Barcelona: Day 4
We caught the metro to another side of town this morning in search of Encants Vells, the flea market that takes place three times a week at Plaza de les Glories. We arrived at the plaza to find scores of vendors with their wares spread out on blankets on the ground. Walking through, we saw nothing but junky stuff: old clothes, books, videos, electronics. Very disappointing. We were getting ready to make our way further on when Brad spotted the real flea market just across the road from the plaza. There the vendors had tables or proper stalls to display their wares. There was still quite a lot of junk, but we also saw collectables as well as furniture, hardware, tools ... even electrical appliances. Again, we looked but did not buy.
After the flea market we walked up Avinguda Diagonal towards the Temple of the Sagrada Familia, architect Antoni Gaudi's last work and obsession. Walking up the Avinguda Diagonal we got another view of the city. The buildings were not so grand, the streets a little rougher and dirtier. Even so, we still felt quite safe. Brad and I had both seen dozens of photos of Sagrada Familia and were hoping we'd like the temple better once we saw it in person. In photos the temple looks like a very gaudy (pardon the pun) stone structure, with what look like globs of cement drooping off spiky spires. Well, neither of us cared for Sagrada Familia in person, either. In fact it looked worse up close. I hadn't realized that the tops of the spires had colored tiles on them. They were arranged in the same style one sees in the Modernist houses designed by Gaudi, but they looked so out of place on the temple. I was surprised to see the word Hosannah emblazoned repeatedly on the spires. The stone letters looked very clunky. Gaudi died before the temple was finished, run over by a streetcar. He is buried in the crypt of Sagrada Familia, ironically in the gothic portion of the temple that was there before Gaudi's work began. Work on the temple is still ongoing and controversial. There are some that believe the temple should be left unfinished. Still others believe it should be torn down.
From the temple we took a stroll along Avinguda Gaudi. Like many of the large boulevards in Barcelona, the center of the street is a wide pedestrian walkway. At the other end of Avinguda Gaudi is another Modernist architectural creation, The Hospital de La Santa Creu i Sant Pau. The architect of the Hospital is Lluis Domenech i Montaner, one of Gaudi's contemporaries. The hospital is quite a complex with several pavilions, covered corridors and garden areas spread over nine city blocks. The design of the buildings is a blend of traditional and modern features using materials like plain brick, colorful ceramic tiles and stained glass. The hospital was founded in 1401, is Europe's second oldest hospital and is still in use today.
We caught the metro back to the center of town and stopped off at a fancy little cafe in the Eixample district. My tummy had begun to feel a little queasy and all I wanted was a coke to help it settle down. Brad, however, ordered a cortado, an espresso (or short coffee) with some warm milk added. From the cafe it was a short walk to Casa Mila, another of Gaudi's architectural projects. Casa Mila is an eight-story apartment complex built between 1906 and 1910 with a radical design featuring a wavy undulating facade, fanciful chimney pots and Barcelona's first underground parking garage. Casa Mila is referred to as La Pedrera (stone quarry); it resembles a cliff face with cave-like windows and ironwork that resembles seaweed. As radical as the Sagrada Familia, I liked Casa Mila much better. Inside you can visit an apartment that is furnished as it would have appeared during Gaudi's time at the turn of the 20th century.
A few blocks from Casa Mila is Colmado Quilez, a gourmet grocery store with a wonderful selection of sherry, cheeses, coffee, candies and, best of all, chocolate. For lunch we stopped into a little nearby cafe. We both had tortilla bocadillos (omelet sandwichs). This time the omelets were made of egg only and they were cooked very thin on a griddle. Tasty and plain enough for my tender tummy.
We stopped back at the hotel to rest our weary feet. Dinner was tapas once again in Barri Gotic. Tapas suit us perfectly. I ordered one plain dish that my stomach could handle. Brad ordered other dishes that were spicier to suit his taste and appetite.
We caught the metro to another side of town this morning in search of Encants Vells, the flea market that takes place three times a week at Plaza de les Glories. We arrived at the plaza to find scores of vendors with their wares spread out on blankets on the ground. Walking through, we saw nothing but junky stuff: old clothes, books, videos, electronics. Very disappointing. We were getting ready to make our way further on when Brad spotted the real flea market just across the road from the plaza. There the vendors had tables or proper stalls to display their wares. There was still quite a lot of junk, but we also saw collectables as well as furniture, hardware, tools ... even electrical appliances. Again, we looked but did not buy.
After the flea market we walked up Avinguda Diagonal towards the Temple of the Sagrada Familia, architect Antoni Gaudi's last work and obsession. Walking up the Avinguda Diagonal we got another view of the city. The buildings were not so grand, the streets a little rougher and dirtier. Even so, we still felt quite safe. Brad and I had both seen dozens of photos of Sagrada Familia and were hoping we'd like the temple better once we saw it in person. In photos the temple looks like a very gaudy (pardon the pun) stone structure, with what look like globs of cement drooping off spiky spires. Well, neither of us cared for Sagrada Familia in person, either. In fact it looked worse up close. I hadn't realized that the tops of the spires had colored tiles on them. They were arranged in the same style one sees in the Modernist houses designed by Gaudi, but they looked so out of place on the temple. I was surprised to see the word Hosannah emblazoned repeatedly on the spires. The stone letters looked very clunky. Gaudi died before the temple was finished, run over by a streetcar. He is buried in the crypt of Sagrada Familia, ironically in the gothic portion of the temple that was there before Gaudi's work began. Work on the temple is still ongoing and controversial. There are some that believe the temple should be left unfinished. Still others believe it should be torn down.
From the temple we took a stroll along Avinguda Gaudi. Like many of the large boulevards in Barcelona, the center of the street is a wide pedestrian walkway. At the other end of Avinguda Gaudi is another Modernist architectural creation, The Hospital de La Santa Creu i Sant Pau. The architect of the Hospital is Lluis Domenech i Montaner, one of Gaudi's contemporaries. The hospital is quite a complex with several pavilions, covered corridors and garden areas spread over nine city blocks. The design of the buildings is a blend of traditional and modern features using materials like plain brick, colorful ceramic tiles and stained glass. The hospital was founded in 1401, is Europe's second oldest hospital and is still in use today.
We caught the metro back to the center of town and stopped off at a fancy little cafe in the Eixample district. My tummy had begun to feel a little queasy and all I wanted was a coke to help it settle down. Brad, however, ordered a cortado, an espresso (or short coffee) with some warm milk added. From the cafe it was a short walk to Casa Mila, another of Gaudi's architectural projects. Casa Mila is an eight-story apartment complex built between 1906 and 1910 with a radical design featuring a wavy undulating facade, fanciful chimney pots and Barcelona's first underground parking garage. Casa Mila is referred to as La Pedrera (stone quarry); it resembles a cliff face with cave-like windows and ironwork that resembles seaweed. As radical as the Sagrada Familia, I liked Casa Mila much better. Inside you can visit an apartment that is furnished as it would have appeared during Gaudi's time at the turn of the 20th century.
A few blocks from Casa Mila is Colmado Quilez, a gourmet grocery store with a wonderful selection of sherry, cheeses, coffee, candies and, best of all, chocolate. For lunch we stopped into a little nearby cafe. We both had tortilla bocadillos (omelet sandwichs). This time the omelets were made of egg only and they were cooked very thin on a griddle. Tasty and plain enough for my tender tummy.
We stopped back at the hotel to rest our weary feet. Dinner was tapas once again in Barri Gotic. Tapas suit us perfectly. I ordered one plain dish that my stomach could handle. Brad ordered other dishes that were spicier to suit his taste and appetite.
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