All major ports in Spain seem to claim theirs was the departure point for Christopher Columbus’ discovery of America. Barcelona is no exception and has a huge commemoration column to prove it!
Starting at Christopher Columbus on the waterfront, we walked up the most famous street, which is called the Rambla. There are stalls, artists and street performers everywhere, most quite unusual and amusing, but what a way to earn a living! The clown below roamed around making a nuisance of himself by e.g. putting his wig on bald passers-by and startling women with a whistle. We watched him while having coffee at a pavement café and were much tickled. If not for the clown’s gear, he would surely have been arrested.
The Rambla itself is full of elegant buildings, like the Opera house. The picture below is of a house decorated with classical style figures and objects.
We walked from the Rambla a short way into the Gothic Quarter, the oldest part of the city that houses the cathedral and many lovely squares. The lovely square in the photo below is Jane.
One more for the road: a medieval courtyard with a classical guitarist who was very good. It’s a sad comment that he was getting fewer donations than the clown!
Picasso Museum next stop, but obviously no photos allowed. The museum was laid out in the chronological order of Picasso’s life (1881-1973), from his early roots as a portrait painter through his blue period and on to cubism. Apart from the portraits, we were generally rather baffled by his work, but it was a really interesting experience.
Barcelona came across as a clean, stylish and vibrant city, with plenty to see. We only scratched the surface but we’ll report more after our next visit tomorrow.
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