Thursday 26 September. Yesterday was the transition day from Barcelona to Mallorca and from tourism to a holiday.  Tourism is hard work; a holiday is for relaxing and recharging, and that’s something we want to do over the next couple of weeks whilst still getting out and about a bit.

The travels yesterday happened pretty smoothly – no significant problems and only minor niggles.  We were collected from our hotel and deposited at Barcelona’s magnificently named El Prat airport, whence we would be flying on Vueling – a first for me.  First impressions are important and I have to say that the Vueling check in process was not trouble-free: we had to spend no little time seeking a working machine that would print our baggage label; and then we had a similar amount of trouble finding a working bag drop machine.  There was a single Vueling operative there, ostensibly to help; but the only contribution he made for us was to tell us that the process was self-service.  Eventually it was and we managed to get our bags accepted, and off we went to join the security queue.

The rest of the airport experience was pretty standard – a slightly aggravating security queue, a meal at TGI Friday’s which was OK; and many minutes standing on the airport bus waiting for the mystery bus tour to the middle of the airfield to start whilst last-minute people dashed on board.

The flight was pretty standard, too – mercifully short, as Vueling clearly expect their customers to be, going by the amount of legroom available.

Palma airport was a bit of a surprise in its sheer size and busy-ness – there are some 18 baggage carousels, and people were coming and going the whole time, and this was only a Wednesday lunchtime.  We had to wait about 20 minutes for our bags to arrive, just long enough to start questioning the accuracy of the Vueling bag handling processes.

We made our way past a human zoo of people queuing for their hire cars at various booths (including Goldcar – after the coverage they’ve received, I was astonished that people are still prepared to use their services). By contrast, we were met by our charming Castaways rep, Jane, who took us across the way to a chap who was standing there, evidently awaiting us.  He turned out to be the car hire rep for Roig – a slightly odd man but very well-organised.  So we fairly soon found ourselves in charge of a Renault Captur and trying to get out of the airport car park, a process somewhat complicated by cars in front of us being driven by people who clearly didn’t have a clue and who needed help from a very harassed-looking airport parking operative.  But we got out eventually, and started making our way (tentatively, since it’s a long time since I’ve driven on the wrong side of the road, and I also had to deal with a manual gearbox which has not been a feature of my life in the 21st century) towards our hotel, L’Hermitage. We had paper directions, which was just as well, since the car’s satnav was speaking Danish at this point.

Reader, we made it – no actual crashes, and no actually getting utterly lost, but a few unplanned detours and occasional need for heavier pressure on the brake pedal. So here we are at the hotel, which looks just the right place to have as a base for relaxing and refueling.

We have a full week before we move on to Menorca – a great opportunity to explore Mallorca and possibly take a day trip to Ibiza, too. But today is a day for taking it easy and considering our next steps, which will be documented, as ever, in full here.  See you later!

Tuesday September 24. The main act of today’s entertainment was to be Barcelona’s pride and joy – Sagrada Familia – the Basilica of the Holy Family. That was the afternoon’s feast, we thought, and we thought we’d try a light starter by way of a tour around the Music Palace – Palau de la Música, conveniently a few minutes walk from our hotel. If you remember that far back, I included a couple of pictures of its exterior in a post from a couple of days ago, at which point we decided that it might be interesting to see the inside. Tours are organised in a variety of languages and so we booked ourselves one for 11am and settled down for some coffee in the coffee shop, which kind of gave a hint about what awaited us.

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We joined the tour group just before Jane burst a blood vessel at the fucking idiots who weren’t interested in a photo of something beautiful unless they themselves were in it, and were taken into a space which we were told was the rehearsal room, where artists could warm up before performance in the auditorium above. A rather lovely video was shown, with lots of famous people (Barenboim, Muti, Lemper and many more) saying what a wonderful place it was, but, more to the point, showing video snippets of the auditorium, which really whetted the appetite. At this point they explained that we were allowed to take pictures and video during the tour, in direct contradiction to what’s written on the tickets. I wonder if this policy has been affected by the recent influx of people for whom life doesn’t exist unless they feature in photos and videos of the places they have visited.

Anyway, having not expected to be able to take photos, I was positively salivating at the prospect of seeing inside the auditorium. And, it is truly amazing inside. The architect was Lluis Domenech i Montana, who was a significant influencer of Gaudi, whose name is far better known, possibly because it’s rather easier to remember.

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We got two other scenes – the auditorium from the second floor, and also a salon just by the restaurant where one could get a bit closer to the pillars that can be seen from the street below.

Then we were taken to the second floor, where you could get a much better idea of the central “glow worm” light panel which is such a feature of the auditorium.

and of the auditorium itself.

Look, I could go on – but you’ll have to look at my Flickr feed to see more photos, once I’ve sorted through them. For now, we have to move to the main act of the day – Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s masterpiece and the most famous slab of architecture in Barcelona, or possibly even the world.

The place falls into, possibly even defines, the “bonkers but beautiful” Barcelona badge. I mean, look at it!

It’s not finished yet – plan is to complete it by 2026, the anniversary of Gaudi’s death (at the age of 73 and the hands – if that’s the right word – of a tram, tragically – and he was shabbily dressed and no-one knew who he was, so by the time he was taken to hospital it was too late).

The view above is of the “Nativity” façade . A typical aspect of the intricacy and interwoven nature of the design is that each façade tells a story – so the Nativity façade has a whole host of detail about the birth and early life of Christ, and is the only one that Gaudi lived to see completed.  The Nativity façade lies to the East, the Passion façade to the West, and the Glory façade to the South (yet to be completed).  Currently there are eight finished towers, of the total of 18 in the design; the most impressive will be the central one, representing Jesus Christ, which will rise to 172.5 metres tall (just less that Montjuïc, the hill by Barcelona – Gaudi said that the works of man should not exceed those of God).

Every aspect of the building – the dimensions and the relationship between them, the number of towers, the height of each and what each represents, the choice of colours in the stained glass windows, the choice of stone for the pillars that support it – is carefully considered and has a place in the overall story of the building, which is an embodiment of the story of Christ and the Holy Family – Sagrada Familia.  The fascinating thing about it is that the intricacies and detailed stories are on the outside – the inside takes its inspiration from the forest, and is a space reserved, independent of faith or denomination, for spiritual contemplation. And selfies.

Last time I was here (2008), the interior was full of scaffolding. It’s now clear and open to the (crowds of) public. Again, I could post dozens of pictures (and I will, on my Flickr page), but a couple of things among the welter of detail caught my eye as we approached the Nativity facade. For a start, someone has nicked this angel’s harp strings, and she looks well pissed off about it.

and this is the only carving I know featuring an angel playing the bassoon.

here is a video of the interior, which is simply breathtaking in its scope, grandeur and attention to detail.

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Let me share a couple more photos with you. Gaudi was obsessed with light as a component of his designs and Sagrada Familia has plenty of demonstrations of his skill in design. For example, the east- and west-facing windows have stained glass in them to emphasise the cool of the sunrise and the warmth of the sunset.

And the light from these plays on the columns wonderfully.

It is impossible to do justice to either of the buildings we visited today – it was simply wonderful to have had the chance to see inside them both. Afterwards, there was nothing for it but to go to the beach and have another great meal at Agua, after which we walked back to the hotel.

Even in this, Barcelona produced a few more quirks. Glimpsed through some trees, we saw a golden figurehead on top of some major monument. On further exploration, this turned out to be the Cascada de Ciutadella, an early work in which Gaudi was involved.

On the rest of the walk, we saw another quirky piece of statuary

and a couple of guys who looked like they were practising for some kind of gig at La Mercè.

Even though I’ve visited Barcelona before, even though I’ve seen some of its sights, the three days we’ve had here have revealed so much more of its character, culture and history. It’s been a pleasure to walk around the place and experience even more of its atmosphere and ambience. We will be back. But for now, tomorrow is the day we have to move on to the next leg of our Balearic adventure – Mallorca, here we come. I’ve cabled the authorities.

Still Monday September 23. And there was me, thinking we came on holiday for a bit of break! Here’s today’s walking – some 10 miles around Barcelona.

You can see the morning’s walk from Parc Güell to the hotel. In the afternoon we wandered down to the “Twin Towers” near the Oympic Port, specifically to a restaurant called “Agua”, by the beach, for lunch with an ex-colleague of mine. On the way down, we collected a few more of the sights of Barcelona, from the quirky,

and the graffiti-ridden (honestly, if it doesn’t move in Barcelona, it gets scrawled on!),

to the architectural. The Arc de Triomf features some interesting, and presumably antipodean, bats among its intricate brickwork,

and the streetlights in the park just behind it are things of art nouveau joy.

We also passed the Three Dragons Castle

the Parish Church for Ciutadella with its lovely, if somewhat faded, roofing,

and the Catalunyan government building.

Also, in the distance, we saw the top of the Torre de les Aigües, originally conceived as a water tower, but now a tourist attraction with a viewpoint at the top.

After (a very pleasant and enjoyable) lunch, we decided to wander back to the hotel via Barceloneta and El Born, based on recommendations from friends. That is the third, somewhat wiggly, trail on the walking map above.

We started on the prom just by the restaurant, which has a very nice vibe, although you have to be a little bit careful to avoid the people whizzing by on electric scooters.

Then we dived off into Barceloneta, a neighborhood constructed during the 18th century for the residents of the Ribera neighborhood who had been displaced by the construction of the Ciutadella of Barcelona. It was evident that Monday, to quote the song, is washing day

but the song can’t explain the shoes on the wiring! It’s a neighbourhood of mainly narrow streets, with the odd occasional broader thoroughfare.

Adjoining it is El Born, which has risen above its humble beginnings as a settlement built on top of a medieval area of jousts and celebrations and has grown into being one of the most fashionable places in the city. Traces of its jousting history can be seen in signs on the side of buildings pointing horse riders to the way in and the way out through the city walls, which were an extension of the original Barcelona city walls.

It’s a rabbit’s warren of narrow streets with many small business properties crowding in.

En route, we stopped in at the church of Santa Maria del Mar, an imposing church in the Ribera district of Barcelona built between 1329 and 1383 at the height of Principality of Catalonia’s maritime and mercantile preeminence. It has a very lofty interior and a sense of grandeur inside.

We also stopped off to look inside the Basilica de la Mercè, which somehow lacked the gravitas of the Maria del Mar. It’s an imposing building, though, with a huge statue of La Mercè on top.

(the picture doesn’t do the statue justice – its true scale can be seen better from the marina area, frankly).

We rounded the walk off by passing the Palau Güell, an example of early Gaudi architecture. It was closed, but I took a couple of pictures, including one of its rather impressive entrance gates.

It being 7pm by this stage, we wandered back to the hotel through the crowded streets.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Barcelona. We plan to visit Sagrada Familia and, if possible, to get into the Palace of Music that so struck us yesterday. I will report back to you on our exploits.