Early start today as we set off to Bareclona from Madrid- yay we are leaving Madrid- fascinating place but don't have a need to come back- the bull fighting fashion is really confronting. Our hotel was just a stones throw away from the largest bull ring in Europe built in 1910. And of all the times to come here- it's the bull fighting season on now. It starts in mid May and ends mid June. With 6 bulls being killed each night. The best bull fighters (matadors) are fighting during this time. After this season the bull fights are on only on Sundays for the tourists. People on our tour actually went to see the bull fight last night.
So onto Barcelona- the land of the flamenco dancing.
On a side note, you won't believe how word spread that Mr B. works in IT. There have been people virtually queuing up to get to spend time with our 'very own genuis' (we should claim a salary from Apple) to trouble shoot their IT issues- issues have varied from losing facebook on their 'I' device, simcard issues, even queries about camera problems. Maybe Trafalgar should offer IT support as part of their optional extras, imagine the revenue -and we are only day 7, what will the line up for services be by day 27☺?
Some triva.
Antanio Gaudi was born in a town named Rues in Spain in 1852. He moved to Barcelona as a young child and went on to study architecture. He was inspired by nature in his art works and designs. He used lots of glass and mosaics which had not ever been seen before.
Here is an example of a Gaudi residential building that we snapped on the phone from the bus:
He designed the street lights in Barcelona and showed his designs at a world fair show where he was noticed by Mr. Gwell who commissioned him to design a park and two houses. He became famous for this work and was commissioned to design the Cathedral in 1883. He worked on both the park,Cathedral and other commission at the same time untill 1910 when he only put all his efforts into the cathedral. At this time many of his friends had past away, he was a recluse and never married. So his only interest and passion was his work on the cathedral.
He worked on the cathedral for an additional 15 years untill 1936 when he was hit by a tram and died in hospital the following day from his injuries. No one recognised him due to him being such a recluse and him presenting as a hobo. When Gaudi passed away only 15-20% of the Cathedral was completed.
The Spanish war occured thereafter and Gaudi's plans for the Cathedral was destroyed. Many architects have been hired and fired in an attempt to continue to completethe cathedral. Due to lack of funds, wars etc work on the cathedral has been started and stopped frequently. As a result of the olympic games hosted by Barcelona in 1992, they were provided with additional revenue to continue to build the cathedral and it should be completed in........ 2028!
Can you believe they started building this cathedral in 1883 (in 1882 is was planned and Gaudi started in 1883) and it will be completed in 2028!! So if you are building you now can never complain that your house took longer than expected in relation to this. If you were hoping to attend a service in the Catherdral when they started to build you would be long since dead and buried before it will be completed.
Because they have had may different achitects work on the catherdral without Gaudi's plans the architecture was said to be very different to when Gaudi commenced work on it. There was much debate in Barcelona as to whether to complete the catherdral or keep it as only 20% completed as a monument to Gaudi.
Following our city tour we manged to sneak off to a little tapas bar for dinner opposite the old cathedral in the gothic area of Barcelona for dinner. All plans for a romantic birthday dinner for was crash when the loudest American women on our tour plonked herself and her sulky puss travel companion at our table. Well what can I say, sangria was fantastic- the glass must have held 500mls easily- so the trip back to the bus was possibly a stagger. Food in this country is just so tantalizing!
Also a huge thank you to Jim, Vicki and B for organising a bottle of champagne to be sent to our room prior to our arrival! What a very lovely birthday surprise.
Nicolette.
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