Again, running out of time - so much more to see

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  Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Sunday, October 9, 2011

Getting close to the end of my stay in Barcelona and to the end of my trip. Heading home Tuesday, flying back to Heathrow and from there onto Melbourne. What a great experience it has been. Barcelona has now taken the title of 'My Most Favourite City' previously held by both Florence and Kyoto. Over time, the City designers have beautifully and efficiently blended both the Medieval and the modern parts of Barcelona and surrounding areas into one whole - Greater Barcelona. I discovered on the Tour Commentary that even the intersecting roads have a chamfer design to allow for easier vision - such thought to detail.

Barcelona continues to amaze. At around 7 am on a weekday here it is quiet (at least where I'm staying which is on a pretty busy road). At this time in Australia, we are already in grid lock; however, this morning (Sunday) when I opened the french doors at 4.50 am, to see what the weather was doing, I was surprised to see and hear people milling around and getting ready to go home after an evening's entertainment. It was even busier around 6 am. Then at 7 am, all quiet again. 

Restaurants tend to open their doors around 8 pm, so it is a late start, and given the tradition of siesta time during the middle of the day, Barcelona's rhythm is different to what I am used to; I think I could quite happily learn to adjust though. I'm not sure how hot it gets (or humid) here in Barcelona in Summer, but in just one day the weather here has turned. When I first arrived it was similar weather to Rome, but the very next day, even though the temperature was 22 deg, the wind was much cooler. Autumn has definitely arrived.  Glad to have some cool weather gear with me.

Today I plan on walking to La Sagrada Familia and hopefully onto Güell Park, both of which are outstanding examples of Antoni Gaudi's work. Tomorrow, I intend to do my favourite thing and just walk around, finding my way around by default. I shall confine my walk to the area close to home and if possible, extend it down towards the Port where I hope to take advantage of the elevator and ascend to the top of the Columbus Monument for a bird's eye view of Barcelona - one last time.

Yesterday I took the Blue Route of the Hop On-Hop Off Tour which took me past La Sagrada Familia and within walking distance of the Güell Park. If I'd had more time I could have taken the Blue Tram to the top of Mt Tibidabo. The tour also went by the Futbol Club Barcelona (the Barcelona Sports Stadium); I was told that I must take in a Football match whilst in Barcelona - perhaps next time. 

After completing the Blue Tour, I changed to the Red Tour and stopped off at the Joan Miró's Contemporary Art Exhibition on Montjuic, after which I hopped on the Teleferic de Montjuic (cable car) which I thought was going to take me down the mountain, but which instead took me up to the Castle (Castell de Montjuic) where Lluís Companys i Jover (the 123^rd President of Catalonia, Spain from 1934 and during the Spanish Civil War) was held prisoner after being captured by the Nazi Secret Police and handed over to Franco. He executed was by firing squad in 1940. (Info from Wikipedia, abbreviated).

Back to Joan Miró's contemporary art. I'm not sure whether the creators of contemporary art take their work seriously or not - certainly the academics give it significance based on their intellectual interpretation. Personally, if art needs to be explained in intellectual terms, then I'm not interested. As I strolled around the exhibition, listened to the (intellectual) audio, watched other people's reaction and tried to take it all seriously, it all seemed to me to parallel the 'emperor has no clothes'. Do people really take this type of creativity seriously or do they simply believe what others tell them - i.e. this is great art. I find it all too much - I can't help but feel that either the creators of this form of art (?) are either laughing at their audience or are disturbed in some way.This is my personal view point and obviously not shared by a large number of people who are prepared to pay hefty sums of money for dashes, dots, squiggles and gaudily-painted everyday objects balanced randomly and without any apparent relevance. Sorry - as you may have gathered, this type of work does absolutely nothing for me. Perhaps I lack imagination! Each to their own.

Now, Antoni Gaudi - his work displays creativity, imagination, mathematical design and brilliant execution! That's Art! That's Genius!

That's all for now - until next time - adios amigos!

 

 


 

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View from Cable Car	Sculpture on Montjuic	Creativity and fun everywhere	The owl features everywhere
View of Castle Moat on Montjuic	Entrance to Castle on Montjuic

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