Travel – Page 8 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Lasting Impressions

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I thought this would be my final picture of Barcelona…

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That was before we decided to have one last walk down La Rambla…

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They’re both perfect, in their own way.

*The eye guy is holding a sign declaring 9-11 to be a hoax and saying he has proof…

La Pedrera Revisited

We went once more to see La Pedrera (Casa MilÃ ). The line was so short that we decided to take the tour. I’m so glad we did. The Guadi pieces on the roof against the blue Spanish sky are so very compelling and photogenic.

Several more photos in the gallery here.

[tags]Gaudi, Spain, Art Nouveau, Architecture, Travel[/tags]

Art Nouveau lamp in Casa Amatller

Barcelona – Last Day

It’s our final day in Barcelona. We are taking it super easy as we are pretty much exhausted. Tonight we pack up and we take a 4+ hour train ride back to Madrid where it all began.

Today we got up, got dressed and headed over to the Boqueria for breakfast. We’ve come to love our little cafe there for a cafe con leche and a Spanish omelette.

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After breakfast we walked over to the Museu Maritim De Barcelona.

I’ve been to a number of nautical and military museums in my life. This is, by far, the best one I have ever seen. The building itself is the restored Drassanes Reials (Royal Shipyards of Barcelona) and at it’s center is a Full sized reproduction of the galley from which Don Juan d’Austria oversaw the defeat of the Turkish Navy at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 to give Spain mastery of the Mediterranean.

We specifically got there early so I could make sure I got this particular shot of the replica

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You really should click to see the full size….especially you, Joe Linbeck!

We’re back in the Hotel resting a bit. We’re going to head out here shortly for another walk around the city.

We’re going to miss Barcelona

Building

Winding Down

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Things are winding down as we near the end of our trip. We’ve seen the big sites and we’ve accomplished most of what we wanted to accomplish.

Today we took it real easy. We witnessed the dancing and then we just walked about Barcelona, taking it all in.

We had a nice big lunch around 2 pm in pizzeria style Italian restaurant run by an Asian family.

This city is beyond cosmopolitan.

La Sardana – Band Leader

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Barcelona – La Sardana

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Sundays at noon (or thereabout) the locals have a tradition of gathering in the square in front of the Barcelona Cathedral for some traditional Catalan circle dancing called La Sardana.

A small orchestra gathers on the steps of the cathedral and the dancers form a circle in the square.

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There are instructors there to teach those who want to learn and the main circle gets quite large

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If you want to join in the dance you go into the circle and drop you coat and/or bags in the center of the circle and join hands.

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Soon you see smaller circles of dancers popping up.

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These appear to be family groups or groups of friends.

The music is traditional Catalan and very pleasant to listen to.

Initially the square was jammed with tourists, but after the first few dances many wandered off to see other things and the remaining dances were less crowded with onlookers.

Cynthia and I both tried our hands at learning the dance, but we couldn’t quite get it right…but it was sure fun to watch!

It’s a shame that the one time we visit Barcelona that the cathedral is being renovated. The scaffolding is not as picturesque as the front of a Gothic church would have been as a backdrop…

Here’s a fairly representative Youtube video