L’Any del Drac
Maybe a bit late, but Barcelona celebrated this weekend the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Dragon, l’ any del drac in Catalan. Plenty do see, plenty to do, and plenty to eat. So, happy new year! We do have a very important Chinese population in town.
Mercat Santa Caterina
El mercat Santa Caterina, St Catherine’s market. In the Old Town, it has been a market since 1848, and was Barcelona’s first covered market. Totally renovated in 2005 with brilliance by the architects Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue, is a little marvel located in the district of Ribera. Beautiful architectural idea for this multicoloured ceramics roof having the shape of wave posed on an air structure of wood, which shelters all the stalls of the market.
The last time I was there, ready, my camera on hand, they had just closed. I’ll be back, to show you the inside!
The potter’s shop, part 2
Some more views from the potter’s shop. Don’t you just love the staircase!
The potter’s shop
Found this beautiful shop 2 weeks ago in the Born area, near Ciutadella park. Beautiful things, beautiful surroundings, just everything to please the senses.
You might notice the little guy looking up, looking at us. Shall we call him Harry? 😉
Relax
Temperatures are going down, but we still have 27 to 29 degrees most days, low to middle 80es. Good enough weather to relax and watch the sea, the boats passing. We’re very good at this here. And you?
Un oranger sur le sol espagnol…
Oranges. Picture taken an hour ago in Ciutadella Park, to which I will come back in the next few posts. Oranges in winter…
The post title refers to an old french song, about the impossibility of having orange trees in Ireland. Was sung by Bourvil. Eons ago.
Art Nouveau lamp in front of the Arc de Triomf
Street lamp near the Arc de Triomf, Passeig Luis Companys. This area was totally transformed for the 1888 Universal Exposition. Nowadays, it is a popular place for gigs, concerts, exhibitions.
Copito de Nieve
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the very unique Copito de Nieve! AKA Floquet de Neu, or Snowflake, he was for many years one of the most famous inhabitants of Barcelona (zoo).
Snowflake was the only known albino gorilla. He was born around 1964 in today’s Equatorial Guinea, and unfortunatelydied of cancer on November 24th, 2003. In human terms, he was around 80 years old. During his life, he had 22 offspings, none of them albino. The famous Catalan primatologist Jordi Sabater Pi discovered him in 1966, and brought him to Barcelona, where they were received by the Mayor himself.
Sabater Pi died last wednesday, this is the reason for this posting.
The photo itself…. was taken in the Barcelona Chocolate Museum, one of my favorite museums here (hehe!). Snowflake’s statue is entirely made of white chocolate. Yummy!
For more info, click on the links in the text. And to see photos of the real Snowflake, just google Snowflake Barcelona.
MY BLOGS OF NOTE
Please have a look at the marvelous photos on Thessaloniki daily photo blog. Kostas truly has the eye of an excellent and gifted photographer.
Botero’s Gat
This is Fernando Botero Angulo‘s “Gat”, Catalan for cat, in the Raval area of Barcelona. El Raval, from the arabic ar-rabad, outside the walls, where I also took the Heaven and Hell photos, was a former belt of garden plots. In the 18th century, it turned into Barcelona’s working class district.
Mostly slums.
It still has quite a bad reputation, drugs, prostitution. As the rents there are low, the Raval is nowadays populated mainly by immigrants. It is also known as Barri Xino, or Chinatown.
The city tries to clean the area, and it is actually up and coming. It hosts amongst other things the MACBA, Museum of Contemporaneous Art of Barcelona.
And also what might well be the biggest and roundest smiling cat in the world!
Barcelona Daily Photo 