After freshening up we headed out for a Catalan lunch - we
opted for a meal of heavy snacks called Tapas. It was raining so we were headed to a
museum
and needed a recommendation nearby, once again Rick Steves
guidebook gave us a great tip on a restaurant El Xampanyet. Virginia Ann and Cal
ate at the bar sampling "pa amb tomaquet" - a french bread slice topped with olive oil and
crushed tomato. On top of the bread you choose various toppings like sardines, anchovies,
tuna, ham, and various other meats, fish, and vegetables.
Here are Cal and Virginia Ann and you can see the "pa amb tomaquet" in front
of them on the bar. Also a glass of local rad wine. The trip was off to a fantastic
culinary start.
After lunch off to the Gothic Quarter and the Picasso Museum -
unfortunately no pictures
allowed in the museum - but this is one of the museum courtyard. The museum is
arranged chronologically - we both liked his early paintings when he was 15-25 of age
better than
the cubist paintings for which he is best known.
After the tour of the Picasso Museum we stopped at a small
Pre-Columbian Art Museum (Museu Barbier-Mueller Art Precolombi). The museum had
some very good art assembled by Joseph Mueller starting in 1908.
The streets in the older part of the city are very narrow. Fun simply to walk around exploring
little shops. Virginia Ann found a great shop (Los Chales) and bought a scarf.
As we walked along a church rose up in a small square. It was the Santa Maria and the small
square
we walked into was the old cemetery - now paved over.
The Esglesia de Santa Maria del Mar is a gothic church built from
1329 to 1384. Since it was built relatively quickly the architecture is very representative
of the gothic style. The Catalan Gothic style features prevailing horizontal lines, flat
terraced roofs, wide open spaces, strong buttresses, and octagonal towers. It is simple.
The Rose window at the front is from the 15th century since the
original was lost in a 1428 earthquake.
Inside Santa Maria is breathtaking. Very simple and large expanse.
There are three naves which are identical contributing to the large floor space. In
a fire during the Spanish Civil war the interior was destroyed. The octagonal columns are
43 feet apart - a distance no other medieval structure was able to achieve.
Critic Robert Hughes in his book Barcelona sums up this extraordinary
beauty: "There is no grander
or more solemn architectural space in Spain that Santa Maria del Mar."
Next to the church Santa Maria is the Placa Fossar de les Moreres
with a memorial to the fallen from the 1714 siege of Barcelona who are buried here in
the former cemetery. Restored in 1986 it is a favorite venue for Catalan nationalists
to gather on 11 September the day the siege ended.
We ended the day dining out at the Olympic Port area at the "Crazy
Crab". In Spain restaurants
do not even open until 9:00 pm so dinners were late each day. Rick Steves advises
that you can identify a tourist place if they accept reservations prior to 9:00. We
finally arrived back at the hotel around midnight - a long and fun first day.
