It seems like a long time since we have had our adventures in travel.
This trip I also have an adventure of traveling without my computer...for the first time in longer than I can remember. I am writing on my Ipad and hope that I am able to accomplish what I would like with it.
Jack and I had a hectic week of getting ready for this voyage..and are excited to be sitting upstairs in a 747 in seats that face each other! Quite a novel experience.
We will spend the weekend in Barcelona and then travel to Casablanca, Morocco.
Our travels include Rabat (for the International Women's Forum) Fez, Meknes,
Marrakesh, Essouira then up in the Atlas Mountains. those of you who have come along on our recent trips that have included IWF meetings know that we have great access to regional leaders and special opportunities and this year appears to be no exception. we have been invited by the Princess of Morocco for drinks Friday night...
I can't wait to see her home! Sadly, no cameras or cell phones are allowed.
The early part of this year put us face to face with mortality in the family. with what appeared to be my dad's emminent death and then Jack in the hospital with atrial fibrillation. Since both of my guys are stable, we look at this trip as an opporunity to take full advantage of life while we have it. I hope you will enjoy traveling with us.
Please send us your thoughts along the way!
Leslie
Barcelona: May 26, 2012
I am sitting in our hotel room in the mountains above Barcelona with a panoramic view of Barcelona. It is a quiet respit from the hustle and bustle below. Jack and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast out by the infinity pool, enjoying the view from above before we met up with Nancy, our guide for the day. T
Vision: Temple Expiatory de Sagrada Familia
The first time I saw this infamous church was in 1969 and at that time it was known as Gaudi's ever-unfinished masterpiece. Jack and I saw it a gain several years ago and I noted some progress. Since then, the Pope has visited and in preparation for his visit, work accellerated toward completion. While I had read books on Gaudi and seen several of his masterpieces, I came to appreciate the history of the church and his vision and dedication even more this time. But his was the second important vision of this Church.
The first was its founder's and the founding organization's. Josep Maria Bocabella was of the belief that Mary got too much attention in the Catholic Church and Joseph was not given enough. Thus, he helped to found the Spiritual Association of the Devotees of St. Joseph, they bought 4 city blocks in the new part of town to build the church and parks. The church was their vision. They hired one architect and a year later, hired Gaudi, a newly graduated architect.
The following are shots of the Temple:
This facade was designed by a later sculptor, Subirachs. His more cubist style, unlike the style of Gaudi, caused some controversy. In this scene, Gaudi is depicted by the figure to the lower left.
Gaudi's vision of the church was so grand that he knew it would never be completed in his lifetime. He anticipated that several generations of workers would be necessary and created a school to educate the children of his workers in the trades that would be needed in the future. He also anticipated that new technology would be created (just as he found new technology to use in the construction) and left some of the design to future generations. Amazing vision. He started work on the Temple in 1883 and continued till his death in 1926.
One of the later sculptors (who created the more cubist pieces on the opposite side of that which Gaudi finished) caused quite a stir. Many people wanted a more traditional style consistent with the look Gaudi created.however Subirachs followed in another of Gaudi's traditions: going in a different direction than his predecessor. In the view below you can see that Subirachs honored Gaudi by portraying him on the temple (lower Left figure).
Barcelona was an early industrialized town and the visionaries of the post industrial era realized that their lifestyles and the beauty of the city were being compromised by this change to their city. Thus, there was a desire to bring nature back into the city. We saw this in the dedication of land to parks around the Temple, in Gaudi's inclusion of nature in his design and construction and in the work of planners modernizing the city.
Considered to be one of the first examples of modern urban planning, Barcelona's Eixample (meaning, literally, "extension" in the Catalan language) was developed in the second half of the 19th century. (Gaudi designed Park Guell as a master planned community for the wealthy around the same time)
Ildefons Cerda, who designed the plans for Eixample, hoped that it would become a neighborhood outside the city center accommodating people of all sorts; Eixample would contain all they needed for their daily lives, including markets, schools, hospitals, and much more.Cerda's plans for the Eixample were considered to be quite visionary. When designing the neighborhood, he took many things into consideration including traffic, sunlight, and ventilation. The streets were to broaden at each intersection and the corners were cut off to allow horse-drawn wagons to make turns more easily. They limited the height of buildings to 5 stories to allow all levels to have sunlight.
Gaudi incorporated fruit in his design (see below), palm trees and other aspects of nature whereever he could (dogs, turtles, Etc)
We saw evidence of the civil war and the violence against Jews in the inquisition and later throughout our visit:
1. Gaudi's workshops were bombed in 1937 when the Republicans demonstrated their anger against Franco and his alliance with the Church by bombing churches.
2. In the Placa de Sant Felip Neri, we saw how the buildings were chipped away by partisans driving their enemies into the square and shooting them.
There was a letter from 1267 giving permission to the synagogue to be taller than the usual limits (i.e. shorter than the churches of the city). In the front portion of the building, we saw stone vats where 13th or 14th century Jews dye fabric. The back of the building was a secret synagogue. Ultimately, the family was "outed" and killed.
We are heading to Morocco tomorrow where many Jews from Spain fled when they were forced out of Spain by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
But before we left Spain, we took in a it more of street life and art....
4 comments:
Thank you, Leslie, for the magnificent photos and the fascinating explanations of how things came to be as they are now in Barcelona..
Have said it before, but will repeat..that thanks to your emails, you give me the chance to be right there with you. Can't wait for the next installment.
Jim worked for the King (Hassan 2) as a consultant on all of his hotels. We stayed at the Tour Hassan in Rabat which holds fond memories.
xxxx
you are bringing back some of that hot chocolate, right?
Not without churros...
I second Baleigh's comment;)
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