We had a very busy day today. We started by taking the Walking Tour from the Tourist Information centre, and we would recommend it to anyone, particularly people like us that don’t know a lot about Spanish recent history. But even before we started the tour this city had a little surprise for us.
The tour started in Catalunya Square, which was in the middle of it’s clean up from the festivities of the previous night. Standing next to the line up of portaloos in one corner were some open air urinals made out of the same injection molded material as the portaloos. Each had standing room for four men, each facing inwards towards a central column, but with half height walls between them. Just the sight of these provided amusement for many passers by, but after seeing perpetual urinating and smelling stale urine on every street and back alley throughout Europe, I think that they are a fantastic idea, there should be more of them.
As we gathered together to go on our tour, we should have known that we were going to have trouble from the start. We were all given little receivers to tune into our guides mike. One guy couldn’t get his to go and after swapping headsets, ear pieces, batteries and units several times, it was discovered that he kept turning it off instead of adjusting the volume. Another woman was given three units in quick succession, which she dropped onto the concrete floor each time only to exclaim “This one doesn’t work either”. I don’t think she would if she was dropped onto the floor either.
We finally got under way, and discovered the ‘Four Cats’ café which is when Picasso and his bohemian mates used to hang out. This is where he held his first exhibition, which was a series of 25 charcoal drawings stuck to the walls with thumb tacks. It is now an over priced café, but well worth the look inside.
We found our way towards the cathedral, churches, Roman cemeteries, residences of Kings and Queens, sections of the Roman wall, and the remains of the Roman temple to Augustine. Along the way we were treated to stories and anecdotes that gave us a far greater understanding of the history of Barcelona, Spain, and Europe. We learnt that this city was built by the Romans as a colony which is why there is no amphitheatre, but it follows the same pattern as many of the old Roman cities, Rome, Paris, London.
We learnt that the reason that there is always a courtyard in front of a church is that they used to bury people there and so no one built on top of that space. We learnt that a Cathedral was not just for praying, but it was a social place where people gathered, where the guilds gathered, where they came to communicate, where they came to learn and listen. We saw the church where the 42 children were killed in a bomb blast during the Civil War. The same church whose front is covered by pock marks from gunfire during the same Civil War and executions during Franco’s dictatorship. We learnt that the Spanish Civil War was a rehearsal for WWII with Hitler supplying Franco with arms and support, testing the means and the methods for his own war to come. It was also the first time that civilian targets were used in warfare, and as we know that has continued until our current conflicts.
We saw the street down which Santa Eulalia was rolled down in a barrel full of knives, as one of her 13 martyrdoms/tortures by the Romans for her Christian beliefs. Our guide expressed his views on relics and remains that are found in churches throughout Europe. He believes that they are and have been very important for the wealth of the church. If there is a relic people will come, people will believe, people will give money, people will believe that they are paying for atonement. No relic, no money. But are they real? Who knows.
Being in the middle of festivities, our tour had to take a bit of evasive action at times to avoid various events and crowds, like the dancing in some of the squares, like the human towers, like the entertainers. It was because of this that we lost two of the members of our group. We were about an hour into the tour when one of the woman said “I think we’ve lost my husband, I had better go and look for him”. He hadn’t been seen for 20 minutes. He was the one at the start who kept switching off his unit, and she seemed to think that he had become engrossed with some of the dancers. Twenty minutes later she came back and said “I can’t find him”. Not sure if she was wanting us to help her find him or not.
After the tour we went for a walk up to the castle ‘Castell de Montjuic’. It was quite a climb and one that you can take by cable car if you feel so inclined, or rather that you feel disinclined to walk. Once at the top we found a small group of traditional drummers in very bright regalia, were putting on a display that involved a lot of marching back and forwards, throwing and waving flags, juggling batons and sticks, and making a lot of noise.
Once that was done with, we crossed the drawbridge into the heart of the castle, where there were three guys putting on a trampoline/gymnastics type show to entertain the kids. This is all part of the festivities. We have found that throughout the celebrations that we have seen there has been a lot of entertainment for kids and promotions for family values. Its great to see, and entertaining for everyone. After doing a circumnavigation and looking down on the Olympic stadium at the bottom of the hill we descended and headed towards Placa Espanya, where there is going to be a fireworks display tonight.
We arrived just on dark and they were playing a lightshow through the fountain at Font Montjuic, all to the beats and sounds of music. Very cool. But the best was yet to come. The fireworks were absolutely amazing, the best that we have ever seen. The whole show was a visual and musical feast, with the fountain on the ground, right up to the most amazing and synchronized bursts of colours in the heavens above us. Once the fireworks started, the show went for 35 minutes non-stop. Wow!!!
This was the final act of the celebrations and drew the people by their thousands. The streets in the whole area were completely packed with standing room only. But even with this volume of people the Metro had us home in no time. Every train had twice as many units and they were running every two minutes. They really know how to move a crowd around here. However there was still the usual pushing and jostling that you get with any crowd. There was one particular woman near us who was being particularly … pressing. I had the strong impression that she dipped her hand into my pocket, but I wasn’t too worried because all she got was a handful of used tissues. It saved me finding a rubbish bin.
The tour started in Catalunya Square, which was in the middle of it’s clean up from the festivities of the previous night. Standing next to the line up of portaloos in one corner were some open air urinals made out of the same injection molded material as the portaloos. Each had standing room for four men, each facing inwards towards a central column, but with half height walls between them. Just the sight of these provided amusement for many passers by, but after seeing perpetual urinating and smelling stale urine on every street and back alley throughout Europe, I think that they are a fantastic idea, there should be more of them.
As we gathered together to go on our tour, we should have known that we were going to have trouble from the start. We were all given little receivers to tune into our guides mike. One guy couldn’t get his to go and after swapping headsets, ear pieces, batteries and units several times, it was discovered that he kept turning it off instead of adjusting the volume. Another woman was given three units in quick succession, which she dropped onto the concrete floor each time only to exclaim “This one doesn’t work either”. I don’t think she would if she was dropped onto the floor either.
We finally got under way, and discovered the ‘Four Cats’ café which is when Picasso and his bohemian mates used to hang out. This is where he held his first exhibition, which was a series of 25 charcoal drawings stuck to the walls with thumb tacks. It is now an over priced café, but well worth the look inside.
We found our way towards the cathedral, churches, Roman cemeteries, residences of Kings and Queens, sections of the Roman wall, and the remains of the Roman temple to Augustine. Along the way we were treated to stories and anecdotes that gave us a far greater understanding of the history of Barcelona, Spain, and Europe. We learnt that this city was built by the Romans as a colony which is why there is no amphitheatre, but it follows the same pattern as many of the old Roman cities, Rome, Paris, London.
We learnt that the reason that there is always a courtyard in front of a church is that they used to bury people there and so no one built on top of that space. We learnt that a Cathedral was not just for praying, but it was a social place where people gathered, where the guilds gathered, where they came to communicate, where they came to learn and listen. We saw the church where the 42 children were killed in a bomb blast during the Civil War. The same church whose front is covered by pock marks from gunfire during the same Civil War and executions during Franco’s dictatorship. We learnt that the Spanish Civil War was a rehearsal for WWII with Hitler supplying Franco with arms and support, testing the means and the methods for his own war to come. It was also the first time that civilian targets were used in warfare, and as we know that has continued until our current conflicts.
We saw the street down which Santa Eulalia was rolled down in a barrel full of knives, as one of her 13 martyrdoms/tortures by the Romans for her Christian beliefs. Our guide expressed his views on relics and remains that are found in churches throughout Europe. He believes that they are and have been very important for the wealth of the church. If there is a relic people will come, people will believe, people will give money, people will believe that they are paying for atonement. No relic, no money. But are they real? Who knows.
Being in the middle of festivities, our tour had to take a bit of evasive action at times to avoid various events and crowds, like the dancing in some of the squares, like the human towers, like the entertainers. It was because of this that we lost two of the members of our group. We were about an hour into the tour when one of the woman said “I think we’ve lost my husband, I had better go and look for him”. He hadn’t been seen for 20 minutes. He was the one at the start who kept switching off his unit, and she seemed to think that he had become engrossed with some of the dancers. Twenty minutes later she came back and said “I can’t find him”. Not sure if she was wanting us to help her find him or not.
After the tour we went for a walk up to the castle ‘Castell de Montjuic’. It was quite a climb and one that you can take by cable car if you feel so inclined, or rather that you feel disinclined to walk. Once at the top we found a small group of traditional drummers in very bright regalia, were putting on a display that involved a lot of marching back and forwards, throwing and waving flags, juggling batons and sticks, and making a lot of noise.
Once that was done with, we crossed the drawbridge into the heart of the castle, where there were three guys putting on a trampoline/gymnastics type show to entertain the kids. This is all part of the festivities. We have found that throughout the celebrations that we have seen there has been a lot of entertainment for kids and promotions for family values. Its great to see, and entertaining for everyone. After doing a circumnavigation and looking down on the Olympic stadium at the bottom of the hill we descended and headed towards Placa Espanya, where there is going to be a fireworks display tonight.
We arrived just on dark and they were playing a lightshow through the fountain at Font Montjuic, all to the beats and sounds of music. Very cool. But the best was yet to come. The fireworks were absolutely amazing, the best that we have ever seen. The whole show was a visual and musical feast, with the fountain on the ground, right up to the most amazing and synchronized bursts of colours in the heavens above us. Once the fireworks started, the show went for 35 minutes non-stop. Wow!!!
This was the final act of the celebrations and drew the people by their thousands. The streets in the whole area were completely packed with standing room only. But even with this volume of people the Metro had us home in no time. Every train had twice as many units and they were running every two minutes. They really know how to move a crowd around here. However there was still the usual pushing and jostling that you get with any crowd. There was one particular woman near us who was being particularly … pressing. I had the strong impression that she dipped her hand into my pocket, but I wasn’t too worried because all she got was a handful of used tissues. It saved me finding a rubbish bin.
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