Whatever next? Now I am watching yet another football game and enjoying it. These last two years have seen me changing just about everything possible you can imagine!
I even felt excited walking around the town centre as the atmosphere was building up – nothing too visible but you just know that most people will be watching the Barça Madrid game tonight. And when there is a goal….if there is a goal….the shouts from the houses and bars will resound around Granollers
We went to the Earth Fair in Barcelona today.
On the programme they suggested arriving in a green manner – by bike, on foot or in a train.
So we walked to Canovelles station (I didn’t know it existed before today!) and Duna took her first journey by train
We got off at Arc de Triomf which is right beside the entrance to Ciutadella Parc – a place that is full of tango memories for me. There is a bandstand there called La Glorietta where you can dance for free every Saturday in the fresh evening air. But the park has a darker history as a whole neighbourhood was destroyed after the 1714 defeat of Barcelona by the Spanish King Phillip V. He built a large fortress to house the invading army – a star shaped citadel or ciutadella. This was demolished after 1869 when General Joan Prim (famous street name in Granollers!) handed it back to the city. They started to create the park in 1872 and now old arsenal of the citadel houses the Catalan Parliament.
Duna took it all in her stride – the people, the traffic, the other dogs. But her favourite bit was the long row of food stalls.
The Middle Eastern Tea tent offered Mint tea, a bit of shade and some peace from the crowds
and a little bowl filled with biscuits
Then the train home and by now it was familiar so no wild eyed staring at every station.
Home and dinner and sleep. Not really a city dog she would have preferred taking the train in the other direction to Vic and the mountains and maybe that will be the next trip.
Two friends from Penzance arrived in Barcelona for the weekend to celebrate their 7th anniversary. What a good opportunity to pop up to town once more for tapas. We went to La Bodegueta on Rambla Catalunya but don’t tell anyone as it’s hard enough to get a table as it is.
Here are the floor tiles – a little dirty but so beautiful that I didn’t notice until I saw the photo.
Congratulations John and Erwin and thanks for the tips on using the camera!
I always wondered what those black grids were for…..
If you were a Spanish person in Barcelona who didn’t speak English and needed to ask someone for help – perhaps to find the nearest pharmacy, or the way to Diagonal, or to know if you are on the right train for Sant Celoni……..if you were this person, would you approach me for the answer?
Would you go up to a middle-aged blond blue-eyed British looking woman listening to an ipod and ask her – in castellano – for help in using the metro ticket machine?
This has been happening to me for about the past year. Almost every day someone comes up and asks me for help with directions or finding something or opening hours. Somehow and without my knowing how or why I have become a designated information person. And often strangely, I know the answer.
However in the Caixa Forum exhibition Rutes d’Arabia I was still very surprised when a woman sidled up to me while I was drawing a statue and asked ‘el texto, es en arameu?’ We had to read the answer together from the adjacent plaque but I was able to tell her ‘si, es en arameu’ and thus I learnt a new word.
These two headless figures were only discovered recently – they are massive and powerful. Twelve were found and three are in the exhibition. Each of them is sculpted out of a single piece of sandstone with such skill that it seems there was a sculpture school in this place producing masters of the art
This was my second visit to this exhibition of archaeological finds from Saudi Arabia – it is an amazing collection of pieces some of which are from 4000 years before Christ. My first visit was to get to know a little about the history of the important places and ancient trading routes that cross the land. The second visit was simply to draw what caught my eye
Here is the statue with the text in Arimeu.
I decided this visit not to try and understand all the background history which can feel overwhelming and exhausts my brain. I just let my eye guide me around the rooms and when something attracted my attention I went and tried to draw it. It has been a while since I made lines on paper and I was shocked at how wobbly they were but the act of drawing was the opposite of overwhelming and exhausting – I left the exhibition feeling renewed. In fact I had so much energy I decided to visit another exhibition in the Caixa – Humà, Massa Humà. For more on this see my next post
I don’t think I have written anything about La Rambla – the tree lined street that runs downhill from Plaça Catalunya towards the port and the sea. I often find myself threading my way up or down it, and equally often I am trying to avoid it as it is so much nicer to walk through the little streets on either side, but I have to admit I also enjoy the feeling of “Well here I am! In Barcelona!”
The first time I cycled up La Rambla I was so excited I missed my turning and then had the less than pleasant experience of whizzing round Plaça Catalunya, too proud to dismount and and walk in safety
After my recent visit to Santa Maria del Mar I started walking back to catch the train at Passeig de Gracia. And my route took me along the top stretch of La Rambla. This part is called Rambla de Canaletes taking its name from a famous fountain which replaced the much more ancient water trough near the old city walls
Admission time…. I knew the name of this section but I had never heard of the famed fountain nor it’s reputation for providing drinkers not only with water but with a magic spell which will always bring them back to Barcelona. Only now when researching for this post I read about it and noticed that one of my photos features the fountain. But I had to dig it out of the Trash first – perhaps I am the only person who has never heard of it before.
Many towns have Ramblas. It means a street which at times has water flowing down it towards the sea. Many little streams would fill with rain water and come together in the Rambla forming a river. This doesn’t happen now in Barcelona as the ancient natural waterways have been piped underground
Rambla de Canaletes is lined with wooden seats arranged in groups so that people can sit together talking and discussing the themes of the day. One thing I have noticed about Catalunya is that if you install a new bench or seat then within hours someone will start to use it. It is like magic! They are magnets. And if you put them at an angle together then several friends will come and start to talk.
Or they will stand and talk – perhaps because the tourists have sat on all the benches
Or just read the newspaper to have something to talk about later. Did you notice they were all men?
