Gazpacho is a cold soup drink thing from Andalusia in short made of tomatoes and cucumber and is perfect in the summertime. I am absolutely head over heels in love with Gazpacho and possibly even more so with its cousin Salmorejo (thicker cuz bread is blended into it, no cucumber).
Casa Batllo is another of Antoni Gaudi's masterpiece architecture sites. It costs 18 euros to get in here! Is it worth it? 18 euros is a lot but if you're a gaudi or architecture lover its worth it. If you're gaudi'd out you probably still have to go here cuz its just what you do in barcelona. i would take this over La Pedrera though if you have to choose.
the vents at the bottom of the window swivel out.
the money shot
Check out the gradated walls descending into Casa Batllo via the elevator. As always see it in HD by clicking through to the Vimeo website instead of watching it here.
the roof
right next to this on the right is servei estacio where i bought the workhorse legs for my desk. You can see this from the window of the lighting section in the back of the store. yea there are just regular businesses next to all these world heritage Antoni Gaudi sites.
the attic
a random small group of indignados protesting down the street called "diagonal".
This weekend in barcelona saw the biggest electronic music festival in Europe called Sonar. This meant there were more electronic DJs and lovers of those dudes per square inch than anywhere else in the world. It also meant there were more electronic music parties going on all over than anywhere else in the world. They had one at Gallery Miscelanea where we were supposed to meet friends which never happened cuz they ended up at another party in Boqueria market of all places.
Here is a clear shot of that new "instrument" used to make electronic music and such by pushing these blocks around on this sensitive table.
Casa Batllo
La Sagrada Familia and La Pedrera
Sorry for the lack of posts, there will be plenty to come. I have been on a whirlwind tour of Spain so I haven't had time. Also this new camera has caused me to spend way too much time processing photos as i predicted it would. I mean it takes me hours just to delete the photos i don't want from 1 day of shooting. So here we go with the super Barcelona posts. La Sagrada Familia is Antoni Gaudi's masterpiece church and La Pedrera is maybe the second best known Barcelona landmark. Here we go.
La Sagrada Familia is a huge roman catholic church and although incomplete it is a UNESCO world heritage site as are all of "The works of Antoni Gaudi". It has been under construction since 1882 via donations. It is projected to be finished anywhere from 2017-2026
this entrance has a kind of cubist theme going on. I like this side much more than the other gothic side.
as far as being crowded it wasn't that bad at all.
so yes it is all that. It stands up to the hype. it's amazing. i read on some travel sites from commenters that it's not even worth it to pay 13 euros to go inside. It is totally worth it and you would be a fool not to.
Gaudi gets his inspiration from nature. Although this thing looks like it came out of a Legend of Zelda video game or something it was still awe inspiring and beautiful
this is why i was waiting for my full frame camera and ultra wide angle lens.
A short walk around the interior of the cathedral. as always you can see it in HD by clicking through to the Vimeo site instead of watching it here.
you can pay a little extra to go up an elevator and around the spire of the cathedral. I think this is worth it as well. at the end there is this super skinny spiral staircase down. although that hole is so small there is no way a human could fall through it it's still scary if you're afraid of heights.
the gothic side. don't tell anyone because the spainards will kill me but I hate this side. I actually don't like the exteriors of any of Gaudi's buildings. The insides are amazing though. but to me this just looks like a pile of crusty sand.
Next is La Pedrera. finished in 1912. Gaudi wanted the people in the apartments and offices to know each other so there are elevators on every other floor.
these are actually ventillation shafts.
no this is not that sand pit that eats everything on that desert planet in Star Wars, it's one of the atriums.
scale model of it
one of the floors is open and is outfitted with period stuff. as you can imagine the apartments were awesome.
my favorite part was this bathroom. I'm in love with tile. i'm in love with this color scheme. On a final note Gaudi was Catalan. of course he was, a non catalan guy could not be allowed to be the hero of Barcelona. It costs 14 euros to enter here, so if you're going to the picasso museum and the miro museum then it's worth it to get the "Articket" because you will save money and also because you go straight to the special ticket area so you skip the lines which is really nice.
Fiesta de la Seguro Pascua Barcelonetta
This festival celebrates when the fishermen would come back at this certain time of year with tons of fish and everyone would celebrate. This fiesta was really fun and you will really benefit from some drinks so you can get yourself moving unless you're Spanish and can just dance and have fun anytime and anywhere.
is this guy going to grow up to be delicious black pig iberico ham?
im guessing the crap hanging from them ranging form oreo cookies to to toy cars represents the bounty of food and wealth they would bring back from them in the old days. but now, just like every other tradition in the world, its been bastardized to the point where hanging hello kitty toys, cell phone cases, and carrying a harpoon are enough.
the music was predominantly Brazilian samba. They said there isn't really any awesome traditional Spanish dance music. Samba does the trick
I try to keep the profile of this blog up but I am a dude and this fine specimen was one of the best examples of Spain I have seen so far and other dudes friends keep asking to see some ladies on here. I couldn't get a picture of her front but she was caliente la hostia!
here i'll instantly follow it up with a cute little girl photo to balance it out.
did this dude get stabby stabbed?
these enterprising young gentlemen of indian or pakistani decent are making mojitos to sell.
when there is samba music everyone starts a'shakin'
as always you can see this in higher quality if you click through to the vimeo website.
this clan got the 2 hottest girls they know to march for them and it worked. A woman next to me was laughing at how fast i pulled out my camera as soon as I saw these two.
these guys are either your best friend or worst nightmare depending on what your disposition is towards having a beer. they are your personal walking bar or your personal walking annoyance that asks if you want a cervesabeer every 2 minutes even if you're already drinking one.
does everyone of these things have a special meaning/purpose like in Japanese festivals?
wide angle lenses are also good for getting shots of people cuz you can aim the lens somewhere beside them and still get them in the frame. This guy was the dorkiest british old dude i've ever seen. a walking cartoon. when you look at him here he looks a little like michael caine. this was not the case! he was a specimen i tell you. but he's old, traveling by himself, and made it through this festival so i guess he gets points for that. but then is stripped of all those points for looking like a mr. frumppity pants cartoon.
the flamboyant dances and fireworks went on into the night.
as always you can see this in higher quality if you click through to the vimeo website.
back on the main parade route the samba party was heating up
barcelona is all about this. the ubiquitous (i hate this word but every travel book always uses it) red "Estrella" beer can. only 1 euro at your closest personal walking bar.
'at a boy.
