We arrived in Rome on a grey afternoon, having caught the train down from Florence, so decided there was nothing for it but to spend the evening in with a home made risotto [hoorah for Italy, where arborio is the cheapest rice you can buy :) ] and some local vino rosso...
But when the sun came out the next morning, we were off, and it still doesn't quite feel real to say that we headed first for the colosseum.. The largest ever built, nearly 2000 years old, and once capable of holding 80,000 people, there is nothing you can read to prepare for being able to stand in the middle of this very real piece of very ancient history. Of course only a fraction of the stadium still stands complete, and the tourist camera flashes everywhere help to destroy any illusions of ancient grandeur, but it is still a phenomenal feeling to walk around the seats where the wealthy would have sat and watched, and to look down at the arena, where half a million people [and over a million animals] lost their lives. Though one of the more amazing things about Rome and the colosseum, is that just when you're lost in thinking how awe inspiring it is to be where you are... you look across the street and there is the Palatine Hill...from where you look down and see the remains of the Roman Forum... and then there are small ruins that literally just sit beside traffic lights at intersections and the Romans pay them not the smallest bit of attention... and two Kiwis a long way from home just have to sigh with the incredulousness of it all and try to take it all in.
And of course, Rome is also full of slightly less ancient, no less impressive sights to see...
We stopped at half a dozen further churches, each as amazing as the last, kind of bemused to note that half of them aren't even marked on tourist maps as worth checking out - there are just too many beautiful buildings here. The Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II, designed to commemorate the first King of the unified Italy is an imposing sight, covered with statues and sculptures, and holding the Italian 'tomb of the unknown soldier'... the basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere is one of the oldest churches in Rome, and is adorned with some of the more spectacular mosaics we have seen... and the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore was an absolutely massive building, it was once palace to the Popes after the return from Avignon, and a number of popes are buried here...
So once we thought we couldn't be impressed by another church, we did the obvious: we went to the Vatican :)
Occupying only 110 acres, the Vatican City is the smallest state in the world, both in terms of population [around 900] and area. The obvious attraction here is St Peter's basilica, a mammoth church built in the 16th century, and one of the most famous churches in the world. With a capacity of over 60,000, stepping inside [after standing in line and being examined to make sure we had the appropriate amount of skin covered on a scorching roman morning..] was like stepping into another world. The massive dome is over 135m high, and it's internal diameter is the same... looking up it is really hard to imagine the enormity of it, until you see people moving about in the upper levels of the dome, and you can see how tiny they appear! The interior of the main body of the church is also intense and somewhat overwhelming. The fact that Michelangelo Buonarotti assisted in the design might explain a bit.. :) The gold and marble and immense space and light from the high windows all combine to make this a truly holy experience. And add to that the amazing art adorning the walls, and a chance to glimpse Michelangelo's 'Pietà'... unfortunately through her history since 1499 various vandals have caused damage to the priceless sculpture, so it is now only viewable behind bulletproof glass. Though we were of course surrounded by hundreds [thousands?] of other travellers, pilgrims and locals, it is impossible not to feel moved when standing in the centre of the greatest church in the world.
After leaving the basilica, feeling quite exhausted and outdone by all the holiness and splendour and size, we planned a quiet contemplative walk back to the centre of Rome. But on our way across the magnificent St Peter's square outside the church, we heard a cannon fire and the small crowd gathered started to applaud. Expecting some kind of demonstration, we turned around and followed the noise.... only to look up to the sky and see the outline of a small old man, dressed all in white, visible in one of the high windows of the Apostolic Palace.. and we were witnessing a Papal address. I was thrilled to be able to understand snippets of what was said in Italian, and he followed this up with English, then proceeded to ask the gathered crowd, in French, whether there were any French in the audience [cue: loud cheers and waving of French flags] and gave a brief address in French. Spanish and German followed. It was amazing to see this figurehead, so often mentioned, so rarely seen - in the flesh, and to see him interact with a crowd of hundreds in half a dozen languages. To walk into St Peters was a once in a lifetime experience. It's almost a shame that it was superceded so quickly by an even greater one...
To finish of our Roman sojourn, we walked to the famous Spanish Steps, climbing from Piazza di Spagna and Piazza Trinità dei Monti. These eighteenth century steps form the longest and widest staircase in Europe, and have been climbed by millions of tourists over the years. Though apparently it is illegal to eat your lunch sitting on them... and also to drive down them, as a drunk Colombian man found out when he drove his Toyota down the steps in 2007...
Finally, we stopped at the beautiful Fontana Trevi, the largest [of many] fountain in Rome. This massive Baroque masterpiece is simply stunning, and is a real sight when lit up at night. One of many traditions to have arisen is that if a visitor throws a coin over their shoulder into the fountain, they are guaranteed to return to Italy one day... and over 3000 euros are collected out of the fountain each night, so they're on to a good thing!
But of course, we took part, as from what we've seen so far - we definitely want to come back for more.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Italian style, and why they do it best.
After the natural wonder that was the Cinque Terre track, we headed down the country a little further to start soaking in some of the many man-made wonders tha Italy has to offer in beautiful Firenze.
Our hostel had a roof top terrace with a slice of view of the magnificent duomo, so after admiring it from a distance, that seemed like a good place to start.. This thirteenth/fourteenth century cathedral is like no other.. and I'm amazed that we can still say that after all the churches in Europe we have seen :) But with it's distinctive nineteenth century façade of white, green and red marble, and amazing octagonal brick dome, it realy does look like nothing else. The dome is still the largest masonry dome in the world. The interior of the cathedral is relatively sparse and simple, but there are some fantastic pieces of art adorning the walls, and the interior space is simply massive. The cathedral forms such an amazing centrepiece in a city overloaded with exceptional architechture and sights. The eleventh century baptistery building with it's ornate bronze doors and the campanile looming overhead right beside the duomo help make the cathedral square area even more imposing and impressive.
Next stop: Piazza della Signoria, with the awesome Fountain of Neptune outside Palazzo Vecchio - the town hall of Florence, with a copy of Michelangelo's 'David' at the entrance. The square also functions as an open air museum, and as our time and funds were both limited, was our only chance to spy the gems of the Uffizi Gallery, one of the world's great art collections. In the square we could get up close to original sixteenth century sculptures such as Cellini's "Perseus with the Head of Medusa", and Giambologna's "The Rape of the Sabine Women"... it was so fantastic that these works of art were available for free public view!
The next must-see sight in Florence was the Arno river, and the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge spanning it. This fourteenth century bridge is one of only a handful in the world to still have shops lining both sides, as was common in medieval times. They were once butchers but now the bridge sparkles and shines with high class jewellers and gold merchants. Ponte Vecchio is the only bridge to have survived bombing of Florence in World War II, and it feels like you are part of history to cross it.
We also visited a small museum claiming to be built on the site of Dante Alighieri's home, and the church [apparently] which he attended, and where he first spied his muse Beatrice. Authentic or not, this was a great experience for me after spending years reading his works and hearing tales of his history...
Finally we felt we had to view Florence from above to get a real overview of this amazing city, and made our way up towards Michelangelo park up on a hill above the city, where we saw the beginning of sunset over the historic skyline.
It makes so much more sense now, why so many have fallen in love with this city, and we still have so much more to see and do here that we will certainly be back... one day...
Our hostel had a roof top terrace with a slice of view of the magnificent duomo, so after admiring it from a distance, that seemed like a good place to start.. This thirteenth/fourteenth century cathedral is like no other.. and I'm amazed that we can still say that after all the churches in Europe we have seen :) But with it's distinctive nineteenth century façade of white, green and red marble, and amazing octagonal brick dome, it realy does look like nothing else. The dome is still the largest masonry dome in the world. The interior of the cathedral is relatively sparse and simple, but there are some fantastic pieces of art adorning the walls, and the interior space is simply massive. The cathedral forms such an amazing centrepiece in a city overloaded with exceptional architechture and sights. The eleventh century baptistery building with it's ornate bronze doors and the campanile looming overhead right beside the duomo help make the cathedral square area even more imposing and impressive.
Next stop: Piazza della Signoria, with the awesome Fountain of Neptune outside Palazzo Vecchio - the town hall of Florence, with a copy of Michelangelo's 'David' at the entrance. The square also functions as an open air museum, and as our time and funds were both limited, was our only chance to spy the gems of the Uffizi Gallery, one of the world's great art collections. In the square we could get up close to original sixteenth century sculptures such as Cellini's "Perseus with the Head of Medusa", and Giambologna's "The Rape of the Sabine Women"... it was so fantastic that these works of art were available for free public view!
The next must-see sight in Florence was the Arno river, and the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge spanning it. This fourteenth century bridge is one of only a handful in the world to still have shops lining both sides, as was common in medieval times. They were once butchers but now the bridge sparkles and shines with high class jewellers and gold merchants. Ponte Vecchio is the only bridge to have survived bombing of Florence in World War II, and it feels like you are part of history to cross it.
We also visited a small museum claiming to be built on the site of Dante Alighieri's home, and the church [apparently] which he attended, and where he first spied his muse Beatrice. Authentic or not, this was a great experience for me after spending years reading his works and hearing tales of his history...
Finally we felt we had to view Florence from above to get a real overview of this amazing city, and made our way up towards Michelangelo park up on a hill above the city, where we saw the beginning of sunset over the historic skyline.
It makes so much more sense now, why so many have fallen in love with this city, and we still have so much more to see and do here that we will certainly be back... one day...
Thursday, November 27, 2008
The sight that made all the travel struggle fade from memory...
After our French sidetrack, it was time for the next big main event... our first trip to Italy. And once again, the efforts of border crossing seemed to be not so simple as they seemed. We trained from Avignon to Nice, and from Nice to Ventimiglia, just inside the Italian border... arriving by midday due to getting up at 5am in Avignon to make sure we made good time... and so, with five hours before our hostel closed for check in [at 5pm - somewhat ridiculous, but 'when in Rome'..] we had just 250km of rail track to go to our destination, Riomaggiore. At which point, we consulted the timetable, discovered that it was, in fact, a Saturday [who knew?] and that the fastest, most direct train we could get left just after 1pm and would deliver us to our destination some time after 7:00. Hmmph. So, after a quick re-plan, and a little more than a moment's panic, we changed route and headed for Genova for the night. And here is where we found out how our original planned journey would have failed... our train stopped, on average, over a four and a half hour journey... once every six minutes. Not cool. Seriously not cool.
But we arrived safely in Genova, and, determined not to let our first experience of Italy turn into a negative one, we hunted down the best available accommodation when arriving in a city sans booking, after 5pm on a Saturday night... and went exploring. Genova felt like a city of wealth, the buildings lit up with beautiful soft lighting, and groups of well-dressed people pouring in and out of theatres and hotels along the streets. Still, we did our best not to stick out too badly, wandering past the Piazza de Ferrari, the main square outside the opera house, with a very cool fountain, and down the main pedestrian street, Via Garibaldi, through the old town. This district is on the UNESCO world heritage list, and was quite different to much of what we had seen thus far. Most of the buildings were designed in the 16th century for the wealthy ruling families, and we were told that several of the houses facing each other across the street were built specifically in a show of 'one-upmanship' between feuding families. We didn't have the time to do the city justice, but what we did see was impressive, and saved the detour from being a complete disaster.
The next morning we planned to get up and get going early, then managed to do both an hour earlier than planned due to forgetting that daylight savings was ending... oops... but happily ended up in Riomaggiore by 9:30 in the morning. After checking in we strapped on our walking shoes, filled the bag with lunch and set off for the main reason we stopped in this part of Italy: the Cinque Terre walking track. And within five metres of the entrance, all the stress, the early starts, the long train journeys, the uncomfortable waits at stations.... it all disappeared from memory, because we were standing looking out over the Mediterranean Sea, pure, blue and shining in the sunlight, and it would take a hard person to fault that view.
The path is traversed by thousands of visitors every year, but our run of good luck continued and the track was pleasantly empty. As we were staying in Riomaggiore, the southernmost village, we took the track north, which starts out as easy as a stroll in the park, a nice wide, paved, gently winding path leading the way to the second village, Manarola. This stretch is known as the Via Dell'Amore, as you can imagine taking a leisurely romantic stroll between the two clifftop villages. Step two wasn't much tougher than the first, though the final ascent to Corniglia was a winding set of 368 stairs. That's when it really got interesting. The path to the next village, Vernazza, was a whole lot steeper, a whole lot narrower, and a whole lot more winding. And when, about an hour and a half later, we finally made it.. we found out that the path from there to Monterosso was the steepest and most challenging... Oh. The path went from standing by the sea in Vernazza to 150m above sealevel in the space of about 10 minutes walk.. then dropped another 40.. gained another 60.. you get the idea. On top of that, the path [two-way path] at times was no bigger than a foot wide, with a sheer cliff up on one side, and sheer cliff down on the other - no handrails. The path winds between olive groves and vineyards and at times felt quite like trekking in New Zealand bush.. But finally we emerged in Monterosso, after a spectacular descent into the bay, dipped our feet in the Mediterranean, and congratulated ourselves on a job well done :)
But we arrived safely in Genova, and, determined not to let our first experience of Italy turn into a negative one, we hunted down the best available accommodation when arriving in a city sans booking, after 5pm on a Saturday night... and went exploring. Genova felt like a city of wealth, the buildings lit up with beautiful soft lighting, and groups of well-dressed people pouring in and out of theatres and hotels along the streets. Still, we did our best not to stick out too badly, wandering past the Piazza de Ferrari, the main square outside the opera house, with a very cool fountain, and down the main pedestrian street, Via Garibaldi, through the old town. This district is on the UNESCO world heritage list, and was quite different to much of what we had seen thus far. Most of the buildings were designed in the 16th century for the wealthy ruling families, and we were told that several of the houses facing each other across the street were built specifically in a show of 'one-upmanship' between feuding families. We didn't have the time to do the city justice, but what we did see was impressive, and saved the detour from being a complete disaster.
The next morning we planned to get up and get going early, then managed to do both an hour earlier than planned due to forgetting that daylight savings was ending... oops... but happily ended up in Riomaggiore by 9:30 in the morning. After checking in we strapped on our walking shoes, filled the bag with lunch and set off for the main reason we stopped in this part of Italy: the Cinque Terre walking track. And within five metres of the entrance, all the stress, the early starts, the long train journeys, the uncomfortable waits at stations.... it all disappeared from memory, because we were standing looking out over the Mediterranean Sea, pure, blue and shining in the sunlight, and it would take a hard person to fault that view.
The path is traversed by thousands of visitors every year, but our run of good luck continued and the track was pleasantly empty. As we were staying in Riomaggiore, the southernmost village, we took the track north, which starts out as easy as a stroll in the park, a nice wide, paved, gently winding path leading the way to the second village, Manarola. This stretch is known as the Via Dell'Amore, as you can imagine taking a leisurely romantic stroll between the two clifftop villages. Step two wasn't much tougher than the first, though the final ascent to Corniglia was a winding set of 368 stairs. That's when it really got interesting. The path to the next village, Vernazza, was a whole lot steeper, a whole lot narrower, and a whole lot more winding. And when, about an hour and a half later, we finally made it.. we found out that the path from there to Monterosso was the steepest and most challenging... Oh. The path went from standing by the sea in Vernazza to 150m above sealevel in the space of about 10 minutes walk.. then dropped another 40.. gained another 60.. you get the idea. On top of that, the path [two-way path] at times was no bigger than a foot wide, with a sheer cliff up on one side, and sheer cliff down on the other - no handrails. The path winds between olive groves and vineyards and at times felt quite like trekking in New Zealand bush.. But finally we emerged in Monterosso, after a spectacular descent into the bay, dipped our feet in the Mediterranean, and congratulated ourselves on a job well done :)
A race against time and the French train system...
So, leaving San Sebastian, we attempted to cut across France to make our way to Italy, final destination of this mad month of travel... We made the border crossing into France very easily, then attempted to make our way across the country to Carcassonne. Looked like a fairly straight line to us... but from Hendaye [on the Spanish border] we got sent north to Bayonne, further north to Bordeaux, then across to Toulouse, and finally on to Carcassonne itself... all of which took about five hours and 350-ish extra kilometres than if we were allowed to plan our own, considerably more direct, route. But after a tiring day fighting the French train system, followed by an hour long walk into the industrial zone of the town [and here we were thinking it was all medieval and pretty, not just a French version of Albany!] we made it to our accommodation by 10pm, just in time to be told that there was nowhere in town open to sell us anything for dinner, unless we wanted to head to the McDonalds across the carpark.... not, exactly, what you would call the best introduction to the beauty, enchantment, history and cuisine that the south of France is world famous for...
But we got up the next morning, refreshed and ready to go, and headed to the fortified city. Perched on a hill, this place is simply stunning even from a distance. It really looks like a true castle, but when you reach it, it's even better because it is actually the remains of an entire fortified city, with inner and outer walls and houses and alleyways and all that was necessary to run a town in...the middle ages.. or something. With turrets and high walls and arrow slits and towers all around, it's a quite spectacular experience. The city was technically struck off the list of official fortifications by Napoleon, but due to public outcry, demolition didn't get very far - thankfully! Otherwise, what would they have used as a set for that great work of art 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'? ;)
Following on from Carcassonne we travelled to Avignon, a picturesque medieval city on the bank of the Rhône river, and former official Papal residence in the fourteenth century. The main sight here was obviously the Palais des Papes or Palace of the Popes, a great hulking gothic building built on a natural rock formation in the mid-fourteenth century, with 5.5m thick walls and taking up over 2.5 acres...
And, as those stats might imply, it was suitably impressive. Avignon was a town of no account prior to it's selection as the new home of the papacy due to unrest and threats facing the Pope in Rome. And ever since, it has been able to dine out on the seven Popes who made it their home, and the legacy they left behind... The palace is vast and imposing, the largest gothic palace in Europe, and contains several chapels with original wall paintings superbly preserved from the 1340s. We were able to walk up to some of the top ramparts and get a spectacular view over the city, including the almost-equally-famous Pont Saint-Bénezet.
This was originally a bridge which spanned the Rhône and provided a crossing between Avignon and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon on the left bank of the river, built in the twelfth century. Unfortunately, the river moved a bit fast for their twelfth century architechture, and the bridge kept collapsing.. and they kept rebuilding it.. again and again.. till a flood in 1668 really walloped it and swept most of the bridge away, at which point it was given up as a lost cause. So now there are only four of the original twenty two arches of the bridge standing, jutting out into the river, making it a real 'bridge to nowhere'.
We also went for an evening walk to watch the sun set and see the bridge, palace, and city walls in the evening light, and it finally became clear just why so many people talk about retiring to the south of France for a life of luxury and relaxation. Avignon is a perfect picture-postcard example of all things quintessentially laid back [in that special 'French' kind of way..] ...so maybe give us another 40 years [and some mysteriously large windfall]...
But we got up the next morning, refreshed and ready to go, and headed to the fortified city. Perched on a hill, this place is simply stunning even from a distance. It really looks like a true castle, but when you reach it, it's even better because it is actually the remains of an entire fortified city, with inner and outer walls and houses and alleyways and all that was necessary to run a town in...the middle ages.. or something. With turrets and high walls and arrow slits and towers all around, it's a quite spectacular experience. The city was technically struck off the list of official fortifications by Napoleon, but due to public outcry, demolition didn't get very far - thankfully! Otherwise, what would they have used as a set for that great work of art 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'? ;)
Following on from Carcassonne we travelled to Avignon, a picturesque medieval city on the bank of the Rhône river, and former official Papal residence in the fourteenth century. The main sight here was obviously the Palais des Papes or Palace of the Popes, a great hulking gothic building built on a natural rock formation in the mid-fourteenth century, with 5.5m thick walls and taking up over 2.5 acres...
And, as those stats might imply, it was suitably impressive. Avignon was a town of no account prior to it's selection as the new home of the papacy due to unrest and threats facing the Pope in Rome. And ever since, it has been able to dine out on the seven Popes who made it their home, and the legacy they left behind... The palace is vast and imposing, the largest gothic palace in Europe, and contains several chapels with original wall paintings superbly preserved from the 1340s. We were able to walk up to some of the top ramparts and get a spectacular view over the city, including the almost-equally-famous Pont Saint-Bénezet.
This was originally a bridge which spanned the Rhône and provided a crossing between Avignon and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon on the left bank of the river, built in the twelfth century. Unfortunately, the river moved a bit fast for their twelfth century architechture, and the bridge kept collapsing.. and they kept rebuilding it.. again and again.. till a flood in 1668 really walloped it and swept most of the bridge away, at which point it was given up as a lost cause. So now there are only four of the original twenty two arches of the bridge standing, jutting out into the river, making it a real 'bridge to nowhere'.
We also went for an evening walk to watch the sun set and see the bridge, palace, and city walls in the evening light, and it finally became clear just why so many people talk about retiring to the south of France for a life of luxury and relaxation. Avignon is a perfect picture-postcard example of all things quintessentially laid back [in that special 'French' kind of way..] ...so maybe give us another 40 years [and some mysteriously large windfall]...
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Sunny San Seb...?
After an intense time in Barcelona, we retreated north to the coast for some relaxation in San Sebastián. Unfortunately, the weather decided not to go along with our plan, and sunny San Sebastián was anything but...
Still, it was a lovely place to relax, and definitely worth a visit. We did a walk around the many churches in town, though unfortunately most of them were either closed to visits, or under reconstruction... but we did make it inside the city cathedral, which was an amazing gothic church, complete with dark imposing spires.. and some pretty impressive stained glass windows inside. We also went in the Iglesia San Vicente, which is the oldest remaining church in San Sebastián.
And of course, no matter what the weather, you can't take a trip to San Seb without a walk along the beach, which was, conveniently, a one minute walk from our hostel. We sat on the raised boardwalk along the side of the beach one night, listening to the quiet sounds of the waves on the shore and enjoying a fine sub-euro Spanish red.... and decided that relaxation could be defined, just like that.
Still, it was a lovely place to relax, and definitely worth a visit. We did a walk around the many churches in town, though unfortunately most of them were either closed to visits, or under reconstruction... but we did make it inside the city cathedral, which was an amazing gothic church, complete with dark imposing spires.. and some pretty impressive stained glass windows inside. We also went in the Iglesia San Vicente, which is the oldest remaining church in San Sebastián.
And of course, no matter what the weather, you can't take a trip to San Seb without a walk along the beach, which was, conveniently, a one minute walk from our hostel. We sat on the raised boardwalk along the side of the beach one night, listening to the quiet sounds of the waves on the shore and enjoying a fine sub-euro Spanish red.... and decided that relaxation could be defined, just like that.
Magnificent Barcelona
Barcelona was one of the most highly anticipated stops on this trip, and it really didn't disappoint.
We were staying in a hostel half way up a mountain on the outskirts of town, and got our first shock when we were told that it would be impossible to walk into the city centre because of the wild pigs, foxes, snakes and [!] farmers in the bush... interesting.....
But we quickly turned our attention away from the frightening wildlife [got to watch out for those Spanish farmers!], and on to the more exciting, though no less strange, local attractions. First stop was Parc Güell, designed 1900 to 1914 by Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona's most famous son. The park is simply mindblowing, with crazy Gaudi mosaics, buildings that could well be made of gingerbread, twisting tree-like columns... the whole place puts you in a good frame of mind to build up for Gaudi's most ambitious, and as yet unfinished, project, the epic Sagrada Familia.
Though construction started in 1882, even the most ambitious estimates predict that it will take nearly another 20 years to complete. The church is following Gaudi's designs, based on images from nature, and lots of crazy complex geometry... he had a ridiculously intense maths brain, and the designs look visionary and futuristic now... yet Gaudi started the drawings in the 1850s, and died in 1926... So, armed with all that knowledge, we headed for the spires sticking dauntingly up above the Barcelona skyline, ready to be blown away...
.. And it worked. Standing inside the main nave of the church, surrounded by massive towering pillars and columns, astounding vaulted ceilings, and the most intense stained glass windows ever.. it's impossible not to feel moved. The epic detailing on the facades, the amazing colours in the windows, the way Gaudi plays with shadows, with light, with darkness... you can understand how this masterpiece is 130 years in the making. Even though our little camera got a serious workout, it just doesn't feel possible to capture the essence of this place [evidence on facebook of our best attempts anyway...]
We took the lift up and wandered the awesome winding staircases and narrow paths which let you get a close up look at some of the towers, the windows and the detailing higher up.. and it would have been so easy to get lost up there, and spend a whole day [or more!] just being amazed...
But we had more to see and do so had to drag ourselves away. Still, it would be fantastic to make it back one day once construction is completed... put that on the list!
We walked down the Ramblas, Barcelona's main shopping/pedestrian street, and it was one of the more interesting main streets we have seen across Europe for street performers and street art.. so much so that we actually stopped and 'commissioned' a painting, which we then had to lug around France and Italy for the next few weeks... [it was worth it!]
At the end of the Ramblas there were some quite cool market stalls, the waterfront, and the Mirador de Colon - a great big tower with a statue of Christopher Columbus at the top, pointing out over the harbour.
Next on the list was the Barri Gòtic, or old quarter of town, including the church of Santa Maria del Mar, which is a fourteenth century church that was built on the seaside, now hemmed in with narrow streets and is a beautiful, imposing gothic building. The Barri Gòtic is full of tiny, labyrinthine streets, and enclosed alleys that could feel imposing or threatening if they weren't just so beautiful! We also stopped by Barcelona's Arc de Triomf, and had a look at Barcelona zoo, though we didn't have time to visit.
A final interesting landmark in Barcelona's city centre is the Torre Agbar, which anyone who has been to London will probably refer to as the Barcelona Gherkin as it is startlingly similar to the Swiss Re Tower in central London. The Torre Agbar though, is actually a lot prettier than the Gherkin, covered with 4,500 LED lights which are programmed to make some stunning visual effects, especially at night.
Barcelona has so much to offer, the city itself is big, bustling, a pumping big-city mechanism, but the unique sights give it an enchanting feel that few other cities of that size are able to produce. In our limited time we managed to wring a lot of fun out of the city, but it definitely goes on the re-visit list... so maybe if those in charge of Sagrada Familia ever manage to lay the last stone, we can manage to get ourselves back to Spain to see it...
We were staying in a hostel half way up a mountain on the outskirts of town, and got our first shock when we were told that it would be impossible to walk into the city centre because of the wild pigs, foxes, snakes and [!] farmers in the bush... interesting.....
But we quickly turned our attention away from the frightening wildlife [got to watch out for those Spanish farmers!], and on to the more exciting, though no less strange, local attractions. First stop was Parc Güell, designed 1900 to 1914 by Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona's most famous son. The park is simply mindblowing, with crazy Gaudi mosaics, buildings that could well be made of gingerbread, twisting tree-like columns... the whole place puts you in a good frame of mind to build up for Gaudi's most ambitious, and as yet unfinished, project, the epic Sagrada Familia.
Though construction started in 1882, even the most ambitious estimates predict that it will take nearly another 20 years to complete. The church is following Gaudi's designs, based on images from nature, and lots of crazy complex geometry... he had a ridiculously intense maths brain, and the designs look visionary and futuristic now... yet Gaudi started the drawings in the 1850s, and died in 1926... So, armed with all that knowledge, we headed for the spires sticking dauntingly up above the Barcelona skyline, ready to be blown away...
.. And it worked. Standing inside the main nave of the church, surrounded by massive towering pillars and columns, astounding vaulted ceilings, and the most intense stained glass windows ever.. it's impossible not to feel moved. The epic detailing on the facades, the amazing colours in the windows, the way Gaudi plays with shadows, with light, with darkness... you can understand how this masterpiece is 130 years in the making. Even though our little camera got a serious workout, it just doesn't feel possible to capture the essence of this place [evidence on facebook of our best attempts anyway...]
We took the lift up and wandered the awesome winding staircases and narrow paths which let you get a close up look at some of the towers, the windows and the detailing higher up.. and it would have been so easy to get lost up there, and spend a whole day [or more!] just being amazed...
But we had more to see and do so had to drag ourselves away. Still, it would be fantastic to make it back one day once construction is completed... put that on the list!
We walked down the Ramblas, Barcelona's main shopping/pedestrian street, and it was one of the more interesting main streets we have seen across Europe for street performers and street art.. so much so that we actually stopped and 'commissioned' a painting, which we then had to lug around France and Italy for the next few weeks... [it was worth it!]
At the end of the Ramblas there were some quite cool market stalls, the waterfront, and the Mirador de Colon - a great big tower with a statue of Christopher Columbus at the top, pointing out over the harbour.
Next on the list was the Barri Gòtic, or old quarter of town, including the church of Santa Maria del Mar, which is a fourteenth century church that was built on the seaside, now hemmed in with narrow streets and is a beautiful, imposing gothic building. The Barri Gòtic is full of tiny, labyrinthine streets, and enclosed alleys that could feel imposing or threatening if they weren't just so beautiful! We also stopped by Barcelona's Arc de Triomf, and had a look at Barcelona zoo, though we didn't have time to visit.
A final interesting landmark in Barcelona's city centre is the Torre Agbar, which anyone who has been to London will probably refer to as the Barcelona Gherkin as it is startlingly similar to the Swiss Re Tower in central London. The Torre Agbar though, is actually a lot prettier than the Gherkin, covered with 4,500 LED lights which are programmed to make some stunning visual effects, especially at night.
Barcelona has so much to offer, the city itself is big, bustling, a pumping big-city mechanism, but the unique sights give it an enchanting feel that few other cities of that size are able to produce. In our limited time we managed to wring a lot of fun out of the city, but it definitely goes on the re-visit list... so maybe if those in charge of Sagrada Familia ever manage to lay the last stone, we can manage to get ourselves back to Spain to see it...
Sunday, October 19, 2008
They took our cup, but they couldn't take our spirit: Conquering Valencia.
Next, and more substantial stop on the itinerary was sunny Valencia, home of the America's Cup, one of the longest central city parks ever, and quite possibly the strangest set of buildings in the world...
We started our touristing by visiting the Torres de Quart, which, until the mid-nineteenth century formed part of a city wall, and now is just a cool old tower/fortification. From there, we rolled through the central food market, though were pleased/disappointed [depending on which way you want to view it] to find no bunches of hanging carcasses this time.
Made our way to the Cathedral, which dates from the thirteenth century, and *supposedly* holds the chalice used at the Last Supper, used by a number of popes over the years.. Not that we saw anything of said relic though, of course... so we just admired the amazing interior instead, not so crazy and intense and over the top as some we have seen recently, but gave it more of a feeling of calm inside. Also mighty impressive from outside, as the Cathedral was completed over a number of centuries and so is a real mix of styles, mostly Gothic, but a bit of Neoclassical and Baroque, together with a smattering of remains of the old Visigoth cathedral that stood on the site prior to the current building's construction...
After the Cathedral we went for a very long and very strange walk through one of the most distinctive features in Valencia, the many-kilometre long park that runs through the city in the bed of a dried up river which was diverted after severe flooding in the 1960s. Passing many playground, fountain, and wandering dog, we made it to the "ciudad de las artes y las ciences de Valencia" [or City of Arts and Sciences] - quite possibly one of the more ambitious architectural projects we have ever seen.. It is made up of four main parts, the first you pass is 'L'Umbracle', shaped by 55 fixed arches and 54 floating arches covered in climbing plants, which covers 7,000 square metres... the 'El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía' is a giant eye shaped performance arts centre...then comes 'Hemisferic', a giant dome containing an Imax theatre... eventually you get to 'L'Oceanogràfic', a giant open-air ocean park, the largest complex of it's type in Europe, and containing 45,000 animals from 500 different species... But really, the most impressive thing is the buildings themselves, regardless of what they hold - they are crazy huge constructions of glass, steel, bizarre angles and lots and lots of water... an absolute engineering nightmare to construct, I'm sure, but spectacular to behold now!
Our final port of call was the harbour itself, and the America's Cup village it holds there, since those nasty Swiss stole it from us.. The village itself felt rather desolate and empty, but that would be the case with nothing going on... I imagine it positively hums in race season. And we got to see a few giant framed, signed photos in the America's Cup exhibit centre, including our friends Grant Dalton and Dean Barker, but not that traitor Russell Coutts... though I'm not sure he isn't happier with his millions of dollars than he would be with a photo on a wall in a building no-one seems to visit in a coastal Spanish town.... still, we know something about national pride! :)
Outside and around the village was what will be used for the Valencia edition of the F1 Grand Prix, though it also looked rather sad with the odd car just puttering along in no particular hurry...
Anyway, we walked till we couldn't walk any more, and while the only kiwi-related site we have seen in a long long time wasn't exactly thriving, it was very cool to be able to say we have been there...
And now for more touristy times... off to busy Barcelona :)
We started our touristing by visiting the Torres de Quart, which, until the mid-nineteenth century formed part of a city wall, and now is just a cool old tower/fortification. From there, we rolled through the central food market, though were pleased/disappointed [depending on which way you want to view it] to find no bunches of hanging carcasses this time.
Made our way to the Cathedral, which dates from the thirteenth century, and *supposedly* holds the chalice used at the Last Supper, used by a number of popes over the years.. Not that we saw anything of said relic though, of course... so we just admired the amazing interior instead, not so crazy and intense and over the top as some we have seen recently, but gave it more of a feeling of calm inside. Also mighty impressive from outside, as the Cathedral was completed over a number of centuries and so is a real mix of styles, mostly Gothic, but a bit of Neoclassical and Baroque, together with a smattering of remains of the old Visigoth cathedral that stood on the site prior to the current building's construction...
After the Cathedral we went for a very long and very strange walk through one of the most distinctive features in Valencia, the many-kilometre long park that runs through the city in the bed of a dried up river which was diverted after severe flooding in the 1960s. Passing many playground, fountain, and wandering dog, we made it to the "ciudad de las artes y las ciences de Valencia" [or City of Arts and Sciences] - quite possibly one of the more ambitious architectural projects we have ever seen.. It is made up of four main parts, the first you pass is 'L'Umbracle', shaped by 55 fixed arches and 54 floating arches covered in climbing plants, which covers 7,000 square metres... the 'El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía' is a giant eye shaped performance arts centre...then comes 'Hemisferic', a giant dome containing an Imax theatre... eventually you get to 'L'Oceanogràfic', a giant open-air ocean park, the largest complex of it's type in Europe, and containing 45,000 animals from 500 different species... But really, the most impressive thing is the buildings themselves, regardless of what they hold - they are crazy huge constructions of glass, steel, bizarre angles and lots and lots of water... an absolute engineering nightmare to construct, I'm sure, but spectacular to behold now!
Our final port of call was the harbour itself, and the America's Cup village it holds there, since those nasty Swiss stole it from us.. The village itself felt rather desolate and empty, but that would be the case with nothing going on... I imagine it positively hums in race season. And we got to see a few giant framed, signed photos in the America's Cup exhibit centre, including our friends Grant Dalton and Dean Barker, but not that traitor Russell Coutts... though I'm not sure he isn't happier with his millions of dollars than he would be with a photo on a wall in a building no-one seems to visit in a coastal Spanish town.... still, we know something about national pride! :)
Outside and around the village was what will be used for the Valencia edition of the F1 Grand Prix, though it also looked rather sad with the odd car just puttering along in no particular hurry...
Anyway, we walked till we couldn't walk any more, and while the only kiwi-related site we have seen in a long long time wasn't exactly thriving, it was very cool to be able to say we have been there...
And now for more touristy times... off to busy Barcelona :)
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