The Penultimate Post: Barcelona!

Our weekend trip to Barcelona was a year ago, last September, a few weeks after we had arrived in Bilbao. Somehow I never quite got round to blogging about it then as there were so many things to say about Bilbao at the time. So I’m only getting round to it now in my penultimate post. Perhaps this is what’s called leaving the best till last.

It’s a slow six-hour train ride from Atlantic Bilbao to Mediterranean Barcelona. Things speed up a little once one has crossed the Cantabrian mountains out of the Basque Country and descended into the stunning green Ebro valley of La Rioja. Then there’s the strange grey-brown desert of the area around Zaragoza, and finally into the different, Mediterranean green of Catalunya.

We’d never been to Barcelona before – but we really fell in love with it, with its enticing combination of rich cultural life, extraordinary history, wonderful architectural heritage, Mediterranean climate (warm, warm, warm), fantastic setting (a seaside city with acres of beautiful beach, and mountains behind the city) and great food.

Not that we saw that much of the city, however. We stayed for one night only in a flat in the medieval old town (the ‘Ciutat Vella’) – in the area of Sant Pere, which is on the edge of the ‘Barri Gotic’, the very centre of the city. In a day and a half, we didn’t have time to do more than explore the (extensive) old town and the old port (‘Port Vell’), and wander along the nearby beaches of Barceloneta. But we saw enough to feel certain that this is a place we’d like to spend a lot more time in.

The Ciutat Vella has its touristy centre, of course, especially around the cathedral and the Picasso Museum, but Sant Pere, the area we were staying in, was a slice of authentic old town life, with its narrow medieval streets and a North African and Middle Eastern feel:

Sant Pere is also the location of the Palau de la Musica Catalana, the glorious art nouveau (‘modernista’) concert hall with its extraordinary ceramic decorations inside and outside. One of the highlights of the weekend was a visit here to see a brilliant evening of flamenco:

The ancient core of the old town, the Barri Gotic, stretches back to Roman times:

Within the remains of the Roman walls are the medieval cathedral and royal palace (in which is contained the excellent Museum of the History of Barcelona):

… and the ancient governmental heart of the city, the Placa de Sant Jaume, where the ceremonial buildings of the Catalan Government are still located:

Beyond the Roman core, the old town has two great medieval churches – Santa Maria del Pi near the centre:

… and Santa Maria del Mar in the southern area near the sea, ‘La Ribera’:

North of La Ribera is the atmospheric area of Santa Caterina, with its splendidly rebuilt medieval market:

The pickpocket-infested tourist-trap avenue ‘Las Ramblas’ runs between the Barrio Gotic and the western area of ‘El Raval’, quite down-at-heel in places. Here there is the huge food market, ‘La Boqueria’:

… and the delightful old medieval hospital of Santa Creu which is now the Library of Catalunya:

By the sea is the harbour and the old shipping area, Port Vell, with its famous statute of Christopher Columbus and its complex of medieval shipyards:

There’s also the ‘Palau del Mar’, now the Museum of the History of Catalunya, and the beaches of Barceloneta:

Back in the heart of the Barrio Gotic, there’s the old Jewish area, known as ‘El Call’, with a recently discovered medieval synagogue:

And the charming Placa de Sant Felip Neri:

With more time, we could have gone beyond the Ciutat Vella to see the Gaudi buildings (including the ‘Sagrada Familia’) in the 19th century new town (‘L’Eixample’); the complex of national art galleries, museums and parks in the Montjuic area on the hill above the medieval city; the Olympic village along the coast from Barceloneta; and so on. Or we could have ventured into the Catalunyan mountains beyond the city to see the many medieval towns, castles and monasteries to be found there.

We will definitely be back.