Barcelona blog

Shit architecture

A more balenced view of this monstosity at the Guardian.

The American owners claim their hotel, officially the W Barcelona, is “a modernist masterpiece of avant-garde architecture” whose facade reflects “the captivating colours of the Catalonia sky”. However, elsewhere there has been less praise. The El País columnist Agustí Fancelli denounced the “scandalous privatisation” of one of the key points in the city, comparing the hotel to “an inglorious beer belly”.

Posted in Architecture, Barceloneta, Buildings of Barcelona | Tags: Ugly buildings |

Barelona street art

This Flick group is a brilliant collection of street art in Barcelona. The above near the Forum is by la ira món mort

Coincidently in The Guardian:

Graffiti protesting has become a symbol of resistance as a rising tide of visitors engulfs the local population

He, or she, is a Catalan cross between Banksy and an anti-tourism league. At night the mystery graffiti protester roams the streets of Barcelona’s old quarter leaving behind markings on the streets that divide them into separate lanes for the tourists and the “normal” Barcelonans.

Every day the city hall sends out workmen to paint over the markings, afraid that someone is trying to push away the tourists who bring in welcome wealth but increasingly make native Barcelonans feel jostled off their own streets.

Posted in Art, Graffiti in Barcelona, Social issues in Barcelona, Street life in Barcelona | Tags: Barcelona graffiti artists |

A poem about Barcelona

I liked this poem by Paul Blackburn (1926-71) set in Barcelona in the 1960s. The complete poem is here with the correct spacing between the words. It is published in the excellent literary magazine Barcelona Ink.

When Blackburn was asked in 1962 how he would like to die he answered “in Barcelona during a revolution against F. Franco”.

The Touch

The windows
are never wide enuf.
Calle de Vidrio, Barcelona, is
off Fernando, toward the Plaza Real;
short, tight, narrow, &
leads toward the palmtrees
Th e corner bar to the left is
three to fi ve pesetas cheaper than
the one to the right
as you enter, plenty of
sky, trees, a fountain, the
arcades sit over each side we
sit with gambas, cervezas, dis-
MARISCAS
cuss my sis-
PERCEBES
ter’s imminent
ALMEJAS VIVAS
arrival I face
CENTOLLOS
the walls, cannot see Y
the palmtrees behind me GAMBAS
ALAJILLO
BEBA COCA COLA SEPIA
PULPITO
BAR FARON
it says

The complete poem is here

Posted in Literature about Barcelona | Tags: Barcelona Ink, Paul Blackburn Barcelona |

Old men playing petanca

Here’s another photo from Barcelona Photoblog by Carlos Lorenzo. A group of pensioners standing around playing what in Spain is called petanca, “an image in Barcelona’s squares as familiar to us as that of pigeons”.  It can be played between two people or in groups. The winner is the first to 13 points. The game originates from southern France.

Posted in Elderly people in Barcelona, Photography of Barcelona, Street life in Barcelona | Tags: Bo, Petanca in Barcelona |

Bar La Tranquilidad in Parallel

La Tranquilad, together with the still-existing Café Español, was the most famous of the cafés of Parallel. As a haven  for gangsters, police spies and above all anarchists anything but tranquility reigned here.

During the infamous period of pistolerismo in the early 1920s, Barcelona was awash with guns smuggled from France after the end of the First World War. Weapons were sold openly in the Tranquilidad, which also organised raffles, with the winner taking home a Star pistol, the weapon of choice of the anarcho-syndicalist. More here

Anecdotes about La Tranquilidad abound. In the early 1930s, Durruti and his friends were habitués of La Tranquilidad. One story relates when a young beggar with a defeated air came into the bar asking for money. When he approached Durrut’s table the bar went silent. Durruti stared at the man for a minute, and then pulled his revolver and slammed in on the table, saying “There, take my gun. Go to the bank“. From El corto verano de la anarquía: Vida y muerte de Durruti. (The short summer of Anarchy - what a brilliant title)

The bar was later the scene of fierce fighting on July 18th 1936 when rebel soldiers barricaded themselves in here, before being defeated by the anarchist militia.

La Tranquilidad  stood at number 69 Aviguda Parallel next to the Teatro Victoria. I believe it was demolished in the 1940s.

Posted in History of Barcelona, Poble Sec | Tags: Anecdotes about Durruti, Café Español in Barcelona, El corto verano de la anarquía: Vida y muerte de Durruti., Star pistol, The short summer of Anarchy |

A beautiful photo of Barcelona

A beautiful photo of Barcelona by MorBCN on flickr.

Posted in Art, Photography of Barcelona | |

Langston Hughes on Barcelona

The Afro-American poet Langston Hughes visited Barcelona in 1937 as a  newspaper correspondent for the Baltimore Afro-American. He saw the terrible destruction in the city caused by the bombing.

I came down from Paris by train. We reached Barcelona at night. The day before had been a terrific air raid in the city, killing about a hundred and wounding a great deal more. We read about it in the papers at the border. Last night, I thought. Well tonight, I’ll be there. Here (October 23, 1937)

He was inspired to write the poem Air raid: Barcelona (from here). The imagery is stark. East is back to Mallorca where Mussolini’s squadrons were based.

The death birds wheel East
To their lairs again
Leaving iron eggs
In the streets of Spain.

Air raid: Barcelona by Langston Hughes

Black smoke of sound

Curls against the midnight sky. Read the rest of this entry »



				
Posted in History of Barcelona,  Literature about Barcelona,  Spanish Civil War in Barcelona | Tags: Air Raid Barcelona by Langston Hughes, Baltimore Afro-American, Black history in Spain, bombardment of Barcelona. aerial bombing during the Spanish Civil War, Langston Hughes in Spain, Poems about Barcelona, Poems about the Spanish Civil War |   
				

The Barcelona photoblogger

Barcelona Photoblog by Carlos Lorenzo is a consistently interesting photo site on which we accompany Carlos on his travels around his city.

Here is on The Estació de França

Estació de França is a magical place for architecture enthusiasts. As seen from La Ribera quarter on the other side of Marques De L’Argentera avenue the place looks rather dull and does not give you any clue of the beauty inside. The moment you walk under its gates the light coming through the stained glass both in the domes and walls gently falls on the polished marble floors creating this mysterious soothing church-like atmosphere quite pleasant if you are about to travel. In fact, I felt like skating across the hall in the way a child would do. The elaborate modernist and art deco motifs and especially those metal spheres hanging from a sort of ring tied to the domes are a pleasure to the eye. Although the railway station has been there since 19th century the building was rebuilt in 1929 for the International Exhibition by renown Spanish architect Pedro Muguruza who held important positions in Francisco Franco’s dictatorial government but that’s another story.

As he puts it “Barcelona pictures there are many, commented Barcelona photos there are few, so I intend to provide not just images but information about the daily life of the city and some aspects of artistic expression such as Barcelona sculpture, Barcelona architecture, Barcelona street art, Art Nouveau or Modernisme.”

Barcelona Photoblog

Posted in Architecture, Buildings of Barcelona, Gothic Quarter, Photography of Barcelona, Transport in Barcelona | Tags: Estació de França, France Station in Barcelona, Most beautiful station in Barcelona, Old railway stations of Barcelona, Pedro Muguruza |

Barcelona tourists increase

The latest figures on tourism in the city:

Depsite the crisis, tourist numbers in Barcelona rose in the first quarter, after a 3-year decline, with a 11.7% rise of visitors over the same period in 2009. Average hotel occupancy rate from January to March of 60%, higher than in the same period in the previous year. Spanish tourists make up 34.7% of the total number of visitors. The number of French, North-American and German tourists also rose, while the number of visitors from Italy and the UK (now 7.3%) fell. The cruisers reported a significant decline in the first quarter of this year, with an 8.55% decrease in the number of passengers over the same period in 2009. El Periodico

Employment and welfare through economic development or an unsustainable model and no respite for us from the hordes of us?

Posted in Economy of Barcelona, Tourism in Barcelona | Tags: tourist numbers in Barcelona |

Panoramic view of Carrer de l’Hospital

Carrer de l’Hospital in the early morning by Anti-blog. More remarkable panoramics here.

Posted in El Raval, Photography of Barcelona | Tags: Carrer de l'Hospital, Photographs of Raval |