanging clouds, to visit
the iconic site of Montserrat (literally, serrated mountain) whose highest
point is 1236 meters. Built into the
mountains is a small village whose history started in 880 when a small group of
shepherd children saw a star descending from the sky into the mountains, which
became a monastery and a pilgrimage site, was totally destroyed by Napoleon in
1811 and then rebuilt in surprising splendor (which translated means $$$$$$) as
a Benedictine monk retreat where about 42 monks now reside, where a boy’s choir
(look up world-renowned Monserrat Boy’s Choir) is able to be housed and
educated, and where the coveted Black Mary Black
Madonna at Montserrat, Spain: The Image of the the Virgin Mary at Montserrat,
Catalonia (montserrat-tourist-guide.com) can be visited.
Luckily, the clouds which engulfed us on the cog train that took us up and up lifted and allowed us to take some panoramic photos. We lucked out in our visit to the Black Mary as one of the monks had died and they closed the church for the funeral just as we were finishing that part of our visit.
During free time we
were able to see the museum which had several paintings from renowned artists. A picture painted by Picaso when he was only
14 years of age and before he had developed his own style was amazing. Our ticket also included the chance to taste
the liqueurs made by the monks. They are
very good, with one tasting an awful lot like Bailey’s.
Back to the
ship as the clouds began to empty. Good
timing!
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