September 15-20-Barcelona and more

Sept 16-19 Barcelona and nearby

After our days along the Costa Brava and Figueres, we went to Jordi and Teresa's place in Barcelona. We met Jordi for lunch in the newly renovated market near the hospital where he works, and then
 spent some time perusing the stalls to admire the beautiful displays of food and to choose food for dinner that night.

Beautiful looking appetizers

Morris, Jordi and Teresa choosing seafood for dinner

We visited the Gothic quarter with Teresa where we went on a tour of the Palau de la Musica, already mentioned in the last post. I just wanted to add a few pictures to show more of the detail. Then we walked around the area and ended at the Mercato Santa Caterina where we ate a wonderful lunch and then shopped for dinner ingredients- everything so fresh and beautifully displayed!

Inside the Palau de la Musica

Inside the Palau de la Musica- what attention to detail!

 Morris and I had a nice day together revisiting Casa Batllo and La Pedrera, two places we had visited years ago, but were happy to revisit. Both of these apartments were designed by Gaudi in the early 1900's and are examples of modernist design. Casa Batllo is quite whimsical in that there are curved windows including the frames, undulating walls and ceilings. These apartments have to be seen to be believed! Even the rooftops are a surprise.

Casa Batllo- beautiful doorway with stained glass

Curved ceiling and light

Casa Batllo- outside view

Here are some shots of La Pedrera, which was commissioned in 1906 by a wealthy family to be used as a family home as well as apartments for rent. It was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1984. There is natural light maximized by the addition of a huge central skylight in the middle of the apartment roof and going all the way down the six stories so that each level is bright.

Incredible skylight bringing light into the centre of each apartment

La Pedrera a small section of the rooftop

A model of La Pedrera

Gaudi was involved at every level of design including the furniture- not sure if it was his deign or was chosen by him.

The astonishing fact about both Antonio Gaudi and Lluis Montaner, the architect of the Palau de la Misica, is that neither one of them created a blueprint of their buildings. They had sketches of all the columns, windows, statues, decorative bits etc. but not the location of these objects within the buildings. They had all the plans in their heads. This meant that they had to micromanage every little thing.
Lluis Montaner lived to see his beautiful palau completed and was able to enjoy concerts which took place there although he did not live long after the palau was finished. Gaudi, on the other hand, had designed a good number of buildings which can be seen in Barcelona. The Sagrada Familia, the cathedral he had been working on, was not completed during his lifetime as he was run over by a streetcar and killed. As no one had the blueprint or the money to continue the work it was left unfinished for many decades. Finally, in the 90s, the work was continued and most of the inside is now finished but the exterior is still a work in progress. Morris and I did not visit the Sagrada Familia this trip as we had been there a few years prior on our previous trip. It is an incredibly beautiful building, filled with stained glass, lots of light coming through big windows and modern looking statuary. What a work of art. A must see!


On our final day in Barcelona, Jordi planned a visit to the Royal Monastery of Santa Creus. Work on this monastery began in 1313 and continued until the 19th century. There are lots of carvings- on top of columns- mythical animals, monkeys, lions... and a large star of David carved into one of the walls in full view! Jordi said that no doubt one of the artisans was Jewish and left his mark! I'm not sure how he got away with it. Maybe no one knew what it was.

Jordi walking down a corridor of the Royal Monastery of Santa Creus

See the star of David underneath the cross

We then went to see another church built at the top of a hill, and designed by a student of Gaudi. Upon closer inspection it was clear that the student had not outdone the master, hadn't even come close. Nevertheless it was still interesting to look at.

Morris here now.  We had a wonderful trip.  As you may have gathered from the blog we ate our way through France and Catalunya.  The surprising thing is that both of us only increased out weight by 1 pound.  This speaks to the European way of eating, rather than how we eat here in North America.  You may also have gathered that we sampled a good many wines.  Perhaps sampled is not quite the right word.  All right - we drank a lot.  But it was sooo good!

Now we are home.  Not sure where or when the next trip is to be, but that's when the next instalment will be.     

France- September, Spain 2015

Irene;

Here we are in France! As a result of Morris having a conference in Paris at the beginning of September and another one in Barcelona mid-September we decided this was a perfect opportunity for  a vacation.

We met up with our friends Jordi and Teresa from Barcelona with whom we have been on parts of other vacations. As we all get along, we are all happy about having another opportunity to meet up again. While the men worked, Teresa and I took the opportunity to explore parts of Paris including Montmartre, Le Marais, Saint Michael….. One day we took the train to Giverny to visit Monet's house and garden. It was pretty chilly and even spat a bit so it was not the ideal day for a visit to that part of the world. Much better when the sun is shining. Nonetheless we had a very nice day.
After the conference, Jordi and Teresa who had driven up from Barcelona flew back home and we took their car to drive back down. Nice arrangement for all concerned.
Lyon was our first stop. Beautiful looking city with a notable absence of skyscrapers- so nice! We spent the better part of our time there in old Lyon- cobblestone streets, old buildings and plenty of touristy shops and restaurants. We parked the car when we arrived and walked everywhere. Lyon has an abundance of squares and fountains - modern and those dating back hundreds of years. It is a city known for its silk trade. There are many underground tunnels and covered walkways built to protect the silk from inclement weather as it was being transported. It is also a very hilly city so we got lots of exercise.

Lyon, city view

One of many fountains

Night view of a very old and very ornate church

St Paul's hospital, where Vincent Van Gogh was confined

Many flamingos

More flamingos

The first night there we ate at a very old bistro which had an excellent rating from Michelin. Problem was that the rating was from 1934-35 and it probably has not achieved such high honours again. For a city renowned for its gastronomic fare we were sadly disappointed with that meal. The next night was another story and we decided that Lyon could keep its kudos for excellent food. In fact, I wrote a review in TripAdvisor suggesting that the restaurant was excellent, we were so pleased with our dining experience.

From Lyon, we worked our way south to Provence. We decided to take the scenic route which turned out to be a bit more scenic than we had anticipated. With Morris driving and Irene navigating, we doubled our driving time. Morris had downloaded maps from Google before leaving home and I plugged our address in Arles into my iPhone Google App. We decided that my route was quicker so that's what we followed. Soon we were on a narrow country road and thinking it was a bit strange to be  so far off the beaten track. Finally, we arrived at our destination as directed by Google maps, a very large, old stone house surrounded by farm land.

We knocked at the door and a woman who was obviously cleaning the place answered with a somewhat surprised look on her face. I explained, en Français that we had a reservation. Now she really appeared flummoxed. She told us that the lady of the house was away and would not be back for hours. She had no idea that there were any guests arriving and as a result the guest room was not ready. By this time we realized something was seriously wrong. Morris got the reservation from the car to show her that we had reserved at Mas de la Chapelle. Yes, she said it was Mas de la Chapelle but there were many Mas de la Chapelle's around and we were at the wrong one. Yes, it was very confusing because there were three similar roads but we were obviously on the wrong one.

We got back into the car, Morris who comes with an internal GPS looked at the map and somehow he got us to the correct place. Yea Morris! Had it been me trying to find the address I would still be driving around France stopping everyone to ask directions!

Morris:
We are now staying at what must have been a grand estate previously.  The house is large and there are additional buildings alongside it.  There is a converted chapel (hence Mas de la Chapelle), now a sitting room, but the stained glass window of the chapel is still there.  There are large gardens, with at least 4 fountains and ponds, each different.  This is a B and B, but the second B is not included in the price, so we have made a point of going elsewhere for our breakfast, coffee and croissants.

Yesterday we toured a place called Le Baux de Provence, what was once a hilltop fortress and chateau, but is now a tourist village.  Nonetheless it is charming, and because it is on the hilltop the views are stunning.  The country around here is very pretty.  Lunch was in a place called St Remy de Provence, where Vincent Van Gogh had himself committed.  The hospital, St Paul's,  is now a monument to him and his stay there.

Today we went to the Camargue, my choice to go birding.  We saw a good number of birds, although not a wide variety.  There were flamingos and flamingos and more flamingos, several hundred of them, and all seem close-up.  I took one of my long lenses along to give it some exercise, and it had quite a work-out.  Now I have much editing to do.

A word about the food here, after all we are in France and now in Provence.  We have been buying our own food at the supermarket, pâté, cheeses, and good baguette.  The pâté was excellent, the cheeses superb, (and of course the wine also very good to excellent).  And it is all so cheap.  Our dinner tonight cost us about 5 Euros, excluding the wine (another 8 E).  To buy the same quality food in Toronto would mean going to e.g., Pusateri's (and even then I am not sure that the pâté would be as good) and would cost at least $25 (again exclusive of the wine).

We also ate out last night.  It was a relatively expensive evening,  but boy was it worth it.  The food was so tasty.  I must say however, if you are a steak and potatoes person you might not be so happy here.  The portions can be large, but there are probably tastes and textures that a steak and potatoes aficionado might not be happy with.  In Lyon I had tripe for the first time ever.  Tasty and crunchy.  In St Remy we had lunch - I had salmon tartare, Irene had chicken gizzards, both excellent. I don't believe that you can even get these in a Toronto supermarket anymore.

Morris enjoying his lamb shank and wine in Arles

As an aside, I have come across a number of tastes, tasted from my childhood, here.  Chicken gizzards was one, also plum and tomatoes like those that we used to have when we were kids.  I remember sitting a plum tree in our backyard (probably only my brother Lester would remember). and eating plum after plum after plum.  Same taste with plums from this region.  I also had apricot jam this morning like the jam we used to have on sandwiches when I was young.  We also bought peaches that have a yellow fruit.  We used to get those in South Africa, called Clingstone peaches.  Another childhood taste memory.  ( I just informed Morris that we also have Clingstone in Ontario. The ones here are far superior in taste and texture!)

Strange how so many year later I can still recall those tastes, but only if prompted by being exposed to them again.