Mediterranean Square Dance Cruise

March 19th thru April 1, 2017

RUMINATIONS REGARDING OUR MEDITERRANEAN RAMBLINGS 2017

Chapter 0ne. Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
- the city of contradictions.

8 of us dragged all our luggage along the sidewalk, down a tiny (less than a car width) street following a local ‘angel’ who was leading us to our hotel. Our hired motor-coach driver had dumped us on a main boulevard pointing us in the wrong direction to our hotel and she had rescued us. Now, as we followed her she also pointed out all the local history which included a 12^th century hospital building just around the corner from our modernized hotel. We were fortunate that we found her as we discovered that apart from the hotel staff very few people spoke English, a fact that remained constant throughout our 10 day exploration of the 2017 03 22 001 Mediterranean countries. The tour guides that accompanied us on our shore excursions spoke limited English, which related to the tour, but any deviation from the usual questions and answers were not readily understood.

Our narrow tall street led out to Las Ramblas a wide main pedestrian thoroughfare where tourists ambled up and down mesmerized by the various vendors whose wares ranged from geehaws/ specific Spanish trinkets enticing and foreign, postcards, books, and toys to magnificent fresh flower stalls. Eyes constantly drawn to the dazzling Gaudi inspired architecture, prominent on many buildings throughout the city the modern side by side with 500 year old stone historical edifices. A city of contrasts. . Also, at the many other multilingual international people taking constant photos with their selfie sticks.

Tourists drawn to the tiny bars, restaurants, coffeehouses, Dunkin Donuts and a Starbucks! One of the highlights of Barcelona: sampling the typical Mediterranean tiny expresso coffees and partaking of huge mouth-watering slices of gateau (cake) all delicious and baked on the premises. For our first night, we ate a traditional Spanish buffet: seafood paella with saffron rice, flat white fish, delicate and flaky, many varieties of tomatoes, olives and green salads, choices of different shaped pastas with bechamel or meat sauce, all consumed with the local white wine and finally dessert: puddings, pies, cakes and cookies . This feast was followed by a show featuring Flamenco dancers accompanied by plaintive alluring Spanish guitars. The lead dancer portrayed her passion with zeal, an arousing stimulating performance.

The Hard Rock Café was the next evening’s restaurant choice. 20 of us dined enjoying the ‘Stairway to Heaven’( Led Zepplin) menu with one of Bruce Springstein’s leather jackets, Michael Jacksons Thriller Glove, Aerosmith’s guitars and much more rock and roll memorabilia displayed on the walls around us, the music was loud and techno and the beer global. Walking back to the hotel we noted the African men with leather handbags and kickoff name brand sneakers, their wares spread out on sheets each corner tied to a rope ready to be pulled up easily when the police came too close, the bundle thrown over the shoulder and the men melting into the night invisible. Compare this shopping experience with entering the high end stores in the wide up town boulevards. These stores along this street have their flag ship business’s in Paris, Milan, New York or London. To enter one must be vetted and the doors unlocked to let you inside where the prices are out of this world!
FOOTNOTE. Antonio Gaudi (1852-1926) an Art Nouveau influenced inventive architect, he banished the straight line altogether, his buildings are considered to be sculptures, spiritual, and influenced by nature. His use of color and mixed building materials were considered very avant–garde at the time and continue to be extremely powerful. An artist extraordinaire his passion for vibrancy, and brilliant colors influences the entire city. Hop on Hop off double decker buses are rampant throughout the Mediterranean and a cheap way to sightsee, however, the timetables and bus stops are not always convenient to places one wants to visit, local taxis are very reasonable and in Barcelona able to navigate the narrow old town streets. To get to Gaudi’s Casa Basillo named the house of bones and Casa Mila, the ripple house both named for their exterior appearances, we hired a bicycle-powered rickshaw.

The houses are close to each other in a very high-end part of the city. Upon entering Casa Osseo equipped with an I pad tablet and the ubiquitous head-phones with an English audio-tape we proceeded to explore the house……as instructed to do so we moved the tablet onto certain images in the room i.e. the oval shaped glass skylight which then mesmerized into a huge sea turtle slowly floating across the screen and in the parlor on a woodstove which puffed smoke and turned into a mushroom. Many other images appeared and the dialogue pointed out all the unique, unusual ways Gaudi explored space and light. His work is fascinating, ideas that he incorporated included use of mosaics to make chimneys into smooth flowing cylindrical forms. 2 of his other masterpieces are 1) Guell Park which he envisioned as a natural environment for people to enjoy and 2) La Sagrada Familia, the iconic Cathedral which he began building in 1882 and which continues to be in the finishing stages. In 1926 Gaudi died crossing the street, a tragic tram accident. The city that we encountered pulsed and teemed with life, hope and resiliency, fiercely independent the Catalan colors and flags prevail everywhere. After Roman occupancy the city fell to the Moors in the 8th century and later Charlemagna ruled followed by Kings and Queens until the 1930’s when the Catalan Revolt took place. Today the Spanish Government presides over a United Spain