Santa Maria del Mar

The Cathedral by the Sea

~ Kate Wilson ~ 6 Comments

Today I visited Santa Maria del Mar – Saint Mary of the Sea – the incredible 14th century church which is at the centre of the novel Cathedral by the Sea by Ildefonse Falcones.
The title in Catalan is L’Esglesia Del Mar

I am reading this great fat heavy weight of a book in Catalan at the moment – slowly, like the progress of the medieval men who had to carry each stone on their backs from Montjuic to the Born.
The church, which at that time was by the edge of the sea, was designed by the architect Berenguer de Montagut and the foundation stone was laid on 25th March 1329 – the last stone put in place in 1383.

I sat on one of the benches and looked up at the beautiful ceilings. High up, flying between window ledges, there was a bird, too far away to see what it was. I wondered if this was its home or was it trapped?

24 Hours in Barcelona

~ Kate Wilson ~ Leave a comment

I never forget how lucky I am to be able to do this.
Jump on a train and after 45 minutes I can arrive in the middle of Barcelona on Passeig de Gracia.
For those of you who always think of me basking in the sunshine, I just need to tell you – today it rained – all the time.

But I still went to Barcelona for the day

You have to start the day with a little something

Then I went to visit Santa Maria Del Mar.

We are reading a novel about the life and times of a boy who helped with the construction of this church – all the stones had to be carried from the quarries at Montjuic down to the site near the harbour where the cathedral was being built.

‘Una catedral construida pel poble i per al poble en la Barcelona medieval és l’escenari d’una trepidant història d’intriga, violència i passió.’

I am amazing myself by reading it in Catalan- missing some of the nuances but understanding the general drift. I am very slow and not only because of the language – it is not a book that I imagine has a happy ending!

Medieval life was hard.

Today the doors were closed so I walked around the outside.
Drinking fountains opposite the front door.  I expect when the stone carriers arrived they were always thirsty

Something that looked like a baseball net on one wall but I imagine it was an old lamp holder.

And at the back the view up to the old Born market hall.

Next stop was the Santa Llucia Christmas market to search for small figures to decorate the cake. Most of the stalls sell all that you need for creating a Pessebre – the Catalan nativity scene – including the famous caganers.

The tackiest ones have piles of Tiòs ready for December 24th

All day I hunted for these very comfortable house shoes

This shoe shop was very stylish and friendly but didn’t have what I wanted.

In the end I found them back in Granollers!
Where I also caught sight of Santa Claus shopping in the rain.