Barcelona photo journal

Day 1: Ramblas to Palau Guell

The Ramblas, at least in October, is nothing like it used to be. When we were in Barcelona 10 or so years ago, the Ramblas was a bustling ramble of people walking, people in crazy costumes wanting you to pay to have a photo taken with them, and also lots of birds for sale. This year there was none of that, just people walking and a very obvious police presence. So I have no pictures of the Ramblas. The Palau Guell, however, which is right off the Ramblas was as great as it was last time. Of course, the pleasure of seeing Gaudi’s chimneys for the very first time is not an experience you can ever recreate, seeing them as familiar friends was fun, too. The Palau is the work of a young Gaudi who was given carte blanche by a wonderful patron, a patron who trusted him. In many ways the Palau is my favorite example of Gaudi’s work. I love how it is tucked into a neighborhood without a ton of fanfare (just a really cool gated entrance). It is also the only example of Gaudi’s work where you actually get to see most of the building. Because of the constraints of the site, you also get a real sense of his design process and the creative way he solved design problems. Constraint is a great feeder of creativity.

Day 2: was officially titled “Gothic to Gehry” (copyright Dr. B.) We started the day with a guided tour of the Palau de la Música Catalana - the gorgeous music hall designed by Gaudi’s teacher. Just as fun and impressive as I remembered it. This time I noticed all the mosaic and rosette detailing and could really see how it influenced Gaudi, how he took the ideas and made them more modern. For lunch we headed deep into the Gothic Quarter for a Rick Steves recommendation for tapas. It was a great little dive called La Plata, with perfect, authentic, no nonsense tapas and a chill bartender who just ordered up one of everything for us. Afterwards, we walked down to the waterfront, which last time seemed so far away, but after having walked the Camino seemed not so far away at all. We went to Barceloneta so that I could revisit and pay homage to Frank Gehry’s Fish - a soaring metallic sculpture Gehry created for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. It is also special to me because Gehry did a capsule collection for Tiffany and I have his fish necklace which I wear everyday. On the way home we passed through the Born.

Day 3: This was Gaudi x 3 Day with Casa Mila and Casa Battlo in the day and the Sagrada Famiglia in the evening. The apartment we stayed in was in the Eixample neighborhood, which was an excellent location for visiting Gaudi’s Casas since they were all very close. Casa Mila is the apartment block with the fanciful iron balconies, each of which is entirely different. It is not as fun as the Palau Guell but it is interesting to experience an apartment by Gaudi and this museum/home has the most information about Gaudi as an architect, making it really worth visiting. We also saw a special exhibition dedicated to artists working with stone, which was great in and of itself and also wonderful because you experience another section of the Gaudi apartment that you normally don’t get to visit. So if there is a special exhibition when you are there, it is definitely worth adding it on. The roof is also really fun. Casa Battlo is the house with the dragon scales and although it was fun to see, it was also a bit of a let down to visit. Since I have no idea of when I might be back, I’m still glad we went. You don’t get to see much of the inside, just one apartment, and the roof was crowded even in October. But you do get up close to the dragon scales. In my opinion, this house doesn’t justify its entry price the way the other two do. In the evening we walked over to Sagrada Familia to take a look at it during golden hour. It looked like honeycomb! We hadn’t tried to book far enough in advance so we didn’t get inside - it was completely booked out! There was the option to go for mass but we weren’t sure we would get in. In fact when we arrived at 6pm, people were already waiting in line in the hopes of getting in for the free international mass at 8pm!

Day 4: This day I was tour guide and followed along with Rick Steves Barri Gottic walking tour which was lots of fun. We walked from our apartment in the Eixample, down the Paseig de Gracia, past the block of discord, until we hit the Placa de Cataluna. From there we visited Dos Gatz, the cafe Picasso used to hang out in, then we got to the Cathedral right as the Sardana dances were happening which was fun becasue we hadn’t seen them before. Then we visited my favorite little hidden gem, the 4 leftover columns of a Roman temple that are tucked away and exist in the courtyard of what is currently an apartment building. Those columns really left an impression on me when we first found them all tucked away 15 years ago. The idea of years and years of humanity built on top of itself, and these ancient Roman columns just sitting in a courtyard, you just don’t get that in San Francisco!!! We went back to the placa de Cataluna where they were having a food fair, and got our favorite, jamon and manchego in a cone! In the afternoon we headed over to Park Guell. i almost can’t write about it, it was so disappointing. When we visited Parc Guell 15 years ago, it was crowded but in a normal way of something being crowded and there was such a joyfulness. This time, because Barcelona has become so popular, the best part of the park, the Gaudi part, which is supposed to be the entrance, isn’t. In an effort to control crowds, you walk past it and way up into the park and you get in who knows where and have to figure out where the actual bit you want to see is. And I knew I just wanted the Gaudi part with the undulating mosaic benches and the lizard staircase and the colonnade. But by controlling access, you now get there backwards and it doesn’t feel right. The whole thing just made me sad and sick. I wasn’t allowed to experience the park the way it was meant to be experienced, the way I have experienced it in the past. The joyfulness was just not there. Barcelona as a city has been inundated with tourists and now instead of being a wonderful place to discover, it has become a crowd controlled slog at every turn. (I was smiling in all the photos though :)

All photos taken with a Fuji XT-1 and edited in Lightroom.

Copyright Ginevra Held 2024.