Barcelona Day 3: On top of the city
Today we took the metro and then the funicular up to Montjuic Hill to see a crap-load of stuff. Very poetic, I know. On the way up to some of the main attractions we stopped at several small parks, including Jardi de les Escultures and Jardins de Laribal. The former was very small and strangely decorated. The latter was an incredibly well kept arrangement of hedges and trees and fountains. Its multi-leveled composition was well-suited for running water and vines. It felt more like an Italian villa than anything, and had a completely different atmosphere from the city below. The jardins were one of the most peaceful places I had been all week. The weather was gorgeous, the boys were somewhere further down on the trail, and I was in love.
After that we went to the Museu Olimpic i de l’Esport de Barcelona. I wasn’t that excited to begin with because sports aren’t really my thing, but it was relatively cheap and I was feeling complacent after my stroll through the park so I figured why not. The museum had a lot of interesting things. Some were specific memorabilia - signed jerseys or Michael Jordan’s shoes - but a lot of it was just generic sports equipment used in the Olympics throughout the years. What made the museum interesting was the accessibility of the pieces. Hardly anything was under glass, and literally everything could be picked up, touched, or inspected. Under normal circumstances, a boxing glove from the 1930’s isn’t that cool, but when you can try it on it’s a whole different experience. The museum was able to actually spark my interest, which is pretty impressive, seeing as a lot of museums in Florence do the opposite.
Towards the end of the museum they actually had interactive tests, where you could compare yourself to olympic athletes in terms of speed, endurance, and agility. It was somewhere around here that I found a mini video recorder. No owners in sight and no chance of finding them meant that I was awarded a guilt-free present for being going in the museum when I really didn’t want to. It just goes to show you sometimes biting your tongue pays off. :-)
Next to the museum was the actual Olympic Stadium from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The outside was kind of interesting, a sort of mock classical style, but the inside is basically just another stadium. I mean it was cool to have seen where the Olympics were held, it’s just that the stadium itself wasn’t that special.
In the Olympic complex was the Palau Sant Jordi by Arata Isozaki. As an indoor sports arena, its basic shape is pretty much set, but I still feel like Isozaki could have done a lot more to make the building more interesting. We only saw the outside, but what I saw was boring. Actually, I got annoyed just looking at it. Idk how to describe it but it just put me in a bad mood, I had to look away.
Luckily, there was something to look at when I turned my head… something big: Santiago Colatrava’s Torre Telefonica, a giant communications tower that was installed for the Olympics. The tower is massive and somewhat awkward, but something about it still works. Typical of Calatrava’s work, there is a certain structural complexity - the entire tower rests on a single point, just barely touching the base. The fountain at the base, covered in mosaic tile, was turned off and drained, so we jumped it and climbed to the top of the base of the tower. From the different vantage point the tower took on a whole new form, something futuristic almost. Climbing it was actually really cool. I don’t know too many people that have been on top of a Colatrava. :-)
From the Olympic Piazza we could see all of Barcelona, including the Porte Fira, two Toyo Ito towers outside the city center that I am in love with. Even though they were about 1/100 of a centimeter from where I was standing, I admired them for a good bit while sitting on the edge of the retaining wall. The Olympic Park itself is worth mentioning. It’s an amazing use of public space which calls on Roman and Greek history as inspiration. The large open space somehow calls a sort of peaceful serenity to mind while you’re sitting at its perimeter and observing those within it.
On the way to Mies Van der Rohe’s Pavillion we walked past the Poble Espanol - oldest church in Barcelona - but the line was too long so we didn’t go in.
The Barcelona Pavilion was well worth the 2.30 euro that we paid to go in. The pavilion itself was a lot smaller than I imagined. The best way I can describe it is like a life sized doll house, built to human proportions, but still almost awkwardly small. Van der Rohe designed the pavilion down to the last detail, from the furniture in the main room to the red curtain which periodically shades the large curtain wall on the front facade. Walking around in the pavilion, I noticed a serious difference between the kinds of people it attracted. There were no typical tourists, just a handful of architecture snobs with Nikons around their neck and sketchbooks in their hands, rolling their eyes at my Kodak Easy Share. Hah. The other weird thing was that the pavilion faced out into a giant field of dirt - not exactly the scenic wonderland I imagined as its site.
The pavilion was a perfect exercise in composition. The placements of the onyx wall and the statue of the woman, among other architectural details, were clearly deliberated carefully and planned precisely. The effect of such considerations is a space which makes you feel truly in harmony with nature, despite the lack thereof outside of the pavilion’s walls.
We skipped the Montjuic Castle because we had to be back at Placa Catalunya for the Holy Saturday festivities. On the way back to the metro we passed the Torre Fira, a grand sort of entranceway for automotive traffic, the Museo de Arte, a castle-like construction with an amazing processional approach, and the Magic Fountains, which usually light up “dance” with animation, but were turned off presently to conserve water.
After that we went to the Museu Olimpic i de l’Esport de Barcelona. I wasn’t that excited to begin with because sports aren’t really my thing, but it was relatively cheap and I was feeling complacent after my stroll through the park so I figured why not. The museum had a lot of interesting things. Some were specific memorabilia - signed jerseys or Michael Jordan’s shoes - but a lot of it was just generic sports equipment used in the Olympics throughout the years. What made the museum interesting was the accessibility of the pieces. Hardly anything was under glass, and literally everything could be picked up, touched, or inspected. Under normal circumstances, a boxing glove from the 1930’s isn’t that cool, but when you can try it on it’s a whole different experience. The museum was able to actually spark my interest, which is pretty impressive, seeing as a lot of museums in Florence do the opposite.
Towards the end of the museum they actually had interactive tests, where you could compare yourself to olympic athletes in terms of speed, endurance, and agility. It was somewhere around here that I found a mini video recorder. No owners in sight and no chance of finding them meant that I was awarded a guilt-free present for being going in the museum when I really didn’t want to. It just goes to show you sometimes biting your tongue pays off. :-)
Next to the museum was the actual Olympic Stadium from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The outside was kind of interesting, a sort of mock classical style, but the inside is basically just another stadium. I mean it was cool to have seen where the Olympics were held, it’s just that the stadium itself wasn’t that special.
In the Olympic complex was the Palau Sant Jordi by Arata Isozaki. As an indoor sports arena, its basic shape is pretty much set, but I still feel like Isozaki could have done a lot more to make the building more interesting. We only saw the outside, but what I saw was boring. Actually, I got annoyed just looking at it. Idk how to describe it but it just put me in a bad mood, I had to look away.
Luckily, there was something to look at when I turned my head… something big: Santiago Colatrava’s Torre Telefonica, a giant communications tower that was installed for the Olympics. The tower is massive and somewhat awkward, but something about it still works. Typical of Calatrava’s work, there is a certain structural complexity - the entire tower rests on a single point, just barely touching the base. The fountain at the base, covered in mosaic tile, was turned off and drained, so we jumped it and climbed to the top of the base of the tower. From the different vantage point the tower took on a whole new form, something futuristic almost. Climbing it was actually really cool. I don’t know too many people that have been on top of a Colatrava. :-)
From the Olympic Piazza we could see all of Barcelona, including the Porte Fira, two Toyo Ito towers outside the city center that I am in love with. Even though they were about 1/100 of a centimeter from where I was standing, I admired them for a good bit while sitting on the edge of the retaining wall. The Olympic Park itself is worth mentioning. It’s an amazing use of public space which calls on Roman and Greek history as inspiration. The large open space somehow calls a sort of peaceful serenity to mind while you’re sitting at its perimeter and observing those within it.
On the way to Mies Van der Rohe’s Pavillion we walked past the Poble Espanol - oldest church in Barcelona - but the line was too long so we didn’t go in.
The Barcelona Pavilion was well worth the 2.30 euro that we paid to go in. The pavilion itself was a lot smaller than I imagined. The best way I can describe it is like a life sized doll house, built to human proportions, but still almost awkwardly small. Van der Rohe designed the pavilion down to the last detail, from the furniture in the main room to the red curtain which periodically shades the large curtain wall on the front facade. Walking around in the pavilion, I noticed a serious difference between the kinds of people it attracted. There were no typical tourists, just a handful of architecture snobs with Nikons around their neck and sketchbooks in their hands, rolling their eyes at my Kodak Easy Share. Hah. The other weird thing was that the pavilion faced out into a giant field of dirt - not exactly the scenic wonderland I imagined as its site.
The pavilion was a perfect exercise in composition. The placements of the onyx wall and the statue of the woman, among other architectural details, were clearly deliberated carefully and planned precisely. The effect of such considerations is a space which makes you feel truly in harmony with nature, despite the lack thereof outside of the pavilion’s walls.
We skipped the Montjuic Castle because we had to be back at Placa Catalunya for the Holy Saturday festivities. On the way back to the metro we passed the Torre Fira, a grand sort of entranceway for automotive traffic, the Museo de Arte, a castle-like construction with an amazing processional approach, and the Magic Fountains, which usually light up “dance” with animation, but were turned off presently to conserve water.