Placa Espanya

Today we went for a walk near the Placa Espanya.  The walk started us off near the Joan Miro park, where there is a huge Miro sculpture called "Woman and Bird".  I'm not too good with abstract art -- I don't see the woman OR the bird.  I see a banana and a hoop balanced on top of a multi-colored (anatomically-shaped?) pillar.

Bird, or banana?  You be the judge...

Behind the Miro sculpture is the Les Arenes bullring.  It used to be a bullring, but bullfighting has been unpopular in Catalonia for decades and it was finally banned in 2010.  It has been converted into a shopping mall.  You can take an elevator to the top of Les Arenes for a nice view of the surrounding area, including Montjuic park and the Palau Nacional, which is the Catalan Art Museum.

Every first Sunday is "free museum" day in Barcelona, and many museums have free entry all day.  I love that so many cities do this kind of thing, since it gets us to go to museums that we might otherwise have skipped.  We headed up the stairs towards the art museum, albeit somewhat reluctantly in Kevin's case (I think one of us is "museum-ed out" already!).

Where's Waldo (er, I mean Kevin)?

I won't bore you (or Kevin, for that matter) with pictures from inside the museum (which has a very nice collection of Catalonian art, by the way).  But before going in we stopped to admire the view from the terrace cafe.  Not bad, even on a cloudy day!

Here's a photosphere Kevin took as well:

Views: Barcelona, Spain by Kevin Salt

You can move your cursor inside the photo to see the 360 degree view.

Weekend in Mallorca

We have been working a lot more than we originally expected to when we booked this trip (our project was supposed to be over and live by now, but has been delayed).  We had planned to work normal Phoenix hours, but there have been several days lately where Kevin has worked the Spain day too, and he was getting a little burnt out.  We decided it was time for a vacation from our "vacation", so we booked a weekend getaway to Mallorca using our SPG points.  We were excited to stay in a "castle"!

Castillo Hotel Son Vida

The capital city, Palma, has a beautiful gothic cathedral.  The cathedral went through a restoration in the early 1900's, and Antoni Gaudi designed many aspects of the restored interior, including the altar area.

When the sun is out, the stained glass rose windows cast some really pretty colors throughout the cathedral.

We happened to be in the old town near the palace to watch the changing of the guard.  It's more of a tourist attraction than anything else - check out the lady trying to grab the bayonet away from one of the soldiers on the right, and the really bored soldier third from the left:

We had nice views of the Bay of Mallorca from the old city.

We went to a cafe for drinks, and Kevin ordered a "cerveza grande" which is usually the size of a pint instead of 12 oz.  However at this bar, we were a little surprised when they brought our drinks -- it was an entire liter of beer.

Other than walking around town a little bit, we didn't really do much all weekend.  We spent most of the weekend just relaxing by the hotel pool and enjoying the views from the terrace lounge.  It was a nice way to recharge our batteries!

Hospital de Sant Pau

Mosaic with flower motif

The Hospital de Sant Pau is another great modernist building by Lluis Domenech i Montener (the same architect who designed the Palau de la Musica Catalana).  It was in use as a hospital for nearly a hundred years, until 2009 when a newer facility was opened nearby.  It's currently being restored and is a UNESCO world heritage site.  Kevin was working all afternoon to meet a project deadline, so I spent a few hours wandering alone among the buildings.

The hospital was a unique design for its time, consisting of various buildings dedicated by medical specialty and connected via underground tunnels.  The tunnels allowed them to transport patients between, say, triage and surgery without having to take them outside.  The guided tour took our group through one of the tunnels and into two of the pavilions.

Most of the pavilions were in use as wards for patients and were covered floor-to-ceiling with decorative tile (tile being an easy-to-clean, antiseptic material).

Exhibits remind you of the building's original purpose as a hospital.

The administration building is the most lavishly decorated of the pavilions.  The tilework and stained glass throughout has all the hallmarks of modernism - light, nature, and organic motifs.

One of the most interesting aspects of the tour, for me, was an exhibit showing how they have been slowly undoing all of the "modern improvements" as part of the UNESCO restoration.  When it was a functioning hospital, over the years they bricked over windows, added partitions so that patients could have private rooms, and basically did whatever was necessary to maintaining the building as a working hospital.  But now that it is a world heritage site, all of that needs to be removed and restored to its original state as Montener designed it.

Above: post-restoration.  Below: before restoration.

It's a slow process, but worth it to preserve the historic buildings for future generations to admire.

This skylight in the Admin building; a prototype for the iconic one in the Palau de la Musica Catalana.

La Mercè at night and the Correfoc

Because many of the La Mercè events took place over the weekend, we were able to get out at night (instead of working) and enjoy the festivities.  There were 3 fireworks shows down by the beach.  It was nice that we were able to get there just a few minutes before and still get a great seat (every seat had a good view, since the fireworks were shot off a pier over the water).

We saw some cool animated projection shows on various historic buildings.  The animations on the geology museum in the Parc de la Ciutadella were some of the most impressive we've seen - a march through history into the future.  Very creative.

And there were several amazing free concerts.  This one was a jazz guitarist who performed right in front of the Cathedral.

But the truly-not-to-be-missed spectacle was the Correfoc.  Translated from Catalan, the word literally means "fire run".  And that's exactly what it is.  Groups of people dress up as devils and dance to drums while carrying lit fireworks through a crowd of people.  It's not for the faint of heart.  We were lucky to get a place right at the "Gates of Hell" in the Placa d'Antoni Maura.  This is a wide-open plaza where the "parade" and firework show starts.

The Gates of Hell before...

...and the Gates of Hell after!

These Catalonians really like their fireworks, that's for sure.  We were in Paris for Bastille day fireworks a few years ago but I think being in Barcelona for La Mercè might actually top that.

Devils in the Correfoc - "Fire! Fire! Heh-heh!"

After the gates of hell erupted, out came the troupes of devils and drummers.  We Americans like to think we get crazy with the sparklers on the Fourth of July.  That's nothing compared to this:


What is amazing is that these videos were taken in a wide plaza at the beginning of the parade.  The procession then continued on through the much narrower Via Laietana where unsuspecting tourists in shorts and tank tops were in for a real surprise!  (There were many loudspeaker warnings that it was potentially dangerous and to be "covered up".  Kevin and I wore jeans and long-sleeve shirts just in case, but we were only hit by one or two sparks...I can't imagine being any closer!)

Interspersed with the devils were the "besties" (beasts) of fire.  These are made of papier machè and are either worn as costumes or pushed on wheels through the streets.  We had seen them on display in the week leading up to La Mercè but didn't realize just how awesome they would be once they were set on fire.

La Tarasca, a marsh-monster that shoots flames from its mouth, and a very scary (and scaredy-) cat

Kevin's cat in action:


Again, do not try this at home.  I cannot emphasize enough the danger here.  Especially if you are not good at papier machè.

Each troupe of devils or fire-beast had an entourage following them with a re-supply cart full of fireworks.  Once the lit fireworks went out, they restocked and re-lit.  Seems perfectly safe, right?  Until somebody accidentally sets the resupply cart on fire.  Whoops!  The bombers (firemen) to the rescue...very exciting!


We loved the chance to see this part of the festival.  Especially since I can't imagine anything like this being legally allowed back home, for a whole host of safety reasons.  But this has spoiled both fireworks shows and parades for us going forward.  Now the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade will seem so tame in comparison.  So if the typical high school band, Shriner go-kart, candy-tossing American parade is too boring for you, come to Barcelona in late September.  You won't be disappointed.

Parc de la Ciutadella

As I mentioned in the previous post, events for La Mercè take place all over the city and nearly all of them are free.  We decided to head over to the Parc de la Ciutadella to check out the beergarden and wine festival.

Historical note: this park has an important place in Barcelona's history.  After the siege ended in 1714, the Spanish king demolished an entire section of the city to build a fort (the Ciutadella/Citadel) so that he could keep the Catalans in line.  For obvious reasons, the citizens viewed the fortress as a symbol of Spanish oppression.  When it was finally destroyed in the 1870's, the city turned the space into a large urban park complete with fountains, a lake, and a zoo.  A Universal Exposition was held here in 1888.  It's now a very popular place for residents and visitors alike.

The (tiltshift) view from the top of the fountain

But we weren't there for the history, or even for the scenery.  We were there for the beergarden and food trucks.

One of  several converted VW Bus food trucks.  The Thai truck drew some big crowds.

The lines were incredibly long for the food, unfortunately.  Luckily the beer line was shorter, and we were able to get a table in the shade.  This made Kevin a happy man.

By the time we'd eaten, it was late in the day and very hot and muggy.  Even the cold beer couldn't keep us cool anymore.  We decided to head back home for some A/C and a nap.  Too bad we never even got around to checking out the wine festival which was over by the Arc de Triomf.  We'll have to save that for another time, I guess!

La Mercè 2014

The Aliga (eagle) and the Gegants de la Ciutat

One of the reasons we wanted to come to Barcelona during September was to make sure we had a chance to see La Mercè.  La Mercè is the festa major of the city of Barcelona --  a traditional festival honoring the the Virgin of La Mercè for saving the city from a plague of locusts back in the 1600's.  The holiday is on the 24th of September, but the festival lasts the entire weekend leading up to it.

What's more fun than a plague of locusts?  Giants!

The whole city becomes a big concert/art/parade/performance/fireworks venue, and there are stages and events set up all throughout various districts of the city.  The main events take place in the heart of the old city in the Plaça de Sant Jaume, which is very near our apartment.  Every day of the festival, there was something going on in this square.

Traditional dancing

Probably the most iconic representations of La Mercè are the giants (or gegants as they are called in Catalan).

The Gegants del Pi, the Gegants de Santa Maria del Mar, and me

The giants are made of papier mache and are held up by a person inside who marches and dances in the many parades that happen during the festival.

We had a front-row seat from the balcony of our apartment

They all have names and histories, and they run the gamut from kings and queens to simple peasants.

They remind me a little of "King Friday" puppets from Mr. Rogers...

Not all giants are traditional, either -- here's one of the more "interesting" ones we saw from our apartment.

Va-va-va-voom!

A Weekend with Friends (and Ham!)

Over the weekend we had some friends from Arizona come for a quick visit.  Tony and Michelle had already planned to come to Spain (San Sebastian) but when they heard we would be in Barcelona, they made a detour in their plans to come hang out with us.

Sangria on the balcony

We had a great time over the weekend!  Since they had already been to Barcelona we skipped the museums and mostly just soaked up the atmosphere.  We enjoyed hitting some of the bars and cafes in the old town and down by the beach.  We even made a daytrip to Sitges which is about an hour train ride from Barcelona.  Thanks to Tony, we were also able to get the rare photo of us together without having to resort to using the GoPro pole...

Kevin and me in Sitges

We did do one very touristy/museum-y thing while they were with us -- the Jamon Experience.  We've seen many huge Iberico hams hanging in shops and restaurants, and the prices can reach upwards of $75 a pound.  But we were confused because to our untrained eye, we couldn't tell why one 3 oz package was 12 euro ($15 USD) and others were only 4 or 5 euro.  Well the Jamon Experience explained it all to us.

It all starts with the pigs...

Some of the exhibits were admittedly cheesy (or "hammy", as Tony suggested), but the museum did a good job of explaining that the Iberian pigs are a special breed found only here in Spain.  Similar to racehorses, the pigs are bred with pedigrees and very well cared for during the two years they are raised.  For the last months of fattening, they are herded up to the mountains and eat by foraging acorns ("bellota" is the Spanish word for acorn) in oak forests.  They double their weight to something like 400 pounds, and the all-acorn diet gives the meat a nutty taste.  The hams are then cured for up to 36 months and over the course of the curing, the fats are broken down and the ham ends up higher in monounsaturated fat than grain-fed pigs.  The very best ham is called Gran Reserva Jamón Ibérico de Bellota (Grand Reserve Acorn-Fed Ham), and is usually sliced paper-thin by hand right off the leg.  They leave the hoof on the ham because Iberico pigs are known by the distinctive black hoof; all other pig's hooves are white (in case you were wondering and don't have a pig handy nearby for reference).

Thin slices of ham for us to eat.

As part of the tour, we tasted six different hams - one plain "reserva" (which comes from any old pig), one "iberico" (which is from an iberian pig that is fed regular grain), and four "bellotas" (acorn-fed from one of the four main regions - Huelva, Pedroches, Extremadura, and Guijuelo).  You could definitely tell the difference between the bellotas and the others.

We were all eagerly awaiting the tasting...and the cava that came with it!

We definitely preferred the taste of the bellota ham, but I can't see us going home with a leg packed into our suitcase.  It probably wouldn't get through customs, anyway.  Sure is delicious, though!

Kevin hamming it up.

La Diada Nacional

One of the things I like best about long-term stays when we travel is that we have enough time to do the touristy things as well as some of the not-so-touristy things.  Today happens to be the Diada Nacional, Catalonia's National Day, where they commemorate their history and heritage in a number of ways.  I won't go too deep into the history, but 300 years ago Catalonia backed the wrong candidate during the War of Spanish Succession.  On September 11, 1714 the city of Barcelona surrendered after a long siege and final battle.  The victor, King Phillip V of Spain, displaced a large portion of the city's inhabitants to build a fortress to keep them in line, and took away many of the longstanding rights and freedoms of the region.  Later rulers and administrations (especially Franco) continued to enforce Spanish (Castillian) as the primary language instead of Catalan, and abolished many Catalan institutions.  Since Franco's death in 1975, Catalonia has reacquired some of its autonomy.  There is now a strong nationalist sentiment in the region, and many Catalans would like to separate from Spain and become their own country. 

Catalan flag projection on the Palau de la Generalitat

As part of the Diada Nacional, last night there several commemorative events scheduled.  However since we knew the speeches would be in Catalan, we opted to try to have a look at some of the music-based events instead.  As part of the Nit Blanca, various artists, singers, and dance troupes performed in various placas around town.  We saw some 18th-century dancers and heard some a capella vocal music. Our favorite act of the night were a pair of aerial dancers doing a choreographed routine while suspended from the top of a building.  They were very good and drew a large crowd.

Sacude aerial dancers

This morning at 8am there was a concert to commemorate the death 300 years ago of one of the city's heroes in the battle that ended the siege.  Although normally that is pretty early for this city (did I mention that people don't start to eat dinner until 10pm?), there was still a huge audience.  Three hundred cellos played a short piece and although the crowd was large everyone was absolutely silent during the performance.  We got there too late to get close and take video, but if you click this link you will find a video of the performance.  And who knows -- you may even be able to spot Kevin and me in the crowd (I haven't had a chance to watch it all the way through yet so let me know!).

300 Cellos perform "Ara Mateix" (Right Now) by Albert Guinovart/Martí i Pol

The whole city was awash in Catalan colors (red and yellow).  Even the bakeries got into the act.  I imagine that these cakes taste like freedom.

In the afternoon, we had lunch on Rambla Catalunya so that we could people watch.  The main demonstration didn't take place until 5:14pm (17:14 on the 24 hour clock) so most of the demonstrators just strolled around the city or had lunch while waiting for things to kick off.

It was definitely peaceful, there were families with small kids, and everyone was just out enjoying the day.  This was the scene in Placa Catalunya.  The news reported that buses brought in nearly 1,800,000 people to the city.

Finally at 17:14, the demonstration commenced.  Demonstrators formed an enormous "V" encouraging all Catalans to vote in the upcoming independence referendum in November.  It will be interesting to see what happens then, but it was quite an experience to be here for this event!

Photo credit: BCN Ajuntament twitter page