Very beautiful architecture. Gaudi is particularly celebrated everywhere here. We hopped a big open topped double decker for a three hour tour in the hot hot sun, but managed to really get a taste of the city. Had it not been so hot, we may have stayed a little longer and revisited some sights we had only glimpsed from aboard.
Highlights were the Sagrada Familia - with it's long and unfinished history of construction. All of Gaudi's works were suggestive, to me, of water and the flow of architecture design that definately finds its own path. The stunning difference between a city caught in a hot past, and a new city celebrating international attention left behind from the Olympic Games in 1992. Olympic Park was white, new and well-caters to huge numbers of visitors. I remembered the Opening Ceremonies as we flashed past the Stadium. The diving pool offers a breathtaking view of the city of 3 million. We welcomed the ride past the new waterfront with the World Trade Centre and everywhere is beautiful architecture and sculpture - literally at each round about!
We left the tour for supper at a Mexican restaurant offering shade and HUGE cold beers! The children had McDonalds - and we were happy to see lemon ice tea (only peach in France/England). Then we headed home, arriving much later than planned and so had to negotiate the peage in the dark. Tons of drivers on the road, but it was a Friday night and all were, no doubt, racing to a weekend of relaxation anywhere other than hot Barcelona :) A noisy storm chased us across the border and into France where we watched a late night fireworks show from across the water on our way home.
the beach, very beautiful
aboard another blue bus
everywhere art is celebrated
placa catalunya
christopher columbus monument pointing across the sea
his finger is half a meter long and is not pointing to the
new world...
national museum
no words necessary
ditto
And then yesterday, we got up early once more to return to beautiful Spain, this time to a smaller, less travelled area. A small fishing village, Cadaques... how to describe everything you have ever dreamed about a perfect mediterranean village? Salvador Dali described it as 'perfect' and many painters travel the tightly woven roadway up and aroundand then down again to the paint the sea in the benevolent mediterranean light. Galleries abound, although most were closed as it was a Monday. We parked in a busy carpark and then made our way down to the Monday morning market. The Bates, well-versed in the busyness of the open marketplace, quickly found their way to good deals on clothing, and we Richards followed behind, darting into interesting looking stalls.
Afterwards, we meandered down the street, and turned the corner to be swept away into a breath-catchingly beautiful mediterranean scene. White buildings surrounded by a white tipped turquoise sea. We all looked at each other and laughed! We ran to the beach, not white sand and rather hard, whipped off our hot over clothes and leapt into the waves. We all mentioned that the salt water was unexpected... I'm sure we all drank a bit :) We floated and gamboled and soaked up the sun. We were surrounded by generations of families, most women were topless (no we didn't), but it was a marvelous experience to be there. We walked across the square to a pizzeria and had thinly crusted, dripping with cheese pizzas and pastas. Wonderful!
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