It’s our last day in Barcelona, and also our last day in Spain! There is just so much to see and do in Barcelona, we could have spent a week here alone. So today we have decided to go and look through the Gothic Quarter, particularly at the Palau de la Musica Catalana and the underground ruins of the Roman city Barcino.
Mark says “We started with the Palau de la Musica Catalana, which was founded by the Orfeo Catalana choral society and completed in 1908. It was an amazing old building, all decked out in roses, reflective of Modernisme and the socialist ideals of the architect. Surprisingly it held around 2100 people, something we would not be able to do today in such a confined space. The stained glass inverted dome ceiling was the standout attraction though”. Yeah, the ceiling was pretty amazing. They called it ‘The Sun’ as it brought the place to life. It let in all the light to make the roses grow (even though they were ceramic). There was also an outdoor balcony that was filled with pillars covered in brightly covered mosaics. We had really wanted to go out there, but it was all closed off to the public, and we weren’t even allowed to take photos (although I did a sneaky one when we were leaving). Having said that (about photos), it was really hard to get even a good photo of the outside of the place – the streets are so narrow, there is nowhere to go to get a photo that will take it all in. According to the tour guide, this is why the pillars were on the balcony – to create a sense of space and perspective.
Back to Mark again: “Next stop was the Museo d’Historia which in reality was a tour of ancient Roman remains of Barcino which dated back to about 12 BC. That’s right, this town is older than Catholicism. The ruins are all underground and walking through gave a fantastic perspective on what life would have been like for a normal Roman worker – salting and curing fish, making wine, or washing the rich people’s clothes – it was very interesting.
We gazed in wonder at the city wall and its (underground) dimensions. It wasn’t until we were walking around outside later in the day, that we realized great chunks of the wall and its sentry posts had been retained, and built around. I just can’t imagine how anyone might have got through those defences.
The last part of the museum was an old royal palace (Palau Reial) which was built into the Roman wall. Really, it was two rooms – a chapel, Capella de Santa Agata, and a hall, Salo del Tinell. Neither were spectacular, however the hall was where Isabel and Fernando received Christopher Columbus upon his return from discovering the America’s, and was used during the Spanish Inquisition, so it was good history to soak up. How many people can say they’ve been in that room?”
Michelle: I was pretty chuffed to be in that room to be honest. With spending so much time studying Isabella and Ferdinand (yes, their names get translated all different ways), it was pretty exciting to be standing somewhere they had been standing. It was a shame though, they had put in a false floor and created a huge exhibition on the history of water supply for Barcelona. There was no mention anywhere of the importance of the room anywhere to be seen. So I snuck off the false floor and made sure I touched the brickwork ;-)
We decided we really needed to drop into the beach as well - so we took a quick look there, decided we didn't really want to go for a swim, and then headed back to the hotel instead.
Mark says: “We were pretty exhausted after these tours so we took a break back at the hotel, before heading to Las Ramblas for dinner. The avenue is lined on both sides by shops, cafes, bars and historic buildings. Down the centre is a 5 metre wide pedestrian-only walking strip. We arrived at the avenue around 8pm and could hardly move for people – this was a Tuesday evening, nothing special happening. From what an Indian bar tender was saying this amount of people was normal. Not only that, it never stopped, this was a 24-7 street all year round”.
We left Las Ramblas and caught a taxi back to the hotel. We had a really cool cabbie who spoke English and dreamt of visiting Australia one day. He was a windsurfer and thought that windsurfing from Melbourne to Sydney would be pretty exciting. He then acknowledged that the waves at Barcelona were probably very different to the waves in Sydney.
So after a nice little chat about Australia, we climbed into bed and just happened to turn on the TV. We have hardly seen any TV as we’re normally too exhausted, but it’s fun watching things like CSI that have been dubbed over in Spanish (Horatio sounds hilarious). There was an Aussie movie on, certainly not anything many Aussies would have seen I am sure, as it was just so bloody silly. It gave us a very clear idea why most people think they will be eaten by some animal when they come to Australia though. It was set in the Northern Territory (they kept switching from the Kimberleys to Kakadu in landscapes) and was all about a rogue killer (giant) croc! Radha Mitchell was in it – her dog (a labbie) was like Lassie and sensed things and ended up sacrificing itself so she could be saved, by the lead guy, who plays Brady Black in Days of our Lives (yes, I can be a soapie addict at times). There were lots of Aussie actors in it, and it was not only a very funny film, but it was even funnier listening to the Spanish overdubs. So, much entertained we were, on our last night in Barcelona!
No comments:
Post a Comment