surrounded by much larger developments
Among other things, Barcelona is famous for creating the Modernisme movement, which I will poorly summarize as the art movement from 1888 to 1906 which blended the taste for the modern, electricity, steel, concrete, with the free flowing organic styles. A key masterpiece of this movement is the cathedral Sagrada Familia, which looks like a cross between a giant sand castle, Disneyland, and the sacred European Cathedrals. It is two blocks from our house and we plan to tour it tomorrow,so hopefully we will have more to say then.
For now we are settling into our very residential house which is on only one of only five similiar streets left in the city. Think of your gated community in 1900 urbanism and you will be close. We are number 14 of approximately 18, one and two-storey houses on a dead end street with a locked gate at the front. We are surrounded by 5 storey apartment buildings on three sides, so our nice deck looks out on people’s balconies and their clotheslines. It is an interesting dichotomy.
We arrived a bit late due to mechanical troubles even though we left five hours early due to the concerns of the strikes. Unrest seems to be the issue of the day in many parts of the world, including Barcelona with its separatist Catalan movement. Many people it seems are looking for personal connections to each other be it geographically, nationally, ethnicity, or other areas which may usually divide us. Our hosts Marta and Cesc, mentioned that we should not believe all of the headline we see, because they personally are on opposite sides politically, but are still in love and can find common ground. A nice message to hear as we begin to learn about our next city and their residents.
We take our hosts advice and stop in for fresh bread at the bakery outside our gates. We then go next door to the local bodega where we meet the owner, Francisco, who offers us chorizo on bread with our vermouth, and we sample his wines. As I order more small bites, and then purchase the traditional cava (champagne) for New Year’s Eve, my family has left nothing left for me.
Later, we stop in at the local mini-mart to purchase supplies to begin our stay and also the grapes we will use tomorrow night.
In Barcelona, as in other areas, the tradition is to place one grape in your mouth at each toll of the bell at midnight of the new year and then to eat all twelve and wash them down with cava, the local champagne. Our hostess, Marta, was surprised to hear that this was not everyone’s US custom.
Happy New Year to all, we will tell you how our celebrations go from afar.
Siri and David Adventures 