A Sacred Vision and Inky Eats

Click the headline to view photos for this post.

Barcelona, Spain
October 14/15, 2004
20 degrees Celcius, partly cloudy, light breeze

“Finish what you start,” is a maxim often quoted by parents and mentors. It is generally sound advice; however, I must admit to starting too many projects and sometimes being overwhelmed by what remains undone and incomplete.

Spanish architect, Antonio Gaudi, had no such misgivings. He created the vision for a sacred project that consumed the last thirty-three years of his life, and as he expected, it was incomplete when he died in 1926, The Sagrada Familia is still incomplete and under construction today. Architects, engineers and sculptors continue the project today by using the drawings and plaster models left by Gaudi.

Another architect started the Sagrada Familia, or Church of the Sacred Family, in 1895, but Antonio Gaudi was soon asked to take over the project. He researched the architectural design, inspired both by nature and biblical stories, and tested his innovative structural engineering designs. When the Sagrada Familia will be completed is unknown, because construction is funded entirely by donations and the plans call for much more work.

Gaudi's characteristically warped form of Gothic architecture draws admiration from other avant-garde artists. And his sensuous, curving, almost surreal design style made him the innovative leader of the Spanish Art Nouveau movement. With little regard for formal order, he juxtaposed unrelated systems and altered established visual order. Although categorized with the Art Nouveau, Gaudi created an entirely original style. There are a number of photographs in the slideshow. (simply click on the headline to see them)

His architecture is not to my taste and some say he and his architecture inspired the English word “gaudy,” which means tastelessly showy, flashy or garish. Still, I have to admire his genius and found the visit to the Sagrada Familia both interesting and surprising. The English audio-tour is the best one I have experienced at any tourist attraction. A morning well spent.

Our hotel, The Hotel Royal, is on The Ramblas, Barcelona’s main tourist street that rise from the Port and the statue of Columbus to Place de Catalunya, a large square surrounded by restaurants and shops and is the main stop for all the tour buses.

The Ramblas is a wide paved boulevard with large trees down the centre that separates two lane roads, one going in each direction. On the boulevard you find a series of sales kiosks, several selling birds, many selling flowers and a number of caricature artists. In between the kiosks are performance artists. My favorites were the living sculptures. If you try to take a photograph of them without putting money in their pot they’ll turn away or cover their face. A few coins means total cooperation. There are photographs of some of my favorites in the slide show (click the headline to see them)

Narrow streets go out in all directions from the Ramblas, lined with boutiques and restaurants of all kinds, with apartments or offices above and opening onto small neighborhood squares, every few blocks. This is shopper’s paradise. Jan’s been gone for hours.

Last night we decided to be adventurous and have a taste of Barcelona. I was excited Jan was reluctant, but agreeable. We began with a selection of tappas, or Spanish appetizers. These included some local grilled sausage and meats on bread, spicy rice mixtures on bread, Spanish cold cuts and cheeses on bread, and some gigantic white asparagus and salad greens. We wouldn’t re-order these in the future, aside from the salad.

For the main course we ordered two paella’s. The seafood paella and the negro paella. Paella is an all in one pan dish made with rice, meat and vegetables. They can be made with chicken, beef, seafood or vegetarian. The local specialty is seafood and negro, or black rice. When they arrived I was a little shocked. The negro paella was really black, almost fluorescent black and very shiny. I asked the waiter how they made it black. He told me with the ink of the squid. “Oh good,” I thought. Jan looked a little green.

Surprise, I liked the negro paella best, but they were both good. Both had squid, clams, muscles, and scallops. The seafood paella also had shrimp and a lagostini, like a tiny lobster.

To see what these dishes look like see the slide show by clicking the headline.

There are other photo's from our city tour and the visit to the farmers market (sheeps stomach, pigs feet, something with eyes, etc.) in the slide show. (click the headline to see them)

Next stop, Venice. Next posting in two days.