Architecture in Barcelona

The first time I drove around the city of Barcelona, I was fascinated with the architecture in the city. While Gaudi’s influence is not always visible in modern architecture, the colors and the styles are prominent and spectacular. The risk has been taken in designing the city and in using bright colors.

Natural shapes inspired Gaudi that can be seen at Sagrada Familia basilica that has different architectural style on its four sides.

But other architects have also been brave in designing the building which are now the tourist delight.

It was amazing to see that building at corners had flat edges, thus making the street corners big enough to have terraces for communal and sociable atmosphere.

Traditional Catalan Gothic style is seen in many of the old buildings that are a feast to the eyes.

One can spend hours touring round the city, in the comfort of the car, just admiring the beauty of the architecture everywhere.

Sagrada Familia - An Architectural Beauty

The first time I saw Sagrada Familia, I was stunned by its beauty. Late evening, it was my first day at Barcelona and my BIL and my cousin took me for a drive to show me few monuments around the city. Even in the dark, I could not help gaping at this artistic architecture. My BIL promised to bring me back the next day.

Sagrada Familia is the Roman catholic church designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. It looked incomplete and there was some construction still going on although it is the world heritage site, BIL informs me that the construction has been going on since many years, since its commencement in 1882 and it will be completed in 2026, the centennial year of Antoni Gaudi’s death.

The present design is based on restructured versions of lost plans as well as modern adaptations. In the 20^th century the stones were carved by hand but the current technology allows the stones to be shaped by milling machine. You can see the contrast in the type of material that is used and the color of the stones.

We made one complete round around the church, it was late evening, so we waited for light to brighten up the church and give it 3D effect.

The interior is complete with light seeping in through stained glass windows and artistic carved high pillars.

Worth a visit.

An evening at Rambla Walking Plaza

It is the pleasant evening, there is a soft breeze and the sun is warm and golden. I am walking down the Rambla walking plaza for a leisure walk with my cousin. The first thing that attracts me is this woman dressed in gold, from head to toe, standing on a golden box with her golden wings spread out, looking like some sculpted fairy from outer space. I wouldn't have noticed her if she hadn't moved. While she stood still in the stiff golden garment, her head moved slowly, while her hands moved from her sides making a smooth curve in the air, till they came together in front, near her chest and joined in a greeting.  

There were many more street performers on this street. It must take a great skill to be able to stand still for a long time, without moving a limb and having a controlled movement, staring into empty space appearing to be in a pensive mood. What must be on their mind while they stand still? Will they be thinking about what dinner they will cook when they reach home? Whom did they meet? What did they chat? Are they happy people? or they have too much of a complicated life?. What if some bird sat on their head and poo, thinking it is a statue? Aha, here they have advantage of shooing the bird. Otherwise they stand still, not speaking a word, just staring at empty space for hours. How boring it must be? Is this better than holding 9 to 5 job?

Little further, I saw another performer who was still painting his body with oils. This is the risk they take of using oil paint on their skin. Does it cause rash? It must an effort to wash off the paint at the end of the day. He looks into the mirror and  paints around his eyes, working on every stroke to get the right expressions.

There is creativity in the design of their costume, in the colors they use, it might resemble some science fiction character or a known personality from a hollywood film.

Many people, (mainly tourists) stop by to click a picture, paying the artist for a pose. "I was there with this artists on the streets at Barcelona" will be their caption when these tourist will update their Facebook status. Many of their friends will 'Like' and some may even 'Comment'

We passed many such street performers as we walked down the plaza, admiring their creativity and their discipline in standing still as statue.

Further down the street are another set of artists who paint beautiful designs and caricatures on their canvas, some paint, making strokes with a great ease, creating designs in seconds. I am awed by such intricate designs which I know, it would take me hours to create such designs. 

There was a wax museum in this street too, wherein I had just met Picasso. He was such a great artist that he was frozen in wax for eternity. 

Lucky are those artists whose art-work lives for hundred years after they are gone but here, there are some who struggle and have a humble beginning……not sure how long they can carry on…..

The street is also dotted with artistic water fountain in bronze, placed at regular intervals that had clean drinking water, I know it was clean because I saw many people stop by to take a sip

It was an interesting walk. On the either side of the street were buildings with beautiful architecture and a typical grill-iron balconies. 

There are many bars along this path too, where I see people enjoy the Spanish cuisine and drink coffee or soft drinks or just relax and enjoy the hustle and bustle of the street. The street is crowded with hundreds of people walking at their own pace as if in a carnival parade.

After a long walk down the Rambla walking plaza for more three hours, We look around for some place to sit. We find the heavy iron chairs, all in row, but all are occupied. The tiredness shows in my eyes as I look at the people comfortably seated, do they see my tiredness? Should I ask somebody to get up and let me sit? I decide against it because they look too comfortable and are very relaxed. 

I walk a bit further, in a distance I see someone vacant the chair, I speed up my pace to occupy the chair before somebody else grabs it, (I am reminded of the musical chairs that i played during social events and my cunningness in grabbing the seat), soon one more seat is vacant next to me and my sas too sits next to me. For next one hour, we sit, people watching, catching up on our chat and enjoying the cool breeze that sweeps over the city of Barcelona.

Sleepless in Transit

The worst nightmare is when you have to waste time in between the flights. What does one do? You can read a book or work on your computer but when you are very tired all you want to do is to stretch, but where?

Whenever I visit Canary Islands, I am required to change flights and am forced to spend many hours in the transit. There are different routes to reach Canary Islands but go by any route I have to change three flights. This time I chose the route from Mumbai to Zurich to Barcelona by Swiss airlines and from Barcelona to Tenerife by domestic Vuelling airlines.

My flight from Zurich to Barcelona was delayed by over two hours, as the result I missed my connecting flight to Tenerife. For no fault of mine I had to buy a new ticket and catch the next flight that was after six hours.

But what should I do for six hours? Should I call my family in Barcelona to come to fetch me and take me out for lunch and sightseeing? What if they are busy? I looked around, many people were at the airport, some at the coffee shop, some at duty free shops and the most tired ones, sitting uncomfortably on the chairs or sitting on the floor.

There have been times when I have visited a family or whiled away my hours just walking around the airport, visiting duty free stores. I was not aware that anybody could use the VIP lounge for a fee. I was under the impression that such facility was available only for VIP personals, who travelled by business or First class. It was the first time I was to discover that VIP lounge is accessible regardless of class of ticket or airline we are travelling with.

For a fee of just twenty-five euro, I checked in VIP lounge.

It was a different experience all together. I helped myself with handful of assorted candies at the reception and entered a large salon. “All the refreshments and drinks are on the house” said the lady in charge. All that I wanted to do was to stretch on a sofa. My back was hurting bad from sitting at airports and flights for more than seventeen hours. 

 I looked around the lounge. Some people sat comfortable on large sofas, watching TV. There was a magazine rack that had newspapers and books of different publications. Next to the magazine rack was the snack station that contained assorted chips, pickled olives, croissants, biscuits and wine bottles immersed in ice bucket. I helped myself with chips, Olives and glass of wine, entered a rest area that had six cubicles, each with large beds. On the bed I lay, sipping wine and popping olives, flipping through the pages of a magazine till I doused off to sleep.

I slept for three hours.

Completely refreshed, I had shower and helped myself with Coffee and croissants.  It was self service, people picked whatever they wanted from cabinets of drinks, refreshments, packed salads. I walked around to do people watching and view watching till I saw cyber cafe.

Bliss.

The next hour was fruitfully spent checking the email and logging on to Facebook and Twitter account.

Oh, by the way, that six hours wait in the transit was too short, I think……