Tour Of Barcelona - One Last Time

Tuesday 10 April

Our last full day out of the UK on our trip – it still seems unreal. Writing this sitting on my bed in Barcelona, I still cannot actually believe we are so close to going home. Writing the blogs has taken some considerable time while we have been away – and at times I have worried that I had got too far behind and might never catch up – but now I wonder what I am going to do once I do not have to write a daily diary – perhaps I will continue, just for me. Of course, we have more than ten thousand photos to process as well as over two hundred and fifty blog entries to re-read, to remind us of all our travels.

Today was another grey and overcast day, but the temperature was a little higher than yesterday – although it still necessitated warm clothing, something we are a little short of in our luggage. We decided to stop at the Barcelona cathedral, off the Via Laietana, before catching the bus to visit the Gaudi cathedral. There are hundreds of buildings under netting and scaffolding around the city and this cathedral is one of them – it seems to be a time of real spring-cleaning and repairs for many of the buildings in this city, which is great, as it means they won’t fall into disrepair, like some of their counterparts we have seen in Havana and Salvador.

This cathedral was started in 1298 and built around two aisles, covered by a huge dome, from which an elongated “crocheted spire” rises above. When walking towards the cathedral, the light shone through the spire, illuminating the lacy pattern of the stonework. The bell tower, soaring from the far end of the church was a tall solid brick cylinder with a massive iron bell enclosed by four semicircular intricate iron struts supporting an arrowed weather vane. The outside facade that we saw today was constructed in neo-gothic style in the 18th century. The cathedral, nestled between the ramparts of the roman watchtowers and walls, was nowhere near as crowded today as the last two days, so we were able to easily walk around in the quiet solemn gloom. Inside, all around the walls were small chapels and altars dedicated to different saints, dazzling red, gold and silver in the candlelight. From the top of the altars to the magnificent vaulted ceiling, large stained glass windows lined the walls. The huge dark wooden choir stalls, surrounded by an eight foot high, stone wall, carved with interlocking figures of saints sat in the middle of the cathedral between the two aisles, separating the main entrance doors from the altar area, so that those standing at the back of the church could only see the front altar by peering through a narrow wrought iron gateway within the stone wall. The main altar was in an area cordoned off to the public, which was being hoovered as we visited, but seemed much plainer with its red carpet and white altar cloth, and just a simple cross and a couple of icons – almost a sanctuary within the surrounding opulence. There was a crypt, accessed by stairs in front of the altar area, which was closed in by large iron gates. We wondered all the way round and couldn’t help comparing all this elaborate decoration with the simplicity of the new cathedral in Rio. We knew which we preferred.

From here we walked back to the main square at the top of La Rambla to catch another hop-on-hop-off bus to take us to the Gaudi cathedral of Sagrada Familia. Just the sheer height of the tall blackened spindly spires, and the towering yellow cranes made an awe-inspiring sight. Gaudi took over the completion works of the cathedral in 1891, and completely abandoned the original design in favour of one of his own. His plan included twelve very tall slender towers with tapering spires, each crowned with what looked like a bowl of fruit, to represent the twelve apostles. There was to be another two spires, one in the centre to represent the ‘Saviour’ and another to one side for the ‘Virgin Mary’. These would all culminate in a huge “fluted” building at the base, with intricate biblical carvings meandering across the brickwork in true Gaudi fashion. Like all cathedrals requiring such a high degree of specialized stonework, they take a century or more to build, and Gaudi, who died in 1926, only saw a small portion of his dream realized. Today the construction continues with the help of contributions from the public. The sculptures adorning the walls over the new entrance have been carved with modern simplistic lines, and the recently constructed spires are in a cleaner, paler stone, but all the work has been carried out in a sympathetic style to Gaudi’s plans and will be a real feat of engineering when complete – another twenty five years or more! Looking inside through some of the glassless windows we could see acres of scaffolding still in place – much seeming to be coated in rust as if it had been there for decades. The queues for ‘single’ tickets to enter the cathedral stretched halfway round the site, almost joining up with the ‘group’ queues, so we decided to feast on the outside fascia and wait for another, less busy time, to explore inside.

We then walked back to the main square, along the grid-like streets of this area of the city, finding a tapas bar for lunch. We enjoyed a wide selection of typical small dishes, each with its own particular flavour. It was just a short walk from here, back to the main square, where we decided to catch the hop-on bus to the marina – via the convoluted route around the northern and western parts of the city – listening once more to the commentary. The weather had become much colder during the morning, so we sat downstairs with the comfort of a heater at our feet. We saw once again, the Park Gueill, with its Gaudi residence high on the hill, the two football stadiums where many people with young boys alighted for a closer look, and the Grand Palace, built in 1929, looking like a mini-Versailles, but which now houses the National Art Gallery of Catalonia, giving an overview of cultural life in this region for the past thousand years. There is so much to see in Barcelona, that just a few days would never be enough, and Barcelona will definitely be on our list of ‘must visit’ again.

From the marina we wandered back to the hotel, trying to venture along streets we had not walked before, but that was becoming very difficult as we seemed to have covered most of the central area. For me this is a great venue for to visit – very flat for the most part, just hills surrounding the city, and lots to see, with a lively atmosphere, friendly people and great food. There was lots of traffic now the Spanish were back to work, but everyone obeys the traffic lights – stopping instantly at red lights, and pedestrians waiting to cross the road until the green man shows, even though there are no vehicles around. At zebra crossings cars stop almost immediately to let you cross the road. This wasn’t our recollection of English traffic.

Back at the hotel we indulged in our bottle of champagne from the ship – with the new stringent regulations at airports about carrying liquids, we would not be able to include it in our hand luggage, and as it weighs a good couple of kilos it would add considerably to our already overweight cases. It was very delicious although it felt a little decadent to be supping at 17.00.

Later in the evening, we made our way back to the Oyster Bar, still feeling a little light headed, to indulge in more of the delicious molluscs and even some more wine. Whilst we were there, Juz phoned again, and seemed to be very excited at the prospect of seeing us tomorrow – we are really looking forward to seeing her too, but also a bit sad, to be in sight of the end of our adventure. We rambled around the streets one last time, feasting on the atmosphere and lights. Our meandering route took us the long way back to the hotel, and by the time we arrived my legs were beginning to feel like I had run a marathon. I still had to sort out my case – Colin had done his this afternoon, whilst supping champagne, so he watched the highlights of the English teams playing football tonight, whilst I swapping chemisty things for clothes in my hand luggage – with the probable result that my case will be even heavier. But as this is the final time, we will just have to pay the overweight charges.

We set the alarm – one of the better “lasts” - as we still have a few things to do in the morning, and don’t want to be rushing around too much before setting off for the airport. Time for reminiscing is fast approaching and in the next few days, I will list our thoughts on ‘best’ and ‘worst’, ’likes’ and ‘dislikes’ in a summary of our journey – I feel that reflective period coming on. I can already say that two of the most interesting cities have seen, are the first and last we visited – Berlin and Barcelona - which in itself is quite surprising. I look forward to reviewing all the sights and experiences we have had, to find some more surprises.