19 December

What is Gaudy?

Not too many people have been immortalised by their name becoming a common English word. Plato made it with platonic; Achilles with his heel and Caesar, for some reason, became caesarian. After the last couple of days, we understand how the early 20th century works of Antoni Gaudi allowed his name to be incorporated into common language.

Even today, more than 80 years after his death, his work is futuristic, fanciful and yet structurally sound and always different – very different and, of course, some of it is just plain ... gaudy!

La Sagrada Familia Basilica is destined to be his seminal work. Since our last visit in 2000, work seems to have accelerated on this, now longer than a 100 year, project. Perhaps the aim is to complete the construction in time for the centenary of the master's death in 2026? Hope we are around to see it.

We aren't sure if Picasso ever met Gaudi ( we need to do some research here) but the same word can, of course, be applied to much of Picasso's work. Gaudy!

Having visited the Picasso museum today, we are full of knowledge about this adopted son of Barcelona. Cubism was, of course, Pablo's big thing and what he will always be remembered for, but the range and volume of work the artist left us is just incredible! Everything from traditional landscapes, formal portraits, ceramics and some erotic doodles to Toulouse Lautrec-inspired ladies of the night comprises the work of this master.

As we prepare to leave Barcelona ,what can we say about this always exciting and interesting city...
Gaudy!

But in the best possible way!


18 December

Artists are mostly Mad!

Barcelona was at its best today. Actually we have never seen it any other way but sunny and warm. Our camping ground is about 20 minutes out of town on a fast and frequent rail line. We know! We can hear the trains all night.
Barcelona is a special place - a cradle of modern civilization, if you believe the local view of the world. Christopher Columbus (an Italian) left from here on his voyage to the New World. Picasso graced the city. And then there was Gaudi, possibly the greatest of the 19th - 20th C avant-garde architects. His master piece, La Sagrada Familia is still under construction after more than 100 years - not all that unusual, as cathedral building times go.

Several other buildings in the city were designed by the master. We visited La Pedrera today – a building designed by Gaudi - down to door handles. It is part museum – of the achievements of Gaudi and of life in the early 20th C - part functional office complex. There is hardly a square corner in the whole building - as you would expect. What is really startling is that the building was constructed in 1906.

Enough about Gaudi for now. (Can one ever get enough Gaudi?).

The real star of the day was an early 20th century Russian artist, Rodchenko who was featured in a special exhibited at La Pedrera.. Never heard of him? What a shame. The man was apparently a giant of Constructivism in Post-revolutionary Russia. His works range across geometrical art to geometrical sculptures to early photo collage.
Some of the artistic phases Rodchenko passed through are worthy of comment. Unlike many others, he was able to move from constructionalism to neo-constructionalism without a transition period. Yes, believe it or not – no transition period! Then 'Rod' had his black on black and white on white periods. Not terribly complex art works. They actually contain some grey.

The real turning point in Rodchenko's career was probably his realisation that there were basic colours. Seriously, he decried easel painting as he called it and decreed that only 'pure' colours were 'in'. His Red,Yellow and Blue pieces, which were just that, are a true testament to just how crazy artists can be.

Finally, in collaboration with equally MAD countryman, Malevich, he produced possibly the most avant-garde play ever staged. Bedbug. A Fantastical Comedy in Nine Scenes. (loosely translated from the original Russian).

The plot is very simple really. In 1929, the main character and a bedbug are frozen. Thawed out after 50 years, they then tell the story in nine bizarre and indescribable scenes of the world once communism was fully established. What the bedbug had to do with it all was lost in translation. To add some credibility to the whole thing, the score was composed by a young Shostakovich. The museum ran a video of clips from the original presentation. Truly bizarre, out there, and sooo Barcelona!

Stalinism, the purges, restrictions on artistic freedom and the threat of the gulag for 'nutters' finally caught up with Rod' and he ended his days taking propaganda photographs for the Party.

And Gaudi? He walked under a tram in Barcelona in 1926 aged 74.

Strange stuff, but that's what Barcelona is all about!


17 December

Sun at last, sun at last!

By this morning, the sky had cleared and the sun broke through. By the time we stopped for our daily shop, it was positively hot in the sun.

Hannibal also crossed the Pyrenees with his elephants – apparently he had a thing about mountain ranges - so we expected a bit of a climb on the free secondary roads that we take to avoid the heavy tolls. We hardly noticed the bump! Near the coast, the mountains are easily negotiated. Hope Hannibal knew this route.

Spanish drivers and roads have improved significantly since our last visit, thanks to an intensive government campaign to reduce the road toll. Even with the few towns we had to pass through on the minor roads, it was a rather easy and short drive into Bar'th'elona. (Note our immediate grasp of the Catalan dialect where everyone lisps!) And for once we found the camping ground first up.


16 December

Was that France?

It must have been France. People spoke French, we could read the road signs, engage in basic conversation and the driving was vastly improved, as were the roads. Not only that, it must have been provincial France. The people were very friendly. (as opposed to Parisians)

We have been driving for two days – not long days mind you – to get to Barcelona from the Italian Riveria. French Autoroutes have very high tolls, especially for vans like ours, so we have stayed on the secondary routes most of the time, hence our slow progress. And, oh yes, we got lost a few times! The weather hasn't helped our progress either. Leaving Italy, we were hit by a series of savage storms with heavy, though luckily small, hail. At home, hail this size would melt as soon as it hit the ground. Here, in winter at least, it starts to build up and freeze, even on the motorways with relatively heavy traffic. We had a few hairy moments leaving some of the many tunnels on the coast around Genoa, where the ice was flowing back into the tunnels and freezing.

While the secondary routes have been slower, they have been more interesting. This is wine country, so vineyards and cellar-door sales abound. Each little area has its own variety of wine that it lays claim to and they are extremely parochial about it. The villages are further apart than in Italy – and with wider streets that are not crammed with parked and double-parked cars – and that eases the tension for the driver, allowing for viewing of what is being driven through. This is Vic Morrow country (from the WW2 TV show called “Combat”, for those too young to recognise the label!)
Most of this time, we have avoided the temptation to re-visit sights from earlier trips. It has been hard, but our aim this trip has been to focus, as much as possible, on the new, rather than the nostalgic. So... we have been “On the Road Again”. Tonight, we are just short of the Spanish border, in a huge, (and free) Aire de Service. The wind is howling around the couple of lonely campervans and a few trucks that cluster with us.
Barcelona tomorrow. And the weather forecast is sunny!