A straight shot from my great aunt's apartment, the stone cathedral stands in all its catalan glory. La Sagrada Familia. Unlike the millions of tourists who have passed through her halls, I have yet to see the beauty of her vaulted canopy. It’s one of the main tourist attractions, and hence is always crawling with people. I was infinitely privileged to behold its majesty every morning, before descending into the purple line, to take the 4 stops to Universitat, where I was taking a Spanish class.
The Catalan capital is often referred to as an excellent example of urban planning. The plan's grid pattern was drawn out in the late 1870s, and implemented by knocking down the medieval walls of the old city to let the compressed city expand.
Following the ideas of the enlightenment and orderly planning, the system was laid out in a rigid grid, with 2 diagonal artery routes converging at roughly the city center.
But, the part I find most fascinating about this lovely city is how the grid unites what have now become neighborhoods but once were their own towns. You notice it when you’re walking through the city, what would normally be a whole block is instead broken up by these small 1-car-wide streets that aren’t always entirely straight. Why? Because these neighborhoods existed before the grid and Barcelona expanded around them, absorbing them into the wider part of the 5 million people metropolis. Although I spend most of my time in Eixample, (the neighborhood that makes up this gridded pattern), I would find myself exploring. I would pass through Gracia on the way to my salsa class, its narrow streets and many parked motorcycles gave me a sense of life. Every now and again, when I was bored at night, I would take a long walk down to the beach, passing through El Clot and then down the Poblenou. Down the main pedestrianized street in Poblenou, I would walk by so many little restaurants and many other people. Just me in my sandals, with a bathing suit and a towel in my bag. Once the urban periphery broke, there was an overpass bridge over an underground, open air highway, on the other side of which laid a green park that stretched for the majority of the coastline. Finally, I would get to the sea, with a cool wind that kissed my skin, even on the hottest and groggiest of days. There were a few times that I did actually go swimming and then schlepped my way back home, but admiring the sea was a must. It was calming to see the water lapping against the shore, and people of all parts of the world relaxing and meandering along the sandy shore and boardwalk. Who knew urban dwelling could be so lovely.
Like many modern global metropolises, one passes people from all around the world walking by. Licks of Chinese, Spanish, English, every now and again German, but most importantly Catalan spill out onto the street. Like most other European countries, Spain is a country with more than one language within its borders, and several regions who have a completely distinct culture and language. Catalunya is one of those places, and Barcelona being the capitol, it is flush with the sounds, words, and achievements of catalan culture. In this blog post, I list the names of the neighborhoods in Catalan, as this is how I came to know them by and that is their true name. As this part of Spain has its own regional identity and speaks its own language, this manifests in interesting ways in terms of the built environment. Only found in this city is Modernima, a specific subset of catalan modernist architecture that came about in the late 19th century. There are several famous parks and buildings, like the Parc Güell, which although they weren’t intended for the public, eventually landed in the hands of the state. Within the Eixample, there is a small street that cuts through 3 blocks worth of the grid pattern, so much so, one can see it on google maps. On one side is arguably the largest example of Modernisma: L’Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau. An entire 9 block campus of a hospital, made from brick and decorated with mosaics. On the other side of this small cut through street, stands the tallest building in Barcelona: La Sagrada Familia herself. Ideally in the dead of winter, one can stand in the middle of this diagonal, and look down towards the Sea to behold the weathered stone Sagrada Familia, and up towards the mountains to see the brick of L’Hospital de Sant Pau.
Above is a picture of L'Hospital de La Santa Creu i Sant Pau
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