MamaCez: Old and Odd (2 of 14)

One of the draws of visiting any country in Europe is it's history and architecture. This is the first time we visited Europe and I really didn't have much that I wanted to really see in Spain. But my husband did. He was able to see what he read in his college textbooks.

View of Barcelona.. check out the Sagrada Familia church on the far left and the Torre Agbar (38 story skyscraper designed by Jean Nouvel.. I call it the neon lipstick) on the far right.

My cousin, Cheryl, did an awesome job booking our private tours around Barcelona.

Check out the huge coach bus we got for all 12 of us!!

Our first guide was with Laura, a native from Barcelona who considers herself a Catalan.

Mandy, Emily and Hannah with our guide Laura.

What is a Catalan you ask? Well... unbeknownst to me, Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain. Catalonia comprises of four provinces with it's capital and largest city being Barcelona. About 40% of Barcelona's population is Catalan; 30% are Spaniards and 30% are Other. The official language of Catalonia is Catalan not Spanish. I heard that both languages are minimally similar (Catalan is closer to French then Spanish) and the cultures of both are vastly different.

The left flag is the current Catalonia flag; the top right is the Catalonia Independence Flag; and the bottom right is the flag for the complete Catalonia Independence of all their provinces.

One of the many alleyways we walked through which many pedestrians and sometimes cars would go through frequently. You wouldn't think of walking through alleyways in Chinatown, SF or Oakland!

In fact, Catalans are determined to become an independent country from Spain so we definitely felt some political discord from our guides. I guess life isn't as rosy as we think on the other side of the world.

Barcelona City Hall which is right across the plaza from..

Palau de la Generalitat, the Catalonia Seat of Government

But enough of politics... Barcelona is the 2nd largest city in Spain after Madrid. It's located on the Mediterranean coast and is one of the world's leading tourist, economic and cultural/sports centres. It hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics...

Driving towards and past the stadium where the 1992 Summer Olympics were held. See the torch?

...and its a key transport hub with one of Europe's principal ports and international airport.

The expanded port which can house 16 cruise ships!

Barcelona was founded as a Roman city and it's ruins are still intact to see (but that's for tomorrow's tour).

Today we checked out the works of a very famous architect, Antoni Gaudi, a Catalon and leader of Catalan Modernism. His style is highly individual and distinctive which is depicted throughout Barcelona most notably his magnum opus, the Sagrada Familia (discussed in a future post).

Casa Batillo' looks like it has been made from skulls and bones. The 'skulls' are the balconies and the 'bones' are the supporting pillars. Gaudi used colors and shapes found in marine life as an inspiration for this building.

La Pedrera or 'Quarry" because of it's stone like appearance was originally called Casa Mila. It is now a museum.

His work reflects his passions in life: architecture, nature and religion and he used ceramics, stained glass, wrought iron and carpentry.

We visited the Park Guell which was Gaudi's version of an English garden park with architectural elements situated on a hill in Barcelona. He had it built from 1900 to 1914.

The two buildings at the entrance of the park.

Gaudi's version of a Viaduct.. a bridge composed of several small spans for crossing a valley or gorge. Check out the leaning columns that are supposed to represent the columns of trees. Everything is supposed to look very 'organic'.

A colonnaded footpath under the roadway viaduct. Check out the intricate stone work.

Gaudi's serpentine bench designed with mosaic tiles.

Originally it was built to be a housing site but no one wanted to buy on it due to the exorbitant cost, so it was converted into a municipal garden.

Entrance to the park with it's foreground in lavendar. There were fields of lavender all over the garden.

One of six of Gaudi's unique tiles of the sun.

Personally I felt his style was quite 'odd'.. I call him 'Gaudy' Gaudi but I am not a connoisseur of architecture.

Now another thing my husband noticed was the cars...

All foreign (well to us.. not to them) and small. Plus tons of scooters. I guess they have to be small to maneuver through those tight narrow alleyways.

The only picture at the museum since cameras were not allowed in.

The last place we visited today was the Museu Picasso, Picasso's Museum which houses the most extensive and most complete collection of his artwork by Pablo Picasso. I am not a big art buff and if I was I'm partial to my namesake but the two below are two of my favorites from Picasso.

Picasso's Le Dessert (1901)

Femme a la Mantille (1949)

Lastly not to forget to show what we ate..

Spain is known for their tapas and paella..

Tapas are small appetizer-sized entrees..

deep fried shrimp

chicken kabab

grilled scallops

Paella is a rice dish cooked in a large shallow pan. 'Paella' is Catalan for 'pan'.

Above right is seafood paella where you have rice cooked and sauteed in an assortment of seafood. To the left was one of their 'vegetable' dishes, deep fried peppers. Veggie dishes (other than salad) were not very common on the menu.