No seatbelts required

Hi! My pics from Spain are (finally) online. But since most of you are either busy bees (with limited time to spare) or hummingbirds (limited attention span - like me), I've selected a few pics that I like from each day of my 3-week vacation & posted them here with added commentary. A day a post...let's pretend that I'd actually done that. 

If you'd like to see more, here're the rest of the photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/absolutboo

All 926 of them. So knock yourselves out. :o)

Have fun & leave a comment!

March 25 to 28, 2008 - Barcelona, Spain

Gaudi! 1st day in the city and 1st Gaudi encounter. More on the Casa Battló later.

The Sagrada Familia...still under construction...I was on the upper (open) deck of the tourist bus, taking a bus ride round the city 'cos I was a bit pooped after the long flight. So more of this awesome building later.

I was still on the bus. These are "city bicycles" - by Bicing. There're racks like that all over the city to encourage commuters to reduce their carbon footprint. An annual membership (very reasonably priced) allows a "renter" to use the bikes anytime. Each bike can be taken away from a station for a limited period of time (like 2 hrs or something). If a bike isn't returned after 48 hrs or something (sorry for the lack of precision, I was on a holiday), the entire cost of the bike would be charged to the "renter" (couple hundred Euros). Outside of Europe, this bike-sharing system has recently been introduced in the US (Washington DC being the 1st).

March 25 to 28 - Barcelona

You can't tell by looking at the photo, but this was a really noisy group of schoolkids playing in the backyard. And because it was a "corner" alley, the noise was amplified. They were playing some form of football/soccer but I think that there was more shrieking and laughing than kicking. Very cute bunch though. I was with a group of tourists on the "Gothic Walk" (conducted by the tourism office) and all our us were just momentarily captivated by this lively group of kids.

A gargoyle in the form of an elephant. Go Jumbos!

It's a candy store. Great name, eh?

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The facade of a building along La Rambla (probably the most touristy street in Barcelona). It used to be an umbrella shop, I think.

Same facade. Don't know the significance of the dragon. But the umbrella's there.

Joan Miró's sculpture at the Fundació Joan Miró in Montjuïc. Completely irrelevant, but I had the yummiest toasted turkey & brie sandwich there. I don't get Surrealism. Does that explain the food memory?

March 25 to 28 - Barcelona

Architectural highlight: Casa Milà (La Pedrera) by Gaudi.

The exterior. Gaudi designed this home for Rosario Segimon and Pere Milà.

The rooftop. This was the 1st of Gaudi's works that I'd visited. And frankly, I was simply bowled over by Gaudi's ingenuity & the boldness of his avant garde designs during that time. On hindsight, his talent showed early. When he graduated as an architect, his professor had remarked that only time will tell if he (Gaudi) were a "raving lunatic" or a "genius".

Another shot from the rooftop. See the undulating facade of the building? They hardly make them like that anymore.

The interior.

Stairs.

Inner courtyard.

Look at the wrought-ironwork on the balcony. Adds to the organic feel of the building.

March 25 to 28 - Barcelona

Architectural highlight: Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia

Josep Bocabella was the founder of the "Association of Devotees of San Jose". It was his desire to build a temple dedicated to the Holy Family. This was in 1866. After successfully raising sufficient funds to acquire a huge plot of land, the temple's foundation was laid in 1882. When the project started, the architect was Francesc del Villar. So how did Gaudi get into the picture? Through Joan Martorell. 

Martorell was an an architect whom Gaudi was assistant to on other projects in the city (also churches). Martorell was also a member of the Temple Council. A disagreement ("creative differences" perhaps) between Martorell and Villar led the latter to resign in 1883. Upon Martorell's recommendation, Gaudi took over the project. Gaudi continued to devote 43 years of his life to constructing the temple, even going on the streets to raise building funds. Until he met his untimely death in June 1926, when he was run over by a streetcar. No one had recognized him at the time of the accident & his friends found him in a public hospital the next day. If it sounds strange for a supposedly high-flying architect, it is because Gaudi had experienced a drastic change in the last years of his life. The consecutive deaths of his family members and people he was close to professionally deeply affected him and he retreated from the public view. His body was buried in the crypt of the temple.

The bell towers.

Another view. The cranes are visible from everywhere.

The Nativity facade. Sculptures by various artists.

The Passion facade. More recently built (note the lighter tone of the stone, despite the lighting). "Angular" sculptures by Subirachs.

Lofty interior: Let in the light! Love the stained glass! (You'd realize as you read on that I have this thing for stained glass.) 

As you can see, the whole place was, or I should say is, still very much a work-in-progress.

These must be the most looked-at construction workers in the world. Last note: Proceeds from the entrance tickets help to pay for the construction.

March 25 to 28 - Barcelona

Architectural highlight: Park Güell

A housing development that wasn't meant to be. So it became a public park after there were no takers for the project.

Gaudi had let his art adapt to the existing landscape & not the other way around. It was dusk, thus the lack of natural lighting. 

I like the whimsical buildings... as if out of a fairytale.

Lots of Gaudi's famous mosaics... here on the ceiling....

On the serpentine-like bench...

A closer look.

March 25 to 28 - Barcelona

One more example of Modernisme (kind of Art Nouveau in Catalonia) architecture:

This is the Palau de la Música Catalana. To me, it is just amazing to see such an elaborate and colorful - almost animated - building in the flesh (or should I say brick). Really moves you.

In your face, Minimalism (which I happen to like).

A closer look.

WYSIWYG. As you can guess, the Palau de la Música Catalana is a concert hall.

Girona & Figueres

I took a day trip out of Barcelona to Girona and Figueres.

Girona is a historical city about an hour from Barcelona. This small walled city dates back to the Roman period. It was home to a flourishing Jewish settlement in the 12th century, until the Expulsion in 1492. Many Jews fled the city. Those who remained were either killed or converted to Christianity. The latter, however, were accepted neither by the Jewish nor the Christian communities. The Jewish Heritage Museum was interesting. Also saw Arab baths for the first time.

Another view of the city.

A doggie in the balcony. I saw many dogs in Spain. Mostly the small ones such as terriers of all sorts and Chihuahuas, which people carried around.

Now we're in Figueres. It is the hometown of Surrealist Salvador Dalí. I don't understand Surrealism. Most of Dalí's art in the Teatre-Museu Dalí overwhelmed me. Nothing was subtle. The huge installation pieces were dramatic and just plain weird (to me). Some paintings made me cringe and I left the museum feeling like I had indigestion. Not all good art go down smoothly (unlike wine, some would argue).

I can't caption this (other than calling it a black car) 'cos I don't know what it's supposed to mean or what it's supposed to be. Above it, resting on top of the black textured pillar (on the right) was a boat, with leaks. 

Installation in the stairwell. The photo's a bit blurred 'cos I was trying to get a shot without people's heads in the way (I'm referring to my fellow museum visitors). Not 'cos I was frightened by it.

What do you see?

I thought that this was a cute drawing. Dalí's really brilliantly creative (& works with multimedia), I can appreciate his talent. But, looking at his art kinda disturbs me 'cos I have no clue how his mind functions. How does he come up with such things? Warped? Fantastical?

Ah, we've all seen this. Melting Clocks. Sorta like at work, eh?

March 29 - Granada

Granada is in Andalucia, South Spain. A nice small town, with a rich past. First occupied by the Moors in the 8th century, the city peaked as a center for culture during the rule of the Nasrid dynasty (1238 - 1492). It fell to Christian rule in 1492. Prior to the Arabs, there were the Romans, Visigoths and Byzantines. It was also an early Jewish settlement. As you can imagine from its history, Granada has a strong Arab flavor. Indeed, its biggest attraction (and that of Spain's), is the Alhambra (more later).

I love the streetlamps. Pretty, eh? There's a huge student population here, mainly due to its University. The language center at the University of Granada (one of Spain's main countries) attracts many foreign students as well.

Oh. No offense, ok? Some people might find it "relevant" to work.

 

Be a cool cat. Though this cat looks a bit conked out. See, I don't mind it when graffiti puts a smile on faces.

March 30 - Granada

The Alhambra was built when the Nasrid dynasty ruled Granada. This huge complex consisted of the Nasrid palace, Generalife (gardens & country palace) & Alcazaba (military fort). For conservation reasons, entry to the Nasrid palace was restricted to 300 persons every half hour. Therefore, when visitors bought a ticket, it had a "time of entry" (half hour interval) on it - and one can choose either a morning visit or an evening visit. 

Getting a ticket wasn't a problem for us. According to our ticket, our entry time was 0930 to 1000. So after a leisurely breakfast, we sauntered over to the entrance where we stood in line to enter the palace, all excited to see what grand palace looked like. Only to be told minutes later that we weren't allowed in 'cos it was past our entry time. Huh? I pointed to my watch. My friend pointed to her watch and looked at mine. The gatekeeper pointed to his watch and we all looked at his. Why does it say 10:30 am? Then it occurred to me. Daylight saving time change. Arghs! Time has sprung forward by an hour. Double arghs! I was under the impression that the time change had already occurred before I arrived in Spain. 

So the clueless tourists (i.e. us & quite a few others) apologized for being clueless and asked if there was any way we could enter at the next timeslot instead. Nope. We'd have to buy another ticket. This annoying bureaucratic answer was given to us by 3 different parties, each with varying levels of fluency in English. But the message was clear. So that was our 12 Euro mistake.

We could, however, visit the Generalife and Alcazaba (military fort) at any time, so we did. This is the latter.

Now let's skip the Generalife for the moment and proceed to the Nasrid palace. Our "new" tickets were for an evening visit. Just as guidebooks and past visitors have claimed, the palace was a grand sight indeed. This was my first (of many later in the trip) encounter with such extensive Islamic architecture. (Previous doses were small, like in Dubai.) 

To me, the Islamic style of decoration was geometric, colorful (mosaics) & ornate. Almost too much at times. It would seem as if no surface was spared. The idea behind the Alhambra was a paradise created on Earth. Space, light, water and decoration were manipulated to create such an effect.

Heh. If you lived in the palace, this would be one of your (many) views.

Now on to the Generalife. The lush gardens. I don't quite know how to describe the huge gardens, which were made up of fountains, "sculpted" hedges, citrus trees and lots of other plants. I can, however, imagine how calming it was to walk the paths on a fine day, away from the stress and pressure of having to rule a country.

This would be an ideal place to sit and contemplate life. Or just think about what to have for dinner. 

Water is an essential element in Islam. It is also the essence of the gardens of Paradise. Thus, water features, such as fountains big and small, pools, are common in palaces built by Muslim rulers.

Looking out at the gardens. 

Again, the intricate carvings.