Sat 14.May.2022
Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain
Weeks behind on the pictures here, but hey, there is some kind of hurry?!?
Pics are coming from Sevilla, Nerja, and Toledo. Tonight we are still on
Barcelona, with emphasis on the Sants neighborhood.
Flashback to Lanzarote
I jumped so abruptly from the Canaries to Barcelona, that I neglected this
picture from Costa Teguise. Cacti and iceplant abound among the villas on the
dark pumice. Most are their normal shades of green. But more than a few are
coral pink.
Any botanical follks know what that is about?
On to Barcelona
My digs in Sants sported a sort of modern/minimalist chic.
And my cheapie camera refused to focus properly on this sign. Mea culpa.
Barcelona's own "green coulee", the Rambla de Sants.
This promenade sits atop a very active train line that might otherwise
divide the neighborhood like a wall.
Actually, I think there are separate train levels for the suburban and
high-speed rail systems.
Sign Spotting
This image evokes Robert Hunter's song Eulalie for me. In fact,
the night I laid out this page, I got the song stuck as an earworm. There are
worse.
Those constant reminders that, even though understanding Spanish is a big help
in Barcelona, it is not the same as Catalan.
Cafe sitting. Didn't I tell that Barcelona is cosmopolitan?
Every Spanish city seems to have a Plaza de España, or as it is here
Plaça de Espanya. (Impressive as it is, this one is still second
to - you guessed it - Plaça de Catalunya.)
For historical reasons, Barcelona's expansion from medieval to modern city
happened late, and then rapidly - mostly in the 1800's and early 1900's. Planners
tried to avoid the worst mistakes of other metropoli, and laid out
spacious boulevards, lots of trees, and beveled intersections. The result is as
green (and agoraphilic) a big city as I know.
Modernist skyline near Placa de Catalunya.
Modernist towers near Sants train station. They probably serve some function,
and would probably look dully functional in cities less ensorcelled by modernism.