A Walk in Barcelona

 

A Walk in Barcelona

We went on a cruise with Jeff’s sister and her hubby (Nancy and Lonnie), visiting several ports of call in the Mediterranean.  We started, though, in Barcelona.  We flew into Barcelona to spend a day there before the cruise began.  It was founded as a Roman city in the Middle Ages, and you can see some of the influence of that in some of the buildings.  We used our day in Barcelona to take a walk and checked out an amazing building and tried to visit another.  Let’s take a look –

We took a taxi to San Pau Art Nouveau.  None of us knew anything about this, but it sounded kind of interesting when we looked at a tourist map and thought we’d check it out.  This complex is huge, and amazingly, was used as a hospital campus.  In the photo above, the image on the left is the magnificent entrance to this campus.  The statue in the center was just outside the main gate, and the map on the lower right lays out a map of the campus.  In addition to being the entrance to the campus, this is considered the Administration Pavilion.

As we walked through the entrance to the campus, we didn’t really get to see much of the inside the Administration Pavilion, but we’ll see more of that later in this blog.  This image is of two art pieces that was found on the that building.

This is the Operations House.  We did walk through this building, but the art shown on the walls and ceiling weren’t really suited very well for ph0tographing.  There are names shown on this building of distinguished doctors who have worked here.

As we walked around the campus, we were amazed by all the different areas of architectural interest, from the facades of buildings to the entryways of those buildings, to the colorful tiles on the rooftops.  It was eye candy for anyone who appreciates beauty.

This breathtaking building is the Sant Rafael Pavilion.  This pavilion was completed between 1914 and 1918.  This pavilion has not been rehabilitated.  Instead, elements that have been added over the years, were eliminated to return the pavilion to closer to its original state.  We wandered through this building slowly, taking in all there is to offer.

Here are two wonderful views of the inside of the buildings.  On the right is an image of the ceilings throughout the buildings.  I believe the wires that you can see running across the room are to help stabilize the building.  On the left is a room that has been set up as a hospital wardroom would have looked back when this campus was an active hospital.

These were medical tools that were used back when it was an active hospital.  On the left is an old x-ray machine.  This x-ray machine had a fluoroscopic screen and vertically movable arm.  It was made in or around the 1920’s.  The x-ray (upper right) is of a thorax, printed out on paper, from the 1930s’s.  The items on the lower right are surgical instruments – my, oh, my!

The campus also had a network of passages, known as The Tunnels.  All buildings could be reached via The Tunnels.  They were used to get supplies, meals and laundry delivered to the various locations.  In this image, you can see Jeff, Nancy and Lonnie as they walk in front of me.  In case anyone is wondering, the tunnels were roped off, so we couldn’t get lost in there!

Above The Tunnels is an area referred to as The Gardens.  Nature was a vital part of the hospital.  Plants and trees purified the air, fixed bacteria, influenced the climate, protected the space from the wind, and conserved humidity, according to the hospital, all with the patients’ well being in mind.  I know we enjoyed the park-like feeling, and Lonnie got a nice shot of Nancy while we were there.

And now we’re back at the Administration Building, exploring the inside.  The roof area of one room was just incredible, with the pinkish tiles and date shown (like a cornerstone?).  One of my favorite places in this building is the hall, shown on the right.  It’s in the process of being worked on and the windows didn’t work while we were there.  It took me many shots to get this image of an empty hall, as people kept wandering into my shot!!

Here are some other interesting architectural items in the Administration Building.  There’s another decorated ceiling, some stone carved guard rails and also very interesting to me, a mosaic piece that looked like a painting until I got up close.

After we left the Sant Pau Art Nouveau complex, we walked toward the second building we hoped to explore.  We walked down shaded walks open to pedestrians only (left image) and stopped at one of them to get some refreshment – wine for Nancy and me, and beer for the guys (with our waiter getting into the action, too!).

When we got to the La Sagrada Familia, we were disappointed to find out that the wait to get inside it was much too long for us to be able to get inside.  So, we had to be satisfied with admiring it from the outside.  They were working on the building, apparently cleaning it.  What a Gothic looking building!!  The close-up image on the right shows people climbing up the columns you can see as being higher up the building.

We got onto our ship to formally begin our cruise adventure the next day, and this sunset image was taken from the ship as we left Barcelona.  On to our first cruise stop – France!

Enjoy!