Well I'm sure some of you may have heard we are experiencing a heatwave here - 35 in Barcelona- luckily tempered by the sea breeze.
The Conference started today - hundreds of people - total chaos and quite frankly nothing that has grabbed my interest totally. Perhaps it is just that here I am in Barcelona - and despite the fact that the University is a wonderful venue - it is hard to be totally engaged if the papers are - lets say BORING. Never mind - I shall overcome!
After a day of it I have had a wonderful time wandering around the Quarter known as El Born. The markets are currently closed for renovation but still manages a c
ouple of snaps.The amazing Cataluyan Gothic edifice of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar occupies a huge part of the quarter. It truly is a beautiful building - and given it took only 55 years to build (amazing for medieval times) it has managed to keep a flowing synchronicity to its architecture inside and outside (often lost over time and the power brokers)
The interior is awsome in its simplicity - the choir housing was burned down in the Civil War and somehow it seems more beautiful without the architectural clutter.
Ialso went a bit ga ga over the many stunning stained glass windows - but the Rose window over the west nave is the most beautiful.
It was simply too stifling to do much more - Dragging ourselves to the Picasso Museo at Montacada was as far as I could go - this had been the scene of my confrontation with security guards in 1974, when fleeing from protests I had got involved in during the move to overthrow Franco - (amazing what one gets involved in when young and filled with ideals - sometimes I mourn the loss of this energy) At the time I had sought refuge in the museum and fell asleep! ... I'm afraid it may have happened again today- tooo tired - will try for another day.Made my way to the watefront in search of some cool air and sustenance - My last trip to Barcelona was just before the olympics for the Feminist Book Fair in 1990 with Renate, Sue and Colleen- the waterfront has completely changed - I'm not too sure whether I like it at all - imagine a very, very large Geelong Waterfront combined with Docklands- UGH! Here's a taste in pictures:
The atmospheric fishing 'village' of Barceloneta as it was known is all but gone - pushed out past the 'reclamation' for the olympics - we now have an Imax, Mc Donalds blah blah Yuk!the area was originally designed in 1753 to re house people made homeless by the first reclamation. It was laid out on a grid system and later housed fisherman and their families. The narrow streets were filled with great fish resturants as I recall in 1974b and 1976 on previous visits, I think in 1990 they had started to tear things down - One of the most famous and a favourite spotsof mine being the Sete Portes - Much of the area has now been taken over by rip off touristy Bars and resturants. Sadly Sette Portes is now so expensive I haven't got a hope in hell of re-visiting - I wonder what some of its more famous guests would think now? Che Guevara, or Winston Churchill?? ... any way you never know I might just have to lash out and sample another one of their 10 famous Paellas and it would be good to just walk those black and white matble tiles and sit in the light of the art nouveau lamps.
It's midnight and I'm stuffed - this blogginbg is sort of hard work - but I am enjoying communicating with you and also enjoy the occasional comments from some of you.
Hope you are surviving the cold - I'm sending you some warm thoughts
Love Lariane
so glad you are having a good time. It is very pleasing to be able to almost experience the trip with you through your blogs. Enjoy you time and maybe the conference won't be so bad. Well here we are gearing up for the big match on Sunday. Will keep you poted with the reults. cheers Wendy
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you Wendy - the conference didn't get much better today - so hit the streets with camera.
ReplyDeleteGO CATS
sitting at home listening to my team trying to beat his team... it's only the start of the 3rd quarter but my boys are in front by 24points!!
ReplyDeleteAt the same conference in Chicago last year the venue, food and organisation was appalling. The networking was great and some presentations only ok. Wandering around the city and suburbs was the best part.. stunning architecture.