BARCELONA Mon. July 1

            What a beautiful city! Wide clean streets, all lined with trees in their full summer greenery. Attractive, modern apartments buildings – five or six storeys high - right through the city.  Very little high rise. So the city presents a lovely homogeneous streetscape. So you could easily live right in the centre of the city. 

            There is a medieval section of the city – the Gothic Quarter – with a maze of fascinating courtyards, narrow streets and old churches.  Eventually the medieval city walls were pulled down so the modern city could evolve with its parks, spacious squares and wide boulevards.

            Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia – a would-be independent country, with its own language and history. Our guide was most emphatic that the Catalone language is not a dialect of Spanish, but a separate ancient language of its own. He told us of another small country – Andorra  – to the North near the French border, and some parts of Southern France  – which also have this ancient language.

            Catalonia – a semi independent Province in the North East of Spain – cherishes its character, and I can remember hearing over the years of some unrest as it struggled for its independence from Spain. In lots of places in the city, like the Olympic Stadium on Montjuic and on residential balconies – the Catalone flag appeared. Four red vertical bars on a yellow background with a red star in the triangle above. Our guide – an older man, who is very proud of his city and its Catalonian heritage – assured us that although many people still hope for an independent nation some day, Spain will never let this happen He reckoned the Spanish soldiers would arrive at the first whiff of a surge towards independence.

            La Sagrada Familia Church is quite something else. Barcelona has famous architects and many special buildings. Their favourite architect son seems to be Antoni Gaudi, who trained at the University in Barcelona, and is responsible for the world famous ‘Holy Family Church’. The building was started as a small local church by someone else, but when Gaudi took over it became a very large project indeed.

            We visited the only section of it to be almost finished, and I wish I could put in here photos of it. It is the section devoted to the Nativity of Christ. There are small spires everywhere, and Nativity scenes like Christmas Cribs built among these spires. Large modern cranes hang in the sky all over the place.

            Gaudi spent 43 years on this Church, though there are smaller projects of his all over the city. The Church has been under construction since 1882, and is expected to be finished by 2026, with the use of modern construction methods. When Gaudi was asked when he thought the Church would be finished, his famous answer was “My client is in no hurry.” Meaning God is immortal.   

As Gaudi grew older he became more focused on spirituality, and spent much time in meditation. He took less care of himself and his appearance, and wandered about looking like a poor old man. He was eventually hit by a tram and died of his injuries. Gaudi is remembered not just  for his architectural skill but also his spirituality. So much so, he has been accepted into the first stage of Sainthood by the Catholic Church.

Barcelona’s history is shrouded in the mists of time. Some think it was founded by Hanibal’s father in the 3^rd Century BC, or even before the birth of Rome. It is the fourth richest city in Europe, and looks magnificent even in a one day coach tour from the ship. The Sea Princess notes on Barcelona told me “The Catalan people – with their struggles to keep alive their culture and heritage” give “home to revolution, poetry and regional pride.”

Barcelona proudly hosted the Olympic Games in 1992, and built their Olympic Stadium high above the city on Montjuic, with its magnificent views.

Also on Montjuic is the sculpture of people dancing the ‘Savanna’ – a dance tradition of the local people and only seen in the streets.  The Flamenco dancers who put on  show for us in a crowded Princess Theatre on the ship at 4.30pm were really great. Flamenco is also a Catalonian tradition, but from further South than Barcelona.

            Thank goodness Barcelona is followed by a ‘Sea Day’ so we can have a rest and recovery time from the overload of so many different countries and cultures in so few days from Egypt to Spain.