BARCELLONA, SPAIN APRIL 16, 2008
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain and the capital. It is also the most populous city of the Spanish region of Catalonia with a population of over 3 million in the metropolitan area. The layout and design of the city is typical of the beautiful cities of Europe with its wide tree lined boulevards. An interesting feature is at every major intersection each of the 4 corners is cut off to provide a more open airy and bright intersection.
Barcelona was founded as a Roman city and became the capital of the Counts of Barcelona and the Crown of Aragon. The city’s cultural roots go back over 2000 years and the Catalan region extends beyond the Spanish-French border. The Catalan people feel a strong sense of national unity almost separate from Spain. Barcelona is a bilingual city: Catalan and Spanish are both official languages and widely spoken.
Catalan modernism architecture (often known as Art Nouveau in the rest of Europe) developed between 1885 and 1950 and left an important legacy in Barcelona. Especially remarkable is the work of Antoni Gaudi, which can be seen throughout the city. We were fortunate enough to take a tour to Gaudi’s La Pedrera.
The building La Pedrera, built from 1906 to 1912, never allowed itself to be constrained by the rules and aesthetics. From a very early age Gaudi manifested a great interest in shapes, colors, and the geometry of nature and sought his own particular resources and solutions for the artisan crafts. See the unusual appearance of the curves of the balconies and the avount guard treatment of the chimneys on the roof where Judy stands.
Later we visited the Picasso Museum. Picasso donated his early works to this museum, but his name was not added to it until after his death. It seems that Franco was still alive at the time and since Picasso was a Communist and Franco was a Fascist, Franco prevented the Picasso name to be applied. Two years later after Franco’s death the name was changed. Some of Picasso’s work at age 14 is staggeringly advanced even for a mature artist much less for such a youth.
Finally note after being exposed to art in all forms we were treated to a beautiful sunset. The beauty of nature surpasses the best of mankind’s efforts.
We have tacked on a picture taken on board the ship in the theater where we booked a box seat for one of the special performances.
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain and the capital. It is also the most populous city of the Spanish region of Catalonia with a population of over 3 million in the metropolitan area. The layout and design of the city is typical of the beautiful cities of Europe with its wide tree lined boulevards. An interesting feature is at every major intersection each of the 4 corners is cut off to provide a more open airy and bright intersection.
Barcelona was founded as a Roman city and became the capital of the Counts of Barcelona and the Crown of Aragon. The city’s cultural roots go back over 2000 years and the Catalan region extends beyond the Spanish-French border. The Catalan people feel a strong sense of national unity almost separate from Spain. Barcelona is a bilingual city: Catalan and Spanish are both official languages and widely spoken.
Catalan modernism architecture (often known as Art Nouveau in the rest of Europe) developed between 1885 and 1950 and left an important legacy in Barcelona. Especially remarkable is the work of Antoni Gaudi, which can be seen throughout the city. We were fortunate enough to take a tour to Gaudi’s La Pedrera.
The building La Pedrera, built from 1906 to 1912, never allowed itself to be constrained by the rules and aesthetics. From a very early age Gaudi manifested a great interest in shapes, colors, and the geometry of nature and sought his own particular resources and solutions for the artisan crafts. See the unusual appearance of the curves of the balconies and the avount guard treatment of the chimneys on the roof where Judy stands.
Later we visited the Picasso Museum. Picasso donated his early works to this museum, but his name was not added to it until after his death. It seems that Franco was still alive at the time and since Picasso was a Communist and Franco was a Fascist, Franco prevented the Picasso name to be applied. Two years later after Franco’s death the name was changed. Some of Picasso’s work at age 14 is staggeringly advanced even for a mature artist much less for such a youth.
Finally note after being exposed to art in all forms we were treated to a beautiful sunset. The beauty of nature surpasses the best of mankind’s efforts.
We have tacked on a picture taken on board the ship in the theater where we booked a box seat for one of the special performances.
