This morning we eat breakfast in the hotel dining room. We are especially taken with Spanish coffee which is thick and delicious. At first we order cortados from the bar and then we discover the coffee machine. This self-serve machine dispenses to the dining public hot
espresso with warm milk in many choices---no milk, a little milk, or mostly milk... It is such a wonder! Since cups are small, we return several times for more.
We eat fruit, apples (manzanas) and oranges (naranjas,) mostly, that are huge and sweet and juicy. Eggs are edible but not a good consistency and fairly tasteless. Almost stewed tomatoes are a great way to start the day.
This is the day to meet our guide, Oriol Braso, who generously shares his beloved city with us. We begin by exploring the rich architectural wonders of the Eixample, the neighborhood Northeast of the Old City built after 1860. It is characterized by long straight streets in a grid pattern with wide avenues and square blocks with chamferred corners, manzanas in Spanish. Chamferred refers to bezelled corners.
The city design was the innovative and visionary idea of urban planner, Ildefons Cerda, who
was interested in improving the health of the citizenry with more sunshine and ventilation, greenery, good sewage, and easy movement of people and goods. It was envisioned as a community for all social classes but has always been inhabited by the well-to-do. It is Barcelona's main residential and shopping district complete with Sephora and an Apple Store where the young hang out lounging along all the building walls.
This neighborhood was highly influenced by many architects of differing sensibilities.They include Josep Puig i Cadalfalch and Josep Domenech i Estapa. But the most well-known buildings in the area were designed by Antoni Gaudi at the beginning of the twentieth century. We visit the Illa de la Discordia so named because three buildings of very different styles exist side by side.
Casa Lleo Morera is the first residential work of Lluis Domenech i Montaner. The timpietto at the top of the structure was restored after being severely damaged by machine guns during the Spanish Civil War.
Designed by Cadalfalch, Casa Amatller has a beautiful facade that blends Moorish and Gothic styles especially in the windows of the building. The stepped gable roof is familiar in Amsterdam. Here the Moorish influence is clear.
The interior is light filled and with gorgeous gently curving windows and walls throughout. There is stained glass, beautifully crafted door handles, light fixtures, tile and wrought iron. The attention to detail is compelling and appreciated.
We visit the top floor, the attic and the roof. The apartment is full of character and
it is easy to imagine a well-to-do family living here. The furnishings, chandeliers, and linens all evoke the early 20th century life style of a wealthy family.
The servants quarters are spare and link directly to the kitchen and the laundry area in an efficient manner. The laundry room is a beautiful place complete with a shelf of linens, a wooden ironing board and an old Singer sewing machine. This space served two purposes: it was the place for cleaning the family laundry but it also helped to heat the building.
The master bedroom and bath are modern for the times---marble fixtures throughout, beautiful tiled floors and a deep claw-footed soaking tub all in a soft toned pink.
There is a large living room with period furniture and a formal dining room with a lace covered table and six velvet covered chairs that sit on an elegant carpet. These furnishings belonged to the Mila Family and were donated by the heirs to reproduce the sense of the place.
Our tour concludes and we climb into a taxi hailed by Oriol bound for the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's incomplete tour-de-force. This Roman Catholic basilica has been under construction since 1883 when Gaudi , then just 31, took over the project. The slow pace of construction is due to interruptions caused by the Spanish Civil War and the intermittent progress during the 1950s. It has also been delayed because the funding has come primarily from community parishioners and, more recently, from ticket sales. It is not supported by the Spanish government or the Catholic Church. In 2010, the construction passed the midpoint and it is anticipated the church will be completed by 2026, one hundred years after Gaudi's death.
The Pillars:
Gaudi was searching for a new pillar.
The base on which the pillars rest, is unadorned and simple. But from it, a pillar grows tree-like with branches made from granite, basalt, Monjuic Stone, and porphyry. These columns are created by double twisting from each end. The result is a pillar that is not vertical and creates the sense of being in a forest.
Sunlight plays on the stained glass windows making ever-changing color inside the church. It adds color to everything: the pillars, the walls, the entire central nave is filled with color. It is breath-taking.
The Physics and Geometry:The Catenary Arch...
Although not a new concept, Gaudi uses the catenary arch to create the shape of the cathedral. This arch represents the shape created when a series of chains or ropes hangs by its tethered ends. The tension does not push out but goes straight down, making it a stable shape for a building.
After we complete our amazing tour of the Sagrada Familia, we walk with Oriol in the direction of the Hospital San Pau. While walking that way, we discuss the experience at the Sagrada Familia and Oriol describes the transformation of this church as a reflection of his own life. As a child, only two facades existed and the space between them was available for a boy's soccer games. As he became a man, the church also grew into itself and, by the time it is finished, Oriol will be well passed middle age. We said our goodbyes and Oriol disappeared into the subway system.
Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau
We sit in the sun at the 1902 Recinte Modernista attached to the Sant Pau where we rest and enjoy cheese and wine. Our waiter is patient and helpful as we order in Spanish and he practices his English.
After a time, we join other tourists purchasing tickets to tour the grounds of the hospital.
The San Pau, built between 1901 and 1930, was designed by the Catalan architect, Lluis Domenech i Montaner as a model of innovation in medicine. A city-within-a-city claiming a site equivalent to nine blocks in the Eixample, it embraced the latest thinking in sanitation and hygiene. He conceived a hospital organized in pavilions devoted to specific medical specialties, surrounded by gardens and interconnected by underground tunnels. The natural lighting, good ventilation, and calming decor made the Sant Pau a pioneer in seeing the value of open space and sunlight for healing sick people.
Until 2009, Sant Pau was a working hospital that closed its doors because it could no longer keep up with the demand and because the buildings themselves were medically outdated and in disrepair. In the ensuing six years, this site has been transformed into a research center focused on health care, sustainability and education. The buildings and the grounds have also enjoyed a renovation and this is what we see today.
The materials chosen for the buildings were the best available---red brick, stone, ceramics, wood, marble, glass, metal and iron. All the buildings are red brick and the clay tiles create patterns along the gable roofs.The roofs are further decorated with glazed colored ceramics, decorative stone or ornamental pinnacles.
Inside the pavilions, ceramics are a main architectural element that serve hygienic goals because they are easy to clean, but also function therapeutically, too. The soft, muted colors
on the floral tiles create a sense of peace and luminosity. This is enhanced by the large windows in each pavilion central to Montaner's vision.
The gardens were also central to the architect's plan. Montaner designed two gardens for each pavilion believing that integrating nature on the site would not only alleviate suffering but also would contribute to the patients' recovery. Plants and trees were not just decorative but also served to purify the air by eliminating bacteria, dust and toxic gases. The trees on the central avenue offered shelter from the sun and wind. These trees have been replanted in the restoration and now include Seville orange trees.
We leave this interesting site and take a taxi back to our hotel where we rest and, later, have a drink at a sidewalk tapas bar. We dine at the Flax and Kale around the corner from our hotel. It is a flexatarian restaurant so called because it serves vegetarian diners who occasionally eat meat. It is a good experience but not as enjoyable as the Teresa Carles.
We return to our hotel and sleep....
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