Barcelona

Overnight in Trippy Square

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

I arrived in Barcelona around 4pm and immediately realised I was wearing too many clothes.
It is that Spring-time feeling!

Barcelona streets were full of people in shorts and teeshirts. I was wearing boots, a jumper and my black winter coat. I wondered why I had thought it OK to leave the house wearing so much black? Gradually I realised that most if not all of the summery people were tourists. You don’t get so many of them in Granollers!

First stop was the Venus cafe in Carrer Avinyo in the Barrio Gotico

Very nice waitress gave me a menu in English but then spoke in Castellano.  Saturday is one of my Spanish days and I needed to practise before going to the tango workshop.  I try to speak Catalan on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and Castellano on Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays.  It is hard and it does confuse me but I can’t see any other way to keep both languages on the go. And people here are adept at switching mid conversation so I also need the skill of making rapid changes.

The tango workshop was good.   It was wonderful to dance again after a year.  When I was learning Lindy Hop I found it frustrating how little attention was given to making the ‘connection’ between leader and follower.  They do talk about it but you need a tango class to really go in depth into how this communication is central to the dance, and to life.
Gisela and Alejandro in Sala Arditi ….. lovely teachers

In between classes we went to a little bar called Bodega La Palma, near my first flat in Barcelona

We got back to my friends flat around 3am – very late for me these days. She lives in the famous Plaça de George Orwell otherwise known as Plaça del Trippi or Trippy Square. It is very noisy and the mixture of drunk tourists and out of their heads locals make this a difficult place for people to live.   I read that this is now on the tourist map as somewhere exciting to visit but coming home everyday to screaming groups of half naked teenagers, red-eyed staggering zombies and having to step over vomit and piss as you open your door is no fun for locals. There are police cameras and the odd police van but nothing really has changed the atmosphere in the years I have known the place. The shouting and screeching went on till nearly dawn but I slept through it, tired by city energy.

Only a few streets away it is quieter and calmer

I have favourite places in this barrio of Barcelona and they always draw me with magnetic force even when I don’t intend to visit them.
One of these is the Church of Sant Just i Pastor

Today when I went in there was a Sunday service taking place. I stood at the back and listened to the priest speaking in Catalan.  I understood much of it and noticed for the first time how similar it is to Latin.  For a few moments I could imagine how it might be to be in Rome and hear Latin spoken as a living language all around me

I am not part of any Christian religion but I love this church and often came here seeking peace when I first was staying here.
It is very rare for me to visit this part of Barcelona and not come into the church.
The square outside is very pretty too

Walking up to Placa Catalunya there were human castles rising and falling – not literally falling, fortunately I have never seen one collapse although I know it happens and I can’t watch without worrying that this will be the day. One of the towers wobbled a lot but remained strong

‘Born to make a pine-cone’  It means lots of people coming together to make something strong. When some human castles are created, the surrounding people will all form a pinya to help support the structure.  I’ve never seen one that big but I’ve heard they can fill a square.

Last goodbye to the Barcelona skyline just before I go down into the station

On Sunday there are fewer trains going to our nearby station so I had to get off at Granollers Centre and walk home, carrying again my hot coat and jumper. but at least it meant I could stop off for a cooling drink of Orxata with a dollop of coconut icecream. The first of the season

Sign seen at the rail station in Passeig de Gracia.
This is the sort of confusion my brain has to deal with!

Off to Barcelona!

~ Kate Wilson ~ Leave a comment

This is just to say that I am going to dance some tango today!

The first time in many months.

Originally I planned to go to a milonga alone and just see if I could get a dance – I don’t find it easy in Barcelona, it was better when I first came and I was full of determination.  But then I went through a barren period and haven’t really recovered my confidence. 

I saw that Gisela, my teacher in the past, is running workshops today, Hoy Pruebo El Otro Lado, in dancing on the other side – leaders following and followers leading.   It seemed a good way to re-enter the world without putting myself through some kind of lonely milonga torture.  And I can already lead so I don’t have to worry too much. I am still nervous though.

So off I go!  I even arranged to meet a friend and so won’t have to go in alone. Looking after myself!

I will report back how it goes. I’m so looking forward to walking through the Cuidad Vella down to Carrer Avinyo.   I love that area.   I am heading for a cafe called Venus.

Memories of Gozo

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

I went up to Barcelona this weekend to meet up with a fellow blogger and her cocker spaniel Inca.  She writes here!
I met them in Poble Sec where I spotted this thin stripey building

We had a lovely lunch in a Canarian restaurant. 
 Is that the right adjective to use?  The food was from the Canaries.

I once went to Gozo, near Tenerife for winter sunshine and to get rid of my annual Cornish bronchiatis.

I remember this holiday for three things mainly

1. My friend complained on the first night that I was breathing too loudly and keeping her awake so I spent the entire week sleeping on the sofa
2. While she drove around the island in a hired car, I went for a boat trip which included lunch on board and a lot of Canarian wine. The sea was rough and it was very invigorating sitting at the prow and being pitched up and down over the waves.  
I became so absorbed in watching a very attractive fellow passenger that I followed him off at the wrong port and had to shout for the boat to let me back on to take me home.
3. I then went to cool myself down with a swim in the sea and as the Atlantic waves are quite fierce on those shores I got knocked over and lost my glasses in the swell. 

Actually there were four memorable things

4. For the first time I ate Papas Arrugadas – the wonderful wrinkly potatoes with green and red spicy sauce. I have never tasted them again until yesterday in Poble Sec

Open Doors at Hospital Sant Pau – but not for long!

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

On Monday I went up to Barcelona to meet a friend and we went to visit the recently restored modernist hospital of Sant Pau.  Until March 16th you can go and wander round this amazing place for free but after that some parts will be used as offices and as a conference centre and only a small part will be open to the public as a museum

There are 12 buildings in this huge complex and a landscaped garden with orange trees

It was constructed between 1902 and 1930 and is a must see for anyone interested in architecture in general and modernism in particular. I had no idea it would be so magnificent – everywhere you turn it is WOW!


For four years it has been under restoration with European grants and although some parts are still being worked on there are several buildings open for viewing

The buildings were the work of the famous Catalan architect Lluis Domenech i Montaner

The origens of the hospital go back to the 15th century when the Consell de Cent (the old parliament) brought together six Barcelona hospitals and started building the Hospital of Sant Creu. At the beginning of the 20th century the banker Pau Gil funded the construction of a new hospital to provide care for a rapidly rising city population, The result was the Hospital Sant Pau
He wanted his initials to be an integral part of the building  – so you find P and G in many designs

I am not going to go on any more about the history – we need all the space for pictures

I thought this was the caduceus but I now find it is the Rod of Asclepius which has only one snake

The caduceus has two snakes and wings and was the staff of the god Hermes.  Asclepius is a god of healing and medicine. The original Hypocratic oath began with the evocation ” I swear by Apollo the Physician and by Asclepius and by Hygieia and Panacea and by all the gods…..”



The ceilings are worth a post to themselves

and the windows

 designed to let in the maximum light. They knew about light and space and the importance of beauty

Imagine being in a hospital ward with these roses all around the walls

Here is a picture of the women’s ward when it was fully funcioning

The exterior walls are also full of interesting details

The restoration has been as environmentally friendly as possible. The whole complex is heated using a geothermal system with all components hidden underground.  It is incredible to think of all the work that went into creating this restoration. One of the exhibition displays likened it to healing a very sick patient – first the diagnosis which revealed terrible deterioration and years of neglect, then creating a plan and making decisions, followed by intensive treatment  and now finally the result – a potentially vibrant and inspiring place to visit and work.

The pictures speak for themselves – this is an incredible place and if you have the chance to see it before March 16th then go!














Mac Help in Barcelona

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

Each time I get something sorted out, like finding a good dentist, an English speaking vet or a cheap and local car mechanic, I feel more at home here.
Yesterday I was able to tick something else off the list.
I now have someone fantastic to take care of my Mac! 
I found him on the internet and was impressed by all the rave reviews so when I had a problem with introducing my new ipad to my old Mac so that they would not only talk but really communicate, I got in touch with Chris Kunigenas aka El Mac Barcelones.
He works in Gracia and I caught the train up yesterday, clutching two of my most precious items and trying to remember all the passwords I might need. 
By the end of the morning I had an updated system, a new mail package and some little odds and ends sorted out. It cost 25€ and only took a few hours. 
Various people were dropping off their macs to be seen to and I imagined us all trailing around the pretty streets of Gracia while we waited to return to the attic flat overlooking a sleepy little square.

I spent three hours falling in love with this previously unexplored part of town

The street names are wonderful……fraternidad, llibertat, venus, progres. 

The buildings are not tall

Most have wonderful metalwork

What is this for do you think? At the bottom of the front door

The area is full of little workshops.
 In one they run sculpture classes and inside was a couple working away on a large piece of wood
Another wonderful window with balconies

Bars, independent shops that still manage to survive in a huge expensive city

 home birth centres, peaceful squares, old ladies gazing down from balconies (gone in now)

 It felt a bit like Stoke Newington where I lived in London for 15 years. What do you think this little door is used for so high up in a huge entrance?

A part of Barcelona to really live and work and be creative

Here a little roofed sanctuary on the corner of the street opposite

When I was finished, after crosssing Diagonal,  I walked back down to Passeig de Gracia.
A different world where they sell dresses which when worn by any normal shaped woman would help her look like a strange pink lampshade!