Western Mediterranean - Barcelona Page

Another morning at sea but at about 14:00, we got into Barcelona, making it a bit of a rushed visit. The coach left at 15:30 for a round the city tour. This first went to the old Gothic-style cathedral, which had Roman gates with Visigoth towers extending them upwards.

Mont Juic

Old town

Water

A side street

The cathedral is rather crowded in by buildings. Inside, it was quite gloomy but had interesting woodwork in the Choir, where the Golden Fleece meets & has dedicated choir-stalls for the members.

The Roman gates with Visigoth towers

The Cathedral

Towards the entrance

Old Gothic Chapel

Victorian front

Original front

Nave

Modern glass

The Golden Fleece choir stalls

St. Eulalia's alleged tomb

About ten feet up on a wall near the altar are two coffins: of Ramon Berlinguer & his wife Almodis, whom I thought, incorrectly, were ancestors. Almodis was quite a character, murdered by her step-son but they are related sideways to my family.

Ramon Berenguer's coffin

Cloister vaulting

The Famous Geese

It was a hike on pedestrianised streets to the cathedral & back to the coach but the next stop, after passing some architecturally interesting buildings, was hike across roads to the....

Resistors against Napoleon

Plaza Catalunya

A Gaudi building

....Sagrada Familia. This is a matter of taste, of course,& it is not to mine. While most of Gaudi’s buildings are his own Art Nouveau style, this is a shambles of mixed styles & intentions which, in my view, does not hang together. Although it is being built by subscription & entry fees, it seems a colossal waste of money & effort. The front is not built but the well-known view of the side is, I believe, supposed to represent natural forms but someone said it looked like melted wax & my wife says it looks like a load of sick & she is a professional artist. Here are some pictures of details for you to make up your own mind! The picture on the right is roughly how they expect it to be when it is finished but they have no idea when that will be & the plans are always being altered.

Sagrada Familia from the incomplete front with details

The next stop was at the 1929 World Trade Show site, where there were representative buildings from different Spanish regions. We had coffees (€5 for two) & Avis was shat upon by a pigeon.

Back to the ship at 19:30, there was open sitting for dinner (venison!) & a deck party but it had got quite cold & this was not a success.