Barcelona Shoebox: the rest of the story

Joan Miro Foundation museum, Montjuic

When you visit and write about Barcelona, some things just take center stage. Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. The ‘moderniste’ trio of Gaudi, Domenech and Puig. The great markets, Bouqueria and Santa Caterina. Park Guell. The Cosmo Caixa science museum. And on.

A low-scale city with bursts of towers, some religious and some not

By the time you’ve organized the pictures and posted about those, you almost think the topic is exhausted. And then you realize that there are still many pictures left over, and they’re not necessarily extra: they are part and parcel of what it is to be there, and to remember. 

A port city, viewed here from the Teleferic cable car that links
Montjuic with the port and beaches.

So, I’ve gone through the shoebox, and selected the pictures here, and hope they something of the other reasons I love visiting Barcelona.

Not all the architecture is Gaudi moderniste; some is just gaudy, and some is quite modern. Headquarters of the port, above, and of an insurance company

And there’s room for whimsy, this building along the Ramblas once
housed an umbrella manufacturer. The dragon at right is a ringer.

Even a daunting flight of stairs comes with a soothing dose of decoration

And there seems to be room for quite a variety of public art. Look closely at this one and you’ll know why its near the swimming venue from the 1992 Olympics

Usually a triumphal arch commemorates a bloody victory, but the Moorish-accented Arc de Triomf de Catalunya commemorates the successful opening
of Barcelona’s 1888 Universal Exposition. The arch, which served as the
main entrance, is now the entrance to Barcelona’s jewel Ciutadella Park 

In the end, though, you can’t leave the most familiar out altogether, so we have Sagrada Familia here. Still under construction after more than 100 years, its cranes seem as much a part of the scene as the towers, especially at night.

And for a night view, there are blocks of cafes along Avinguda Gaudi, which links the basilica to the historic Sant Pau Hospital, designed by Gaudi’s contemporary, Lluis Domenech i Montaner. 
 

And when the night is over and the last stragglers have gone home, Barcelona still has a few last memorable scenes to promise another day.