! Barcelona es Hermosa ¡

I hope you avid readers weren´t disappointed, but I was unable to make a blog entry last night because I was at a concert until after the time that the internet place closed. Oh yes, here in Beautiful Barcelona there always seems to be something worth going to for an evening´s entertainment. But let me start at the beginning.

Monday, I arrived in this sprawling metropolis (cliché) just after noon. I rode the metro to the monument district and then began the seemingly endless task of finding yet another hotel. Why didn´t you just call ahead or look on-line, you ask? I´m too cheap. Only rated hotels offer on-line reservations, and those start at over a hundred bucks a night and can easily be $150 and up in a city like Barcelona. I prefer to spend an hour wandering the old town until I find a hostal with a room available--usually between 35 and 55 dollars a night--and family run with a more personal touch and plenty of recommendations about where to eat and what to see. The discovery process took a little longer on Monday simply because Barcelona is currently over-run by Spring Breakers from America, France, and England (oh, those pesky kids trying to get an education). After settling in Hostal El Pi, I went right to the Gothic Quarter.

The title "Gothic Quarter" is a little misleading since it´s a segment of the city in that offers a Roman wall and the underground ruins of the Roman city of Barcino. While digging to reinforce the foundation of a 16th-century home a few years ago, city workers discovered the remains of the Roman town. Barcelona promptly opened the City History Museum that preserves the city under the city and offers artifacts dating back to the founding of the city by its namesake Carthaginian, Hamilcar Barca--probably more famous as the father of Hannibal. The cathedral, begun in the first years of the 14th century, is a beautiful Gothic structure with a peristyle around the apse instead of the usual and obtrusive alter retablo. There is a fine display of Gothic stained glass and the type of open atmosphere too often closed off by later building in other churches. Plus, you can climb the tower! Yep, you can go up one of the towers and both have an interesting look at the stone roof (the negative image of the Gothic tracery that you see from below) AND have a great view of the city from smack in its middle. There are other fine buildings in the Gothic Quarter including the 13th-century Basilica Santa Maria del Pi (a true basilica structure with one, wide nave) were I found out about the concert on Tuesday. I finished Monday off with an evening stroll around the winding streets of old Barcelona that are filled with tapas bars and ceramic shops.

Tuesday started with a climb up Mount Tibidabo. Okay, I rode the bus to the funicular. What´s a funicular? It´s one of those slanted train thingys at the bottom of a hill that´s attached by a cable to another slanted train thingy. While one goes up, the other comes down. Six minutes later, you´re standing at the top of the mountain that looks down onto this second largest city of Spain, the surrounding mountains, and the broad expanse of the blue, blue, blue Mediterranean Sea. On the very top of the mountain sits the 19th-century church of the Sacred Heart. Small, with a single round nave, it is dedicated to Christ´s donation of his human self--literally, "Tibi dabo" in Latin means "This, I will give to you." On the top of the chruch stands a huge bronze statue of Christ with his hands outstretched, offering himself to the city of Barcelona. And what could be even more cool?--you can climb to the top of the church and stand on a small observation platform at Christ´s feet. What a view. On the way down the mountain, I stopped at the Monastery de Pedralbes. Founded in 1326 by Queen Elisenda de Montcada, the monastery had a Gothic chapel and several works of art including a painting by Fra Angelico! A beautiful image of the Madonna and Child done in his characteristic streaks of vivid gold that seem to glisten and flow down the canvas as you move from side to side. The monastery also had works by Rubens and Caravaggio--all from the Thyssen collection, the bulk of which is in the museum in Madrid.

The remainder of Tuesday was mostly consumed with Touristy things. I went to the unfinished Church of the Holy Family (Sagrada Familia), designed and begun by the famous architect, Antonio Gaudi, in 1884. The hope is to have this huge, neo-gothic structure finished in about another 20 years. You shold look at a picture on-line; its twisted towers have been compared by locals to lobster claws. I also visited a pair of houses designed by Gaudi and a museum didicated to his and other innovative Barcelona architects´ works. I went down to the docks, shopped the Fishermans´ Wharf (not a Klingon, if you´re wondering), and walked down to the beach where I could take off my boots and splash in the Mediterranean. A park designed by the surrealist Miró was nearby and featured great twisting sculptures and a fine way to walk the day to darkness.

And then evening came. At 8:15, I was seated six rows from the front alter of the Basilica of Santa Maria. The concert with Manuel González didn´t begin until 9:00, but all seating was general, and I wanted to be right up front. González is a a "maestro" of music for the Spanish guitar. The program included my personal favorite work for guitar, Isaac Albéniz´ "Spanish Suite." You´ve heard Albéniz on commercials or on movie soundtracks even if you don´t recognize the name. Albéniz is a landscape composer; that is, he wants you to see the features and feel the textures of his native Spain as you hear the music. The first movement, "Asturias," is, to me, one of the most atmospheric pieces of Romantic music ever composed--look it up and play a bit on Amazon.com. Well, the concert was perfect. Gonzaléz sat in front of the alter, nine steps above the floor. Yellowed marble, the alter was carved in front with the figures of nine female saints that included Eulalia, Veronica, Justia (patron saint of Sevilla), and others. I´m certain that I saw one smile a bit during the concert; holding a harp, she was Cecilia, patron saint of music. Above the alter stood a lighted statue of Mary. Gonzaléz played two encores and then autographed copies of his CDs in the narthex of the church. I´m coming home with two new CDs.