Tag: Spain

Beautiful Barcelona

On By Jim BellomoIn Food Experiences, Photography5 Comments

After our fun ride in from Tarragona and our lunch at La Rita, we got a decent night’s sleep on the first bed I had been comfortable on in 21 days. The next morning all six of us had been scheduled to do a 5-hour tour of the city, and the Gaudi highlights with Olga from Tours By Locals. Sadly, my brother had eaten something that did not agree with him so he and Jamie stayed at the hotel, and the rest of us set off for what was to be an outstanding tour. It was outstanding, primarily because of the excellent Olga.

I know I have mentioned Tours By Locals before, as we used two of their guides previously on this trip, Hans in Amsterdam and George in Athens. Both of them were great. I have used them on many occasions, but Olga may have been the best guide they have ever sent our way. To start with, she was 10 minutes early. I love early. I got a call from the lobby saying that our guide was there. As soon as Pam and Dave were downstairs, Olga’s driver pulled up in a wonderfully spacious Mercedes van. It was so GREAT not to be stuck in a “luxury motor coach.”

Kathleen and I with Olga on the roof of Casa Mila.

When I first contacted Tours By Locals a month previous, it had been hard finding a guide that either wasn’t already booked or could accommodate some of the things we wanted to do because of the festival going on for the entire time we were in the city. On the other hand, Olga was completely willing to work with me on setting up a tour that would incorporate the best of Barcelona. That’s what I love about Tours By Locals; the guides will work with you to see the things you want to see. When you go to Barcelona, some of the things most people want to see are the works of revolutionary Antoni Gaudi, the most famous of which is La Sagrada Familia. We knew upfront that the church would be completely closed to anyone but locals, so seeing the inside was not an option. Olga made suggestions of things we could see that would be a good alternative, and I liked them all. We decided to do Gaudi’s Casa Mila, Park Güell, see the outside of the La Sagrada Familia and then tour the old town. Olga said she would try and throw in some surprises along the way.

La Pedrera—Casa Mila)

When Kathleen and I were here in 2007, we toured the beautiful La Pedera—Casa Mila building. The building is an entire block made up of two condominiums totally designed by Antoni Gaudi (who designed La Sagrada Familia) as well as many other one-of-a-kind buildings throughout Barcelona. We wanted to see it again and make sure that the rest of the group also got to see it. Kathleen had no problem touring this building in 2007 and thought she could still do it because when you did the tour, you took the elevator to the top of the building. And then you walked down and did the tour on the way.

Olga told us that this had changed since we were there last (what hadn’t 😜?) and that now you walked UP the stairs and then exited by way of the elevator. This just wasn’t going to work for us. So Olga jumped into action as soon as we got there, and in no time, Kathleen and I were going up the original apartment elevator (not open to anyone but employees) to the top floor to start our tour down. I wish I had taken a photo because it was one elegant elevator. It even had a Gaudi-designed, hand-carved wooden bench that Kathleen got to sit on while we went up. This is what makes local guides so good. They know the people to talk to (because Olga toured there constantly), and they know what can and can’t be done with the right request. We were blown away.

We had an awesome time touring the building. I am going to let the photos and the captions tell you the rest of the story. Don’t forget, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

Casa Mila from the outside
Looking up the façade.
The entry way is gorgeous
Gaudi loved to showcase nature in his work.
Loved the etched glass windows.
Looking up in the inner courtyard.
It almost looks like…
…a gateway to heaven.
The main reception stairs to the second floor apartments
Incredible ceilings
They have different rooms set up exactly as they were when the building was inhabitied.
The original owners lost the buidling during a financial downturn.
A bank bought the building.
The bank turned it into a museum…
…so the public could tour it.
The rooms were incredibly large for the time.
Gaudi also designed much of the furniture.
Of course every European household has a bidet.
A small tub for bathing the babies in the house.
The windows all had incredible views.
The office
I loved the patterned floors
Either done with wood or tiles.
Beautifully furnished throughout.
The dining room.
Even the ceilings were beautiful.
A Gaudi-designed bed.
And mirror.
The design of the furniture mirroed the design of the house.
It takes a while to tour the floor where people lived.
No showers in that age.
Even the coat rack was Gaudi-desgned.
When the building became public…
…this amazing space above the living space and below the roof was discovered.
The supports for the roof and the entire building were here and they are beautiful.
They have turned this area into a museum.
Here you can see how Gaudi worked
There is a scale model of the entire building.
As well as a display of Gaudi’s furniture designs.
And then you reach the roof.
It has amazing views.
In every direction
As well as these amazing sculptures everywhere.
Gaudi loved to design.
It is said that George Lucas came to Casa Mila …
And used these statues as his inspiration for the stormtroopers in Star Wars.
It sure looks like it.
The roof top is truly a gem.
And from there you have an amazing view of La Sagrada Familia.
When we were here in 2007, the air quality was horrid…
…so my photos were nowhere near this good.
Can’t you just hear the…
Darth Vader March.
Looking back down into the courtyard.

Park Güell

Our second stop on the tour was the beautiful Park Güell. This is another of Gaudi’s masterpieces that was originally built out in the country north of Barcelona, but over the years, the city has grown to swallow it up, and it is now almost in the city center. There is so much to see there, but I will just let you see it in my photos. Enjoy.

Note how the name is spelled. The man who commissioned it wanted a British Park.
Remind you of palm trees?
One of the many buildings on the grounds.
The view from the Park
Remind you of elephants?
A band was playing in the park.
The queen of Barcelona
On the upper level of the park. The place was swamped.
Loved all the nature depicted in the art.
This is the support for the upper part of the park.
More elephants? Everything is designed with a purpose.
Looking down from the top of the park.
This was Gaudi’s home for a while.
Underneath the upper park.
There are four huge circles in the ceiling.
They represent the four seasons.
The Park’s unofficial mascot, at the front gate.
Looking up at the top of the park.
Note how the tiles are both convex and concave.
The top of the house Gaudi lived in.
Check out the dots on top, which are actually coffee cups turned upside down.
On the house across the entrance from Gaudi’s home.
Gaudi’s house almost looks like a gingerbread house.
Looking back at the park.
The other house on the opposite side of the entrance.
Beautiful design was everywhere.

La Sagrada Família

Even though this incredible church was closed to non-locals due to the current festival, Olga wanted us to see it close up from the outside so she could explain the building and the significance of the art on the outside. You can’t believe the art on the outside of La Sagrada Família. Maybe you will have you see my photos. If you get bored with all the closeups, please feel free to jump out, but I did pair this down from more than 200 photos. Don’t forget, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

I don’t believe I have ever been so stunned by a building.
There is nothing quite like this church.
As you can see from the cranes, after more than 100 years, this building is still not done.
They hope to finish it in the next 10 years.
So many incredible pieces of art on this building.
None of the artwork is Guadi’s.
The church itself is his work of art.
But the art is everywhere created by his disciples.
So much to look at.
This tree with doves is on the birth of Christ side.
There is fruit on top of the spires.
All kinds.
It is everywhere.
But the cranes are hard to shoot around.
You can see the fruit on the top of the spires.
This is the top of the recently finished Virgin Mary spire.
It is a very photogenic cathedral.
From every angle.
The nativity.
So much to see.
Olga explained all of this but…
…I would have needed to take notes to keep up with it….
…but I had a camera in my hands.
Aren’t you glad I did?
Otherwise you would have to read about this…
…amazing art instead of seeing it.
Sadly, this was right across…
…a very small side streed from the cathedral. I think this is JUST WRONG!
Moving to the front we passed the new chapel on the left side of the church.
And the towers that connect it.
With amazing spires.
And lions.
The current front of the cathedral.
With more art everywhere.
When we were here in 2007, I was shooting a small…
…point and shoot camera with no zoom lens.
I was so happy I could get closeups of the artwork.
Including this art of the crucifixion.
And the risen Christ.
Between the twin spires.

The old city of Barcelona

Our next stop after the incredible La Sagrada Família was to head downtown (in HORRIBLE TRAFFIC) to the oldest parts of Barcelona. We walked by the original cathedral, which dates to the 13th century, while Olga pointed out a lot of truly remarkable sights. We saw a piece of art by Pablo Picasso that he drew with his usual minimalist style.

About this time, we were starving. So Olga recommended we try pintxos. If you have never been to a pintxos restaurant, it is almost worth a trip to Barcelona just to try it. Olga took us to her favorite place, Bilbao Berria Barcelona. Pintxos are topping of every kind placed on slices of awesome bread, and they put different colors and styles of sticks into the stack. The stack includes either cold or hot toppings. Hot ones might include melted cheese, roasted tomatoes, sausages, and serrano ham and the cold ones include cheeses, veggies, and so much more. There are even dessert pintxos. These are all set up on a number of buffet tables, and you choose what you want. Then after you eat them, you put the stick into a small metal container on the table, and when you are done, they count the sticks (different prices for different colors) and give you your check. Five of us ate a BUNCH of these, and the total bill was less than $80 and that included a bottle of wonderful Catalan wine. An amazing value, and every one of them is delicious. Here are some pictures from this part of the tour.

The ancient cathedral which has had modern buildings built into it to support it.
This reminded me of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice.
Picasso’s drawing on a building front.
On the other side of the building.
These are the beautiful street signs in the old city.
I took this exact same photo in 2007.
Beautiful art on every wall.

After lunch, we walked from the cathedral campo towards another campo where Olga was hoping she had a surprise for us, and she did. Hopefully, you remember a couple of posts ago when I wrote about the human pyramid building contests in Tarragona. Sadly, I could not see any of the actual pyramid building itself when we were there. I only got to take photos of the parade before the competition, which got rained out.

But when we walked around the corner in Barcelona, there it was, a castella (the Spanish name for the human pyramids) right in front of us. We got to watch this team (who were doing a demo, not a competition) build a three-story high human pyramid. Just look. It’s amazing.

We arrived just as they started building.
I got to see the entire thing.
From differnt angles.
As they built up higher and higher.
Just watch it build.
The top person just has to get to the top, turn around and come back down.
Those that climb to the very top are usually just children.
Watching videos of the actual competition…
I have learned that they are judged for a number of things…
…height of the pyramid…
…degree of difficulty…
…time it takes to build it…
…and get everyone back down.
If you go to YouTube, search for Taragonna Human Pyramids.
Truly amazing stuff.
These kids blow me away.
Totally confident.
And Barcelona supports Ukraine. We saw this in a lot of places.

A walk on my own

After watching the amazing human pyramids being built, our tour time was over. Olga had released our driver when it got to five hours, but she stayed with us to walk the other Kathleen, Dave and Pam to Las Ramblas to grab a cab and walked with me as I headed back to the hotel about four miles away. I wanted a few more photos to show you the huge crowds and incredible craziness that is Las Ramblas, the main tourist street in Barcelona. Here’s my last set of pics for Barcelona. Don’t forget, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

La Boqueria Public Market was closed for the festival. I had gotten some great photos there in 2007.
The scene on Las Ramblas was crazy.
The old Opera House.
Looking down an incredibly packed side street.
When you are photo walking during day, this is an obligatory shot.
The Columbus monument.
With a very cool lion.
Columbus pointing to a land he though he discovered. Someone needs to tell the indigenous people who were already there.
I think I just liked the sky here.
All up and down Las Ramblas there are artists…
…doing charicatures.
There are beautiful buildings.
Now you know what he did after he finished being president.
On my way back to our hotel.
This building is really old.
Loved this painted door on a garage.
Finally found the queen of Barcelona in our shower window. And yes, our shower had a window.
In the park next to the hotel there was this dragon.
With a not so happy message for me on the back.
But there was a part of the festival going on in the park.
Lots of colorful costumes
The Nobu Hotel, our home in Barcelona…chosen by Viking.

That about did it for our day in Barcelona. It so far exceeded my expectations and gave us a wonderful end to this incredible 29-day adventure that had started in August in Amsterdam. I guess you could say that when it comes to European cities, we went from A to B on this trip. I have one more trip-related post for you. Hopefully, I will have it up by tomorrow. It will be my review of the entire cruise and what we loved and didn’t love on Viking Sky. Then after that, I promised a post on how I shoot my photos. I so appreciate all the comments I have gotten on them. They are my pride and joy. If you want to see more of my pics, please follow me on Instagram (jimbellomo13) or Facebook (Jim Bellomo) where I post a single travel photo every day. Just one. Or you can see a lot of my photography that I sell here on my Picfair site.

Barcelona is my life, and I do not plan to leave.   —Gerard Pique

Disembarkation and our trip to Barcelona

On By Jim BellomoIn Food Experiences, Photography7 Comments

When we cruise, the first thing the real cruisers want to know about is the food. But the second is the embarkation/disembarkation. It’s been my experience after more than 30 cruises that if things are going to go wrong, one of these two times is when that will happen.

With this disembarkation, I am happy to say that nothing went wrong…except to say that they made us get off the ship (this is every cruiser’s lament). Pretty much everything went off without a hitch getting off the ship. We got up, had breakfast, and were asked to be out of our stateroom by 8:00 am. Sat for an hour in the Atrium, got our tag colors called, grabbed our luggage, took it to a van (since we were doing Viking’s post-cruise two-day extension), it was loaded into a van that followed our “luxury motor coach” into Barcelona from Tarragona.

That’s where thing kind of went bad. Viking now had to do something with the 35+ people on the “luxury motor coach” from 9:30 am when we got on until 1:00 pm when the Nobu Hotel in Barcelona would be ready to check us in. So they arranged a “luxury motor coach” tour that would drive us from the ship to Barcelona and then drive around Barcelona, showing us some of the sights. This started with them getting us lost before they even got the “luxury motor coach” out of the port (Seriously!).

Then they sent us a guide who admitted up front that he usually worked with Japanese tourists, so his English was not very good. On top of that, he also (like other guides we had previously toured with) felt like they had to fill every moment of the three-hour sojourn with the sound of his voice. He even started singing at one point. I overheard another passenger say, “I thought the guy with the flute yesterday was bad, but this guy is so much worse!” I had to agree. And since he was not confident in his English, he seemed to be much less confident in his directions and tour facts.

It took us about 70 minutes to get from Tarragona to the outskirts of Barcelona. He talked about 90% of the time. Mostly gibberish to us because his English was so poor. Our first stop in Barcelona was at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. This gorgeous art museum we thought was built high above and far from the city and not near anything. I took the header photo I am using today from in front of it.

We later learned that we were less than a mile from our hotel but that it would take almost three full hours to get there. And we didn’t stop to see the museum, just to use the bathrooms. Viking had bought tickets for us to get into the museum, but then we had 15 minutes to use the bathrooms and get back on the “luxury motor coach”…so we could be driven around and mumbled at while seeing the sights through a “luxury motor coach” window. As a photographer, this is my idea of torture. Seeing things I want to shoot but not being able to shoot them because the reflections in the “luxury motor coach” make it impossible to get a good shot. I did take a few when we got off at the museum. Here’s what they look like. Don’t forget, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

The inside of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya
From here, I could have walked to our hotel in 30 minutes but, it took us 2.5 hours to drive there.
La Sagrada Familia from the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya.

Once we arrived at the hotel around 1:15 pm, we were told to go up to the second floor and that we would be checked in at a special desk just for Viking cruisers. When we got to the second-floor room they were using, there was about an hour’s wait to get registered. This is because they had planned well by sending the first “luxury motor coach” off and then not sending the second one for about 30 minutes. That way, we should have been staggered when we reached the hotel and able to check in without any lines. But this was not to be after our “luxury motor coach” driver got lost getting out of the port, and by the time he figured out how to get out, “luxury motor coach” number two was ahead of us, and we were not that far ahead of “luxury motor coach” number three. That meant we all pretty much got there at the same time. Viking had close to 250 people staying at the Nobu Barcelona. It was very much like the Marriott where we had done our pre-cruise extension in Athens. Both of them were four or five-star, high-rise hotels that were well outside (not in easy walking distance) of the main attractions of their respective cities. The rooms were nice, and the included breakfast at both places was delicious, but I would have traded that for something a little closer to where I wanted to shoot pics.

So instead of standing in line to register, we left our bags with the bellman at the front desk and took a taxi to a wonderful restaurant that Kathleen and I had eaten in when we were here in 2007—La Rita. The restaurant had been there for about 10 years before that and is still going strong. The menu was exactly as we remembered it. I made reservations almost a month in advance because when we go to Spain, we make our main meal, our lunch. People in Barcelona eat dinner around 9:30 pm, and we just can’t eat that late. So we have our main meal at lunch (around 2:00) and then grab some tapas in the evening.

After lunch, we came back and were able to check in easily, with no lines at all, and our rooms were ready. We unpacked, I did some posting on this blog and some photo processing, and we hit the hay for a very busy day on Sunday, our only full day in amazing Barcelona.

I had thought I could wind up the entire cruise with two more posts, one about Barcelona and disembarkation and one to sum up the cruise. But once I started talking about disembarkation, this one got too long to include our awesome day in Barcelona, so you will have to read two more. See you tomorrow. (BTW: we are home in Redmond after a hellacious day of flights and being up for 26 hours straight.)

You’d have a hard time finding anything better than Barcelona for food, as far as being a hub. Given a choice between Barcelona and San Sebastian to die in, I’d probably want to die in San Sebastian.  —Anthony Bourdain

 

Tarragona not Barcelona—it all worked out!

On By Jim BellomoIn Photography6 Comments

When we first booked this cruise with Viking, the itinerary finished in beautiful Barcelona. About three months later, we received a note from Viking that we would NOT be docking and spending an overnight in Barcelona. We would instead be docking and spending the night in Tarragona, a (we researched) small, industrial city south of Barcelona. (You can see how far apart they are above.) That kind of ticked me off because I was really looking forward to being able to wake up on the ship and then go for my pre-dawn photo walk and still be able to sleep on the ship that night.

We later learned that Viking had to switch because even though Barcelona is a HUGE port for cruise ships, there were going to be so many there over the two days (Friday and Saturday) that she would not have been able to stay for three full days. She needed four days tied up at a pier because we would have two days there (arrived Friday morning, disembarked Saturday morning) and then the cruise that followed ours would need the same (embark on Saturday afternoon, sail late on Sunday). Viking just could not take up a berth in Barcelona for that long. So that’s why we wound up in Tarragona.

In hindsight, I am so very glad that we did because it turned into one of my favorite photographic experiences on the trip. And I almost missed it once we were there. I almost missed it because we had tickets for the Viking-included excursion called “A Snapshot of Tarragona,” and when we got up, we just weren’t sure that we wanted to go. After being on the road since August 29, we were pretty much done. Kathleen wanted to just stay on board and pack, but she encouraged me to go ahead and take the excursion. I still (up until 15 minutes before it left) had not committed myself to go. But go, I did.

The first thing to note about leaving the ship was that it was docked a VERY long way from the gate to the port. In other words, this was NOT a port I could have walked out of. And then, once you got out of the port, it was a long way to the city. To say it was a very long way is an understatement. When we got on the “luxury motor coach,” we were then driven for about 30 minutes, and we were still in the port. It is a HUGE industrial port, and we were moored all the way out as far as you can get before still being at sea. And the road out of the port had what seemed like continuous speed bumps that the “luxury motor coach” could not go over quickly. Once we were out of the port, it was another 20 minutes before we were off the coach at the edge of downtown.

At this point, I am beginning to think that I made a mistake in coming. Viking was running shuttles all day long, about every 15 minutes, so I knew I could go back whenever I wanted. Our guide for the day was another guide that seemed to be paid by the word. She walked us around some Roman ruins (as much as I love Italy, if I never see a Roman ruin for a few years, that will be OK with me), which were pretty cool, but they didn’t really hold that much interest for me. I have so many photos from my Tarragona day that I will put the Roman ruins and what we could see from them here. Don’t forget, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

The first Roman wall and turret.
Closer view
Looking behind me, this more modern church.
More ruins
Of a chariot race track.
More ruins.
More ruins still.
And the obligatory narrow street scene.
And more ruins.
Lived the cool patterns on this tile.
And another cool street.
On the other side of the citadel.
More narrow streets. But cooler colors.
More citadel but another view point.
Inside the ruins
Upstairs on the ruins.
More and more ruins.
Stop the ruins!
And the (even though they are cool) narrow streets.
But I did live this actual ruin that was left in place. Each door goes into a different restaurant’s patio.
Yes, more ruins.
With cool windows
And cool verandahs.
One more ruins for you.

What did grab my interest were explosions and gunshots going off about three blocks away. We had been told that there was a Catalunya-wide festival going on that weekend (Catalunya is the “state” that both Tarragona and Barcelona are in) so we were pretty sure that this was what we were hearing. We could also see fireworks and a parade at the end of those three blocks. Here’s what I saw when I looked down the streets and then walked around to do some more investigating.

You can see the crowds.
I took this from about two blocks away. You can see a lion “float” on the right.
Throughout the city center you could see people like this having a festival breakfast on the sidewalks.
And the crowds were growing.
The square was filling with people.
There were many more people having a meal together.
The wine was flowing at 9:45 am
Note the different colors of shirts everyone is where.
Here’s the green team.
And this is what they would be competing in later in the day—human pyramids.

No, I did not get to see the human pyramids in Tarragona. To show you the photo above, I took a picture of a picture. But we did get to see one being built on Sunday in Barcelona. We weren’t able to see one built in Tarragona, because around noon, it started to rain, accompanied by quite the thunderstorm, so they were canceled for Friday. After looking at a few more ruins, the guide said we would now have some free time, but not to go downtown, it would be too loud and dangerous near the parades. So you know what I did…I went right downtown where the parades were. I am so glad I did. An amazing experience, as you will see.

On the way downtown, I found people getting ready for a parade. It turns out they do the parades twice in the morning. Once from the square and once back. So I ran into a bunch of people getting ready to march on my way down. Here’s a quick gallery of those people.

The red team members getting ready.
Not sure which neighborhood these guys represented.
Or these
Or these.

When I finally reached the city square, I could tell they were getting ready for something. At this point, I thought I had missed it all. Then I heard (from a side street) firework explosions. I headed from the square to where the parade would be coming from, and this is what I saw. Don’t forget, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

What downtown looked like before the parade.
I heard the parade comiing so I headed up the side street where the explosions were coming from.
This curve was just a little up the street
But it was close confines.
All that smoke you see is coming from the fireworks and it was LOUD!
Costumed characters lighting off fireworks.
You can see how smoky it is.
The mascots of each neighborhood led their groups down the hill.
The mascots had fireworks attached to their costumes.
The fireworks would scream for a while and then explode.
It was beyond loud.
I will try and add a video so you can see how loud it was. Probably not on this post.
These people are placing the fireworks
And lighting them.
And now the bull is fully loaded.
When he snorts, they go off with their screams.
He rears up and they explode.
There were bulls, dragons…
…strange dragons.
Very strange dragons
Each mascot was followed by a band from that neighborhood.
All of them were followed by peopel with muskets that when they fired them, it was louder than the fireworks.
And another band.
Then the golden chicken
With a pigeon in its mouth.
Everyone cheered the pigeon while he danced.
The king golden chicken/
And there was a horse.
Kids would pose with the mascots before they started marching.
The horse would dance into the crowd.
And the bands play on.
Here comes the armadillo.
And his band
Did you know there were Spanish bagpipes? Neither did I.
Here comes the lion
Followed by some huge dolls.
And another band.
This is a sequence. The man on the real horse has drums…
…and recognizes a man in the crowd.
He decides to pull the man up on his horse.
Found out later, the man being pulled up…
…was the Mayor of Tarragona.
He had a heck of a time climbing on.
But he finally got there to the cheers of the crowd.
Hurrah!
Now he as to get off.
That may be hard than he thinks.
Friends try and help him off.
Quite the job
Ended up taking four people.
They finally got him down.
And our rider got his hat back.
More incredible figures in the parade.
They just kept coming.
People would greet each other on the steets like they hadn’t seen each other in years.
Everyone was so friendly.
Including this guy.