Red Line

Really LOOK at this building.  Does it not seem odd to you?

I did get up early on Thursday morning and go out for a walk in the cool of the Barcelona morning.  It felt like a slightly sultry day was ahead, but in that moment, the air was sweet and the humidity was not yet oppresssive.  The B & B was so quiet that it came as a little bit of a shock to discover all the normal hustle and bustle of a city getting ready for business--even though breakfast is not available until 9:00.  

I went down to Placa Catalunya.  The fountains were turned off and there was very little activity.  I was able to find a shady spot to do some writing, at least until "that guy"--the one who has to feed the pigeons--showed up.  At his appearance, no fewer than 500 pigeons swooped in.  That was my signal to leave.

Barcelona's Arc de Triomphe

Christopher Columbs points the way

Port facility

Distant view of  the glass hotel on Montjuic

Barcelona world trade center parking lot--deserted and slightly forbidding

Barcelona's former bullring

But while I was there I had an opportunity to observe on of the main buildings that borders the plaza.  For a major landmark, Placa Catalunya is pretty austere, especially given the general tendency for over-decoration. But this particular building looks as though someone has sawn two separate buildings in half and glued one end of one to the end of another.  They are completely different: different colors, different architectural styles, probably different periods.  I found it totally disconcerting.

Cable car from the port to Montjuic

Overlooking Barcelona

During our morning's Red line hop on-hop off tour, we visited the western side of the city.. We were afforded the chance to see the Columbus monument, vestiges of the many, many factories that populated parts of the old city near the port, the Customs building, the former bullring of Barcelona.  Bullfighting has been outlawed for some time now in Barcelona, and maybe all of Spain.  Interestingly enough, there are still bullfights here in Carcassonne. 

We began our climb to Montjuic and once there, I began to lose my heart to Barcelona.  This was the site of many of the venues in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic games.  Montjuic looks down on the city and the Mediterranean.  At this time of year, it was green and lush.  Montjuic is full of attractions and museums.  The Joan Miro Foundation is there, as is the castle and the stadium built for the Olympics.  There are also plenty of walking trails and picnic tables--the spot invites lingering.

Joan Miro Foundation

A peek inside the Olympic stadium

Montjuic spires

It was also during this tour that the reasons for my slow warm up to Barcelona began to coalesce.  Barcelona believes in razing old buildings.  Entire neighborhoods were town down to make way for the Olympic village and the sites for the games.  What's important to Barcelona is to be MODERN, to showcase the latest and newest--cutting edge even, especially in architecture.  I got the impression that architects were the rock stars of the city, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.  That's all well and good, but there doesn't seem to be any overarching design, no continuity of theme or motif, and certainly no rules.  One modern edifice is placed next to other modern edifices, and they don't share any common qualities--not shape, size, color, building materials.  It makes my head spin. 

It would be fun to watch a soccer match here

After Montjuic, we made our way back to Placa Catalunya, along the wide, ritzy boulevards.  Our guide cheerfully informed us that the cheapest apartments in this neighborhood went for a minimum of 650,000 Euros.  We got off at the Casa Batllo stop, as we had tickets for that Gaudi designed house. I wasn't so keen on taking on his Cathedral, Sagrada Familia, but I thought I could stand a more modest house of his deign. Our tour time required that we be there at 12:45, but because we had our tickets in hand, we were invited to come in right away.

Barcelona ommuter

A "Ritzy" part of town

Tram

And I walked into a house unlike any other I have ever seen.