On October the 22nd, my mother Audrey, my brother Mike and his wife Sylvie treated me to a five day holiday in Barcelona, which I hadn’t visited since 1988. My mum, now a sprightly 86, had always loved my song Barcelona (now part of my alter-ego Thom Topham’s Multimedia eBook ‘My Unplanned Obsolescence’) and had never visited this magical city.
Following the recent death of my adoptive father Harold (her partner and soul-mate for over 55 years) in July, Audrey felt that her first holiday without him would possibly help to ease the pain of his passing and hopefully prove to be cathartic in enabling her to get over her loss. Also coming along for the ride were Mike and Sylvie’s son Thibault and my sister Josie and her husband Kae Bahar’s youngest, Leon.
Sylvie had booked a fantastic house via http://www.airbnb.co.uk for us to stay in in the very central CLOT area of Barcelona. This turned out to be an un-touristy, funky, largely working-class neighbourhood with a pedestrianised main street, a covered food market, great cafes and unpretentious restaurants and Parc Del Clot, a fabulous art/sports park which features ancient stoneworks, a wonderfully creative water feature, an outdoor squash court, a large paved area for people to play sports in and a long, pedestrian bridge overlooking it all. It’s particularly attractive at night, when it is beautifully lit. Sylvie also booked our visits to Gaudi’s famous La Sagrada Familia (now virtually complete interior-wise) Casa Batllo and Parc Guell online in advance, which proved to be a wise move.
We also took a day trip – only €8 return on the train – to the lovely seaside resort of Sitges, which is also famous as the gay holiday capital of Spain.
By some excellent synchronicity, the week before I left I discovered on Facebook that my old French friend Serge, whom I hadn’t seen for 27 years (as he’d been living in Fiji and Morocco) was also going to be in Barcelona at exactly the same time.
I suggest that you might like to listen to the song ‘Barcelona’, the lyric of which was written in the city in 1988, as you look at my pictures. These were taken on my iPhone4 using the Camera Plus Pro app (which I’d thoroughly recommend), before being processed via Instagram.
All photos © Steve Swindells. 2014.
Just landed. Barcelona.
Clot Station. Barcelona.
Clot-Arago (the overground) Station Escalator.
Our House In Clot – For Five Days. L-R; Sylvie, Thibault, Audrey and Mike.
Family Selfie – on Carrer Meridional. Thibault, Audrey, myself and Leon.
My bedroom.
Mike in the main bedroom, with its balcony overlooking the street.
The terrace from the balcony of Audrey’s bedroom.
The view from the balcony of the main bedroom.
We’re walking through Clot in the direction of the sea – which we were to find took about 25 minutes. Audrey wisely headed back to the house after we’d come across the beautiful Parc Del Clot.
The covered market in Clot.
Then later on after dark…
How does this cantilevered skyscraper defy gravity?
Nearly at the beach…
Leon tries to move the goalposts.
Shadows.
Sun Going Down On The Beach.
Barca Street Furniture.
Selfie Reflection.
Urban walls as viewed from the terrace of ‘our house’.
The view from the terrace at night.
The Stairs.
Mother and son after eating tapas at a local eatery in Clot.
Eureka! The house has a dressing-up box!
Thibault & Leon Go Go.
Serge has arrived for dinner.
The Family Ham It Up!
Serge, SS and Audrey,
The Boys Are Back In Town
Serge is an old pro!
Leon is cool.
Audrey in her fave cafe by the market, before we head for La Sagrada Familia.
La Sagrada Familia is a total must-see for people visiting Barca. The interior is virtually complete and the exterior will be – but I have no idea how long it will take.
It certainly is one of the most awe-inspiring buildings I’ve ever seen – especially internally (as a lot of the exterior is wrapped in scaffolding). The music that they pipe into the building is quite magical too – like new-age, spiritual music from another world. I’ve never heard anything like it. I’m not religious at all – just naturally spiritual, but visiting this incredible basilica was an inspiring and moving experience. Apart from when I stepped-out of the lift at the top of one of the towers. I’m afraid to admit that I suffer from extreme vertigo, and this made me fall onto my knees and I had to literally crawl back in to the lobby of the lift. My legs hurt like hell (no pun intended) just thinking about it.
La Sagrada Familia – a detail of one of the facades.
Part of the ceiling and the soaring columns supporting it. Astonishing.
Audrey in the brilliant sunlight in front of one of the awesome main doors.
God Is A DJ.
Pillars lit by the sun pouring through the stunning stained-glass windows.
Blue.
Under The Blue Windows.
The incredible ceiling above the nave.
Golden.
One Of The Main Doors.
Organ pipes coloured by the afternoon sunlight through the enormous stained glass windows.
The Ornate Ceiling From Another Angle .
The following day, we took the train to the gorgeously funky seaside resort of Sitges and had a picnic on the beach before the boys (and men) braved the icy waters of the mediteranean (joking: it was lovely). It was a perfectly cloudless day and the temperature was 26 degrees.
A perfectly-formed roof terrace catches my eye as we walk towards the beach through the old town of Sitges.
Leon and SS catching waves.
Thibault gets buried alive.
I’ve owned this house for years but of course I’m just renting it out at the moment… honest…
Silhouettes on the breakwater.
The following day, we headed for the Gothic Quarter and The nearby Marina, before visiting Gaudi’s incredible Parc Guell.
A huge, metal sculpture dominates one of the main squares in The Gothic Quarter – where we sat in the sunshine outside one of many cafes.
Audrey and I ambled through the gothic quarter down to the harbour.
Streetlights designed by – yes, you guessed it – Gaudi.
Columbus Curve.
Floating Subuteo Sculpture in the harbour.
On The Metro Heading For Parc Guell – a Parallel Universe.
‘The heat spreads like a blanket, on a hazy afternoon…’
Gaudi’s mashed-up ceramic curves.
That’s the cranes above La Sagrada Familia in the middle distance.
One of the two fantastical gatehouses.
Audrey takes a well-earned, contemplative rest while the rest of us explore the gatehouse.
I wanted to show Serge our local Parc Del Clot at night. He, like all of us, found it quite beguiling. Then we heard loud music coming from the direction of Barelona’s answer to (or copy of) London’s ‘Gherkin’ and found ourselves at the opening of an exhibition of photos of reggae artists in Jamaica in the 70s and 80s, which was a coincidence, as Serge lived there for seven years back then and had known quite a few of the subjects. There was a free, outdoor reggae rave with cheap beer as well. Our Saturday night’s entertainment was sorted!
After dinner…
SS in ‘Plaza Graffita’ (as I dubbed it) taken by Serge.
Sylvie and Mike dance in Parc Del Clot.
Serge enjoying Parc Del Clot.
Serge at the reggae photo exhibition.
People at the reggae rave.
Was it Sunday that we visited another of Gaudi’s masterpieces, Casa Batllo? We packed so much in (and all that Rioja) that I’ve probably got the timelines wrong. Who cares?
Incredible stained glass in the extraordinary windows of the main living room of Casa Batllo.
The same windows from outside.
Bet you’ve never seen chimneys like this before?
The massive wall of smashed ceramics at the back of the huge terrace.
Then we went to the beach at Barcelonetta, at the Marina end, near to the Olympic Park.
Looks like Audrey’s in goal!
Ancient and modern.
Then it was time for me to leave, as mine was a separate flight to Gatwick, and the rest of the family flew back to Bristol a little later. What a wonderful five days!
Goodbye! X
Getting ready to take-off as the sun goes down.
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Tags: Barcelona, Barcelonetta, Casa Battllo, Clot, Gaudi, Gay Resort, La Sagrada Familia, Parc Del Clot, Parc Guell, Sitges
