Thursday, November 7, 2024

Barcelona Pt. Dos

 Monday, November 5, 2024

Today's itinerary was a bus tour of Barcelona.  Our first stop was the Sagrada Familia. This was to be only an outside tour of the Basillica, that being the reason we came to Barcelona a day early. Yesterday we sat in pious silence in awe of its stunning beauty. Here are a few interesting facts we learned today.  Sagrada Familia means "Sacred Family"   While not as obvious as older cathedrals, the interior is in the traditional shape of a cross. Four towers of spires form a semi-circle around each end of the cross, a four more do the same at the top end of the cross.  The 12 towers represent the desiples. At the point where the two pieces of the cross intersect, four spires in each corner representing the four apostles; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There is 17th spire that rises higher than these 16 and has a large star at its top. This spire respresents Mother Mary. Finally, there is an even larger spire, as yet uncompleted, that will be higher then all the others which, of course, represents Jesus.  The Basillica is situated so the top of the cross faces toward the north. Gaudi planned this so as the sun rises it shines on the eastern entrance to Sagrada Familia above which is statuary that represents the birth of the Christ child and then sets over the western entry above which is statuary representing His crucifixtion.

It began raining as we toured the Basillica and by the time we boarded out bus it was a full blown thunder storm with heavy rain. Our next stop was to be a one hour walking tour of the Grotto/Old Town section of Barcelona but after a quick consultation among our tour guides, it was decided to cancel this part of the tour.  This did not bother us because seven years ago we rented an Airbnb apartment in the grotto so we were very familiar with this area.

This desicion made, we traveled on to our last stop of the day, Mt. Jiuc. That is probaby an overstatement, but is easier to say Mr. Juic then Very Large Hill Juic. On the way to Mt. Juic we passed through the venue for the 1992 Summer Olympic games.  Our destination was a building originally intended for a Worlds's Fair that was never held because of the Great Depression. It is now used as a cultural site where examples of archetecture from the differenct regions of Spain are on display.  There are also many small shops of various kinds. This were not the typical souvenier shops but sold authentic crafts and jewelery, etc.

Tuesday night we had dinner at the roof top terrace of our hotel, The Majestic Hotel and Spa. This hotel was built in the early 20th century and, after many upgrades over the years to keep up with visitors expectations, still has the same "old world" charm that the first visitors experienced.  We had a wonderful meal of traditional Tapas, basically fancy appetizers.  One of the culinary traditions of Spain is to spend an evening going from Tapas bar to Tapas bar enjoying a never-ending variety of different Tapas.  We enjoyed our meal of Tapas with wonderful views of Barcelona encluding the Sagrada Familia bathed in light.

Wednesday was our final day in Barcelona with our bus tour ending at the pier for us to embark the Regent Seven Seas Voyagor.  In the late 1800's Spains labor movement was in total disarray which, of course, was having a negative impact on the Spainish ecomony.  An influential businessman named Guell, as in Park Guell, sought to create a colony where he could provide his workers homes, schools, stores, restaurants, all the basic amenities people need, thus ensuring a happy, productive work force.  This was called Guell Colonia and was our first stop of the day. Guell's colony also needed a church and Guell hired a young, unknown architect named Antoni Gaudi (!) to design his church. Unfortunately the church was never finished but the crypt still remains and is still in use. Gaudi used this commission to test his archetectural theories, many of which he later used in designing the Sagrada Familia. He believed the straight line was man's invention and instead used nature as his guide.  The columns used for the entry to the crypt were shaped like trees branching out to hold up the canapy over the entrance.  This is hard to describe  so check out the pictures on Tim's Facebook page. Just like the Sagrada Familia, this crypt was stunning.

Our last stop may have been our favorite stop in Barcelona.  At the very least, the most fun. We visited the Friexenet Winery, makers of the world famous Friexenet sparkling wine. Wines have many various appellations.  For example, in Italy for a wine to be called a chianti, it must come from a certain area of Italy and meet the requirements of that appellation. In Spain the same thing holds true. In order to be called a Cava wine it must meet the requirements of the Cava appellation.  During our tour we learned of how modern technology has changed the wine making process. The best part of the tour was the luncheon after the tour where we were able to sample several of the Cavas.

It is Thursday morning as we finish this blog enrty.  We are cruising along the east coast of Spain heading for the Straits of Gibralter and then sailing on to Cadiz, Spain, arriving there Friday morning.  Unfortunately,  we believe we will be sailing through the Straits in the middle of the night so we probably won't see the Rock of Gibraltar.  It is a beautiful day with calm seas. A perfect day for relaxing.

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