Okay, after that previous one, back to normal programming and we’ll start off with some school-boy “humour”.
On our way from Valencia to Barcelona we stopped off in a delightful little seaside town called Peniscola. It is nothing like Coca Cola having a completely different taste. Boom boom
It’s also where some scenes from Game of Thrones were shot, mostly those set in Mereen. To the three people in the world who have never watched GoT (two of whom are on our tour and one of whom is the CB), Mereen is one of a number of mythical places and is located in Essos, not far from Minas Tirith. Okay, now that that’s been clarified you’ll understand why the medieval castle on a headland fringed by palm trees is perfect for one of the warmer places in Middle Earth or whatever Westeros plus Essos is called. There’s a famous scene where Varys and Tyrion Baggins talk to a beggar playing herself.
And some of the young ladies lying on the beach in various stages of undress looked remarkably like some of the extras who regularly pop out in GoT.
Bag thieves notwithstanding, Barcelona is quite a place. In fact it’s the only place we’ve been to where what may or may not turn out to be the chief catholic place of worship (Barcelona Cathedral may have something to contribute to that discussion) – Sagrada Familia – isn’t medieval or earlier, is only sort of gothic and isn’t finished. It was originally designed by Antoni Gaudi, a rather famous architect from this region. He was commissioned to build it in 1883 and died after being hit by a tram in 1926. Most of his plans for the building were destroyed in the civil war but some of his models were recovered so after a 20 year hiatus, construction recommenced in the 1950’s on very much a “suck it and see” basis.
Sagrada Familia is now about three quarters finished with some tricky bits still to come and is expected to be completed in 2026, the hundredth anniversary of Gaudi’s death. Good luck with that. And amazingly, the church was given its first building permit in June this year, over 130 years since it was started. That’s one hell of a presumption on the part of the builders – imagine if it was rejected! And that’s a painstakingly slow decision making process that makes the Indian legal system seem like whack-a-mole. By way of explanation, cases have to be abandoned in India when all of the witnesses have died of old age.
When you’re conditioned to looking at Romanesque and Gothic styles in these buildings, Gaudi’s style is a bit confronting. Most European churches and cathedrals have one or two spires or bell towers. This one was planned to have 18. And the front looks like it has partially melted. But it sure is something to behold and it will be something else when it’s done. Not sure what though. A sad wedding cake perhaps.