6 November ’05, Sunday.
The plan for the day was to catch one of the “hop on – hop off” buses. For Barcelona, we felt it was really needed to get a feel for what was available. The censes figures are hard to pinpoint, but it seems to be somewhere around 4 million population. There are hardly any single family homes, but apartments and condominiums abound everywhere throughout the city. The “tourist sites”, are inter-mixed through it all, and that is why we decided to take the “hop” bus. There are two routes that take about 2 hours each to cover all. After a full day of bus rides, a Mexican lunch, and a hardy walk for another hour, we were ready to head back to the barn. Tonight we will go over all the material, maps, and the remembrances of the day to decide just what we want to re-visit over the next day or two. Unfortunately a couple more days just won’t do Barcelona justice. Without going into a lot of detail about anyone of the sites we saw today, I’ll just give a small sample. We really enjoyed seeing the Eizample neighborhood with all the “Modernisme” (Catalan Art Nouveau) buildings by Antoni Gaudi and others from the mid 1800’s to 1926. These buildings are very unusual in exterior design, but yet fit so well with everything that was built, and it still being built side by side of each other. We also saw most of the 1992 Summer Olympics grounds and buildings, including the stadium and the Olympic city where every athlete lived and shopped. It was spread all over the city. There were so many parks and boulevards that it was easy to lose track of them. And the beaches…Barcelona has some wonderful beaches that spread from one end of the city to the other…all with wonderful sand and clear blue waters. The National Palace…Wow !!! Then the one site we have put on the “must see” list. The Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) Church. Gaudi’s most famous and persistent work, and yet still unfinished. The work on the Sagrada was started in 1883, and unfortunately before it was finished, Gaudi stepped in front of a tram in 1926 and was killed. There is no doubt, the work stopped on the church for a number of years. Then others picked up Gaudi’s dream and continued building this magnificent church. Like I said, it still isn’t finished, but the word on the street says it will be finished in 20 years. We have met people that were here 4 years ago and told us that they have seen a great deal of change. One of the reasons that it is taking so long now, is that it is being funded by private donations and entry fees. I’ll save the additional information until after we have a chance to visit tomorrow.
The plan for the day was to catch one of the “hop on – hop off” buses. For Barcelona, we felt it was really needed to get a feel for what was available. The censes figures are hard to pinpoint, but it seems to be somewhere around 4 million population. There are hardly any single family homes, but apartments and condominiums abound everywhere throughout the city. The “tourist sites”, are inter-mixed through it all, and that is why we decided to take the “hop” bus. There are two routes that take about 2 hours each to cover all. After a full day of bus rides, a Mexican lunch, and a hardy walk for another hour, we were ready to head back to the barn. Tonight we will go over all the material, maps, and the remembrances of the day to decide just what we want to re-visit over the next day or two. Unfortunately a couple more days just won’t do Barcelona justice. Without going into a lot of detail about anyone of the sites we saw today, I’ll just give a small sample. We really enjoyed seeing the Eizample neighborhood with all the “Modernisme” (Catalan Art Nouveau) buildings by Antoni Gaudi and others from the mid 1800’s to 1926. These buildings are very unusual in exterior design, but yet fit so well with everything that was built, and it still being built side by side of each other. We also saw most of the 1992 Summer Olympics grounds and buildings, including the stadium and the Olympic city where every athlete lived and shopped. It was spread all over the city. There were so many parks and boulevards that it was easy to lose track of them. And the beaches…Barcelona has some wonderful beaches that spread from one end of the city to the other…all with wonderful sand and clear blue waters. The National Palace…Wow !!! Then the one site we have put on the “must see” list. The Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) Church. Gaudi’s most famous and persistent work, and yet still unfinished. The work on the Sagrada was started in 1883, and unfortunately before it was finished, Gaudi stepped in front of a tram in 1926 and was killed. There is no doubt, the work stopped on the church for a number of years. Then others picked up Gaudi’s dream and continued building this magnificent church. Like I said, it still isn’t finished, but the word on the street says it will be finished in 20 years. We have met people that were here 4 years ago and told us that they have seen a great deal of change. One of the reasons that it is taking so long now, is that it is being funded by private donations and entry fees. I’ll save the additional information until after we have a chance to visit tomorrow.