El Ultimo Dia (The Last Day): Barri Gotic, No Me Moleste, and Pinchos

I woke this morning and my feet tried to convince me to stay in the room all day. 'Ignore the feet,' cried my brain. I like my brain. It's served me well. Far be it from me to upset it this far into our relationship. Off to the Barri Gotic (The Gothic Neighborhood).

The ruins are under this Cathedral

The Gothic Neighborhood is legitimately the original Barcino, the port city set up by the Carthaginians and more tribal people before that. This city is old. The Romans put up city walls to protect it and at that point, it started to become a commercial hub. The remains of the city had been lost until about 50 years ago when an excavation crew laying attempting to lay a foundation for a building discovered buried ruins underneath the neighborhood. After reading that in the guide book I knew I had to go to these ruins under the streets of Barcelona. I'm glad I did.

OK, I didn't take a ton of pictures because I forgot to. The audio guide was free (a rarity) and good (another rarity). Basically, what was discovered was a bunch of workshops (laundry, fish sauce maker, wine maker) and a Roman bath. I can only imagine how much this neighborhood must have stank.


The most interesting tidbit I'm walking away with is that it was common for a Roman laundry to set up amphorae (large jugs) outside of the establishment for people to urinate in. The urine would be dried and the ammonia used as a cleaning agent. Brilliant! I wonder if my local launder would entertain some 2000 yr old technology.

Not too far from the underground ruins was an uncovered synagogue that shut down in 1391 during a pogrom. I'm interested in the Spanish Inquisition and thought I'd pick up some new knowledge. For 2.5 euros the space is unimpressive. It's 2 cellar sized rooms and nothing remains to indicate its original use. The guy who discovered it in the 1980s somehow recognized this basement for what it was and had it excavated, wherein the remains of the synagogue were discovered.

What I learned is that the city had the largest Jewish population in Spain at the time of the pogrom and after many Jews were killed, the rest either fled or converted to Catholicism and continued to practice in secret. The Inquisition didn't really effect Barcelona too much since the bulk of the Jewish population was nary to be found. She did tell the story of one woman, the mother-in-law of the family who owned the present site, who was the first Jew in Barcelona to be burned for heresy during the Inquisition. Sad.

St. Luis Obispo de Toulouse

 Down the street is the Frederic Mares Museum which the BCN pass would get me into for free and the guide book described as a cabinet of curiosities. This place was awesome. I spent about 2 hours just poking around in the 4 story museum. Mares was a local artist and wealthy guy who spent time collecting things. He didn't just pick up this thing or that thing. No. He collected tens of thousands of things and it was never enough to have one of something. This guy had OCD. I've never seen so many Jesus' on the cross in one place. Mind you, he bought originals and thanks to him many priceless works of art and artifacts were saved from who knows what fate.



I noticed the name Sant Bisbe by a lot of the statue and wondered it was Catalan for San Obispo, or Saint Bishop. A quick Google Translate confirmed by hunch. This is the guy for whom my home town is named. Very cool.

Mares also collected medieval weapons. He has flintlocks pistols, shields, armor, swords, crossbows (notice the crank at the bottom left of that crossbow picture), a large collection of arquebus (original rifles without the rifling... pre-musket).



Why have one when you can have 20? This guy would go mental at Comic Con.

Re-creation of his personal library. Now this guys knows how to build a gaming room. Yes, please.

I was going to hit up the Picasso Museum next but I was done. My knees, thighs, and feet were begging me to comply with their demands. I decided to give them a rest at a cafe and see if lunch would make them feel better. No dice. They were set on walking back north to do some shopping and taking a nap.

This toothless guys playing terrible harmonica strolled by looking for tips. I waved him off and then he went to bug these ladies. The lady at the far seat was really irritated at him and cried out "No me moleste" (don't bother me) and eventually restaurant staff had to come out and chase him off. She and I shared a laugh about it a few minutes later. It's funny moments like this you just don't get in a museum or on a tour bus.

Shopping ensued, I discovered some incredible chocolate, and went back to the room to take a nap. With the nap done it was time for dinner. A place named Lizarran is right down the street from my hotel and it looked inviting. Their specialty is pinchos, a traditional Spanish style of finger food different from tapas in that it is already prepared and you just take what you want and pay for it later. The price depended on the size of the pincho (spear) in the food. We need this at home. I'm convinced we do pub food wrong at home. This is exactly how it should be done. Every couple of minutes the bell would ring in the kitchen and the waiter would walk around with a fresh selection of hot pinchos. I loved that waiter. He never ceased to surprise me.

I had more than just these three pinchos. My favorite was the guacamole, egg, and anchovy followed closely by the sirloin and cheese. A perfect last dinner in Spain. I'll miss the food here.

Look at all of those pinchos.

Day 4: The Correct Map, Museums Are Open, and an Evening Stroll.

The correct bus. I sat downstairs.

The approach

Now that the whole map thing was settled, I hopped on board the Blue line and set out for the Monastir de Pedrables bright and early. My plan was to be the first one in at 10am and my plan came together beautifully. It's pretty far from the city the center but when we drove past yesterday, I was intrigued. Built in the 1100s, it has the look of something old and sacred. While most of it is a museum and tourist attraction nowadays, parts of it still function. A nun gave me a nice smile when we walked past one another.

The gardens inside. Operational since the 1100s. The nuns grow healing herbs all throughout.

There were many cool things to see in the monastery. During the Spanish Civil War it became a repository for many works of art in hopes they would be protected and hidden from Franco's bombers. They were but as a result the church fell into disuse since it filled up with crates and other things.

I was blown away by these choir books. They're HUGE. I put my hand in the shot to try and give some relative size but I don't think the photo does it justice. To use them you need these special stands.

Is this place trying to send me a message?

I spent about 90 minutes taking in all of the artwork and pathways I could take. It reminded me a lot of the Shrine of Rumi in Konya with the rooms set up as they would have been when in use and explanations of daily life. I did have to laugh when I went into the refectory and saw this on the wall: Considera Morientem, or consider the death. I know it was talking about Jesus but come on... that's a bit much to deal with when trying to relax.


Back on the bus to the Palau Reial de Pedrables (Royal Palace). The guide book advertised a tour of the palace and a separate museum dedicated to royal and noble fashion. Seemed like a good thing to take in and it was the next stop on the bus. Yeah... closed. They were setting up for some concert or some such. I did tour the grounds, which were peaceful and beautiful, but left museum-less. I did find the Hercules statue design by Gaudi. Bonus!

The spigot is designed to look like a dragon. Gaudi sure loved his dragons.

Since Camp Nou, the home of FC Barcelona was next one the route I similarly decided to hop off and see what I could see.

The first thing I saw was 22 euros for a tour. Lou Ferrigno has been unable to get $20 from me for an autograph for years and I wasn't about to let Barca win that battle. I asked the security guard if I could go through the gate and take a few pictures and he said I would have to buy a ticket. He was wrong. All I had to do was walk through the official merchandise store 3 stories, by the way, and there I was.

I hung out for a few, took some photos, had lunch, bought some souvenirs, and headed to the next destination.


Next stop: the National Art Museum of Catalunya (MNAC) and today it was open. I loves me a good art museum and despite half of the museum being closed for who know what reason, the Medieval and Renaissance exhibitions were open. OK, I'm sure most of you aren't into art like I am so I won't post copious pictures of incredible pieces. I will however pause to talk about the frescoes.

The medieval frescoes painted 600 to 1000 were beginning to suffer water, smoke, and age damage so through an incredible process, some geniuses figured out how to remove the frescoes from the chapel and apse walls and remount them in this museum. What they done here is essentially recreate these small medieval chapels and put the frescoes exactly where they belong. It's amazing.





To think that these works of art were once painted onto the walls of places hundreds of miles away is a real mind blower. It really did feel like I was into and out of many different chapels. They paid attention to so many architectural details to get it all right. I'll repeat, these are the original frescoes, not recreations.

The stoning of Saint Steven

Lots and lots of artwork to take in. I now have a lot of examples to show the students when we get to Medieval Romanesque and Gothic artwork as well as the Renaissance. Works by famous artists were all over the place. I loved it.





I really wanted to see the Joan Miro museum. I can't explain why as I'm not the biggest fan of his work but since my city pass got me in for free and it was on the way, I figured why not. Oh... funny story. While I decided to pass on the Olympic Stadium tour I noticed a bunch of young girls camped out for One Direction tickets. Hard core. The tickets don't go on sale for another day or so.


So back to the Joan Miro museum. He's a modernist, a dadaist, and a surrealist. I'd love to show you pictures but the girl at the ticket booth was kind enough to say "no foto". All in all, much of it looked like scribbles and homages to penises and vaginas. Up on the roof there was a distinct lack of guards so I snapped an illegal picture of a this statue to the left. Interesting enough.


The one on the right is an autobiographic piece. Looks like something from a Pixar film... with a penis.


My feet were beat so it was back to the hotel to freshen up and figure out some dinner. Around the corner from me is La Bodegueta, a restaurant all of the locals I worked with told me to be sure to go to. Well, it's on the same block as me so why wouldn't I? I was not disappointed. I chose to eat inside rather than at the outdoor tables on the Las Ramblas.

The doorway is under that watch sign and it was exactly the type of place I was looking for. Dark, locals, smelled amazing, and had a seat at the counter with my name on it. I ordered in Spanish and the woman was kind enough to correct my pronunciation. I'm so used to the "ll" sound in Spanish being a "y" but in Catalan, it's a hard "L". ENough of that... check out how my evening wound down.

I ordered the pork salami and she cut it right there in front of me.

Beer, tomato bread (served everywhere here), salami, and a nice plate of anchovies. I was in heaven.