We packed a picnic (we like picnicking in parks) and sauntered up the Montjuic Hill just behind our neighbourhood today just for "something to do".
Because the Montjuic is a hill, there were lots of stairs today. I like taking pictures of stairs. So you're going to see a lot of stairs in this post. Sorry in advance.
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| Just in the neighbourhood |
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| Trees in the middle |
One of the stairs led to a square with two theatres AND the Institute of Theatre on it.
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| The Mercat de las Flors and the Institute on one side |
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| The Teatre Llurie on the other |
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| The front side of the Llurie |
As we climbed the hill, this led to more stairs...
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| Up into the green |
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| Life on the stairs |
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| More up, more green |
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| More stairs |
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| And up we go |
This led us to the Jardins Laribal, which had fountains in addition to stairs.
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| A statue, not stairs |
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| Whoops. More stairs, but mostly trees |
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| Stairs again |
There is this REALLY cool little waterfall that comes cascading down the hill in 3 steps. I spent a LOT of time trying to get good photos of it from below and above.
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| The whole thing |
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| The middle part |
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| The upper part |
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| More of the upper part |
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| From the top, looking down |
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| More of the same |
Of course, in order to get to the top of the waterfall, there were... stairs.
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| Up to a fountain |
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| Up through a pergola |
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| Up through a forest |
We endes up for our picnic at a tranquil little pond with a statue, complete with lilly pads.
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| Pretty |
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| Flowers in the pond |
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| Let's go that way! |
There's a restaurant in that space with awesome downtown views.
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| Love the green things |
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| Love the view |
The park has lovely set of green pathways, and a really f'ing big pergola...
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| Must be 100 m long |
...and that leads to... stairs.
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| Up and up and up |
...which leads to more stairs, and the park exit.
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| Not a fountain. Just a sculpture |
The exit was right in front of the sterile and uninteresting Olympic Stadium and Plaza.
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| The empty stadium |
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| The plaza. See below for a comment on that thing on the left |
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| The stadium from the front |
That strange corkscrew-shaped thing is a communications tower (Telefonica's) designed by Santiago Calatrava, designer of the ridiculous candy-cane bridge across the Bow in Calgary. Both are silly and ugly, if you ask me -- though I hasten to add, communications towers are ugly, and of all the ugly communications towers I've seen, that's one of the least offensive (though Canmore's fake pine tree isn't bad).
Guess what's next to that fountain in front of the stadium? That's right. Stairs.
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| There's a theme here |
We were heading to a museum, so from here headed back towards the lovely MNAC palace, when we ran across another botanic garden, this one in an old quarry pit. It's a treasure trove of ancient plants and home to the tallest trees in Barcelona. Being in an old quarry pit, you have to take... stairs... to get there.
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| Down we go |
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| Or up |
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| Stairs in the green |
This was an impressively pastoral place.
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| Pretty but probably a weed |
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| The core of the garden |
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| Green on green on green |
Out of the garden, past the MNAC...
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| A pretty building |
...to more... stairs.
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| Flanked by waterfalls that aren't waterfalling |
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| Pretty mosaics |
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| Nice patterns |
This took us to the front of the MNAC, where the Font Magica was not font-ing -- but the views are still nice.
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| It looked different at night |
Our goal in wandering back over her was to see a show at the CaixaForum Art Gallery. An American private collector with a significant gallery in Washington, DC has a show on here. The Phillips Collection is pretty rich, and ~100 pieces are here. They include Degas, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Pollock, Matisse, Cezanne, Picasso, Modigliani and others. Our apartment in Barcelona has two prints from Rothko on the walls; the show has a few Rothkos. Here are some samples.
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| Degas |
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| Van Gogh |
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| Jackson Pollock |
They had a cool kid's art room with a still life scene...
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| The scene |
...and a whole lot of peel and stick magnetic bits, plus metal easels, where you could create your own impressionist version of the scene. Here's the room...
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| Blank metal easels with magnetic parts on the left |
...and here's what I created.
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| Impressively uninteresting |
Other than this excellent show, the museum is mostly modern art stuff, some of which is laughable. There's one permanent installation piece; a 20' x 20' room lined on the floors, walls and ceiling with lead sheets, a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, and 2 small rings on the ceiling as well, created by a strange artist named Joseph Beuys, who invented a nonsensical story that he was rescued during WW2 by Tartars, covered in fat and wrapped in felt.
Other than the Phillips Collection, the art may not be interesting, but the building is fun. Built in 1911, it was first a textile factory, then a warehouse, then a police force building, then bought by the La Caxia Bank in 1963. It opened as a museum in 2002, and you can go up onto the roof.
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| Interior courtyards |
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| Passageways |
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| More of the interiors |
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| The undulating roof |
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| One of 4 towers on the roof |
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| Reminiscent of Terra Cotta Warrior |
Alas, after the excitement of Mr. Beuys' art, it was time to go home. Though this time, the Font Magica was actually font-ing.
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| Wow! Water! |
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| And the MNAC in the background |
On the way home, we passed a mirrored building, which I'm ordinarily not a fan of. But... across the street from it was a cool old synagogue, which, based on looking at it, is long abandoned. And the reflection was great.
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| The reflection |
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| The synagogue |
Everything we did today was ~30 min walk from my front door. Nice neighbourhood.
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