We were in the Cathedral Plaza at noon today to see la Sardana. La Sardana is the national dance. It is not a raucous affair. The dancers are somewhat solemn; as they all perform the same steps the dance symbolizes the equality of the Catalan people. If you want to join in you place your belongings in the center of the circle along with everyone else’s and join the circle. The dancers are traditional accompanied by 11 musicians who are collectively called the cobla. The Plaza was filled with dancers, and spectators.
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The plaza was cleared and children from several different schools who had clearly been practicing for this moment in the sun performed the dances. It was especially nice to see that the children did not all share a Catalan heritage but they were all dancing together, holding hands, and proudly sharing the musical and social heritage of Catalonia.
We discovered that today was also the celebration of the Festival of Corpus. Like spring garden tours at home here this celebration was marked by Flower displays around eight existing fountains in the old city. We just happened upon one of these displays on our way to a Museum. In a beautiful gothic courtyard a gorgeous display of spring flowers surrounded the fountain. There was a single jet of water bubbling up from fountain and bouncing and spinning at the top of the water was an egg. The egg, of course, served as a symbol of rebirth and springtime. It was an amazing site.
After sharing in the delight of all those watching the egg bounce and spin we headed for the open air café in the corner of this courtyard. We found a table and sat down. Noticing that there were many others looking for tables we invited one couple to join us at our table. And so we had a delightful conversation with this man and his wife both natives of Catalunya. They had four children. She is currently living and working in a Bank in Barcelona with two of them and he is living and working in Bristol, England with the two youngest children who attend school in England. They offered up suggestions of what we should see and do with our remaining time in Barcelona. We asked questions about things we had seen that we didn’t understand. For example, that noisy procession we witnessed in our street after 11pm last night was also part of the Corpus Christie Festival. We took pictures together and when they left they announced that they had taken care of our bill. They were delightful and very generous people.
The Museum of the day was Museu Frederic Mares. Mares was a sculptor and collector. He collected sculptures but we went to see his “Collector’s Cabinet”. Collections of Ladies fans, men’s pipes, watches, clocks, jewelry, snuff boxes, scissors and more.
After the Museum we walked to the Placa S. Felip Neri. Our lunch companions had suggested it. Noting that it was a particularly serene square in the middle of the city. The church is the plaza is the one that Antoni Gaudi attended. Its façade is pockmarked with bomb damage from the Spanish Civil War.
Harry then returned to the apartment while Marsha walked on a bit further.
We had dinner tonight at a Sushi restaurant down the block followed by a walk out to the waterfront. OK, not terrific.
We discovered that today was also the celebration of the Festival of Corpus. Like spring garden tours at home here this celebration was marked by Flower displays around eight existing fountains in the old city. We just happened upon one of these displays on our way to a Museum. In a beautiful gothic courtyard a gorgeous display of spring flowers surrounded the fountain. There was a single jet of water bubbling up from fountain and bouncing and spinning at the top of the water was an egg. The egg, of course, served as a symbol of rebirth and springtime. It was an amazing site.
After sharing in the delight of all those watching the egg bounce and spin we headed for the open air café in the corner of this courtyard. We found a table and sat down. Noticing that there were many others looking for tables we invited one couple to join us at our table. And so we had a delightful conversation with this man and his wife both natives of Catalunya. They had four children. She is currently living and working in a Bank in Barcelona with two of them and he is living and working in Bristol, England with the two youngest children who attend school in England. They offered up suggestions of what we should see and do with our remaining time in Barcelona. We asked questions about things we had seen that we didn’t understand. For example, that noisy procession we witnessed in our street after 11pm last night was also part of the Corpus Christie Festival. We took pictures together and when they left they announced that they had taken care of our bill. They were delightful and very generous people.
The Museum of the day was Museu Frederic Mares. Mares was a sculptor and collector. He collected sculptures but we went to see his “Collector’s Cabinet”. Collections of Ladies fans, men’s pipes, watches, clocks, jewelry, snuff boxes, scissors and more.
After the Museum we walked to the Placa S. Felip Neri. Our lunch companions had suggested it. Noting that it was a particularly serene square in the middle of the city. The church is the plaza is the one that Antoni Gaudi attended. Its façade is pockmarked with bomb damage from the Spanish Civil War.
Harry then returned to the apartment while Marsha walked on a bit further.
We had dinner tonight at a Sushi restaurant down the block followed by a walk out to the waterfront. OK, not terrific.