Curious Traveler

- A UNESCO status church with a cartoony style, gorgeous city squares that aren't really squares, and building after building just dripping an Art Nouveau style.

Today, we take you to get curious about Barcelona.

(bright upbeat music) "Curious Traveler" is made possible by the following: (orchestral music) - [Voiceover 1] At Regent Seven Seas Cruises, we believe that personal space is essential to the luxury travel experience.

With no more than 732 guests, our ships allow you to explore the world and discover the freedom of having space at sea.

- [Voiceover 2] Over 300 tours across all seven continents, over 40 years of serving travelers, you can experience effortless, fun vacations, and authentic experiences with GET.

GETours.com - [Voiceover 3] Windstar Cruises, intimate, private yacht-style cruises to the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Tahiti, and more.

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(light upbeat music) - [Voiceover 4] When you travel with us, you are not the typical tourist.

(lively upbeat music) - Barcelona is truly old meets new.

Now it is probably best known for its modernisme art in architecture, but of course, it also has its roots in Ancient Rome.

And wouldn't you know it?

Somewhere in between there, it also had a thriving Renaissance, which is where we get this gorgeous Gothic border.

(speaking in foreign language) Barcelona is located on the east coast of Spain near the border of France and looks out over the western edge of the Mediterranean Sea.

Called the Paris of Spain for good reason, Barcelona is an arts lovers paradise.

And the first thing you need to know about Barcelona is that it is the capital of Catalonia.

Catalonia or Catalunya is an historic and autonomous region in Northern Spain, with a long and curious history.

In fact, Spanish and Catalan are the two official languages of Barcelona.

Most locals are fully bilingual and are only too happy to teach you a few phrases.

- Then in Catalan, you would say, bon dia.

- Bon dia.

- Bon dia.

- I can manage that.

Bon dia - Yeah.

- So here's what I'm curious about in Barcelona.

Who was the architect of this wild, wacky, and wonderful church?

What in the world is going on on this rooftop?

Where did Columbus meet the king and queen of Spain after returning from the New World?

Why won't you find any street corners in this Barcelona neighborhood?

How does this 1888 World Expo entrance symbolize Barcelona's many different cultures?

It is time to get curiositat about Barcelona.

(bright music) To begin our exploration into Barcelona, we start at the top, the tippy top.

This curiously tall creation sticks out of the skyline just like the Eiffel Tower does in Paris.

But it's height isn't the only thing that makes it curious.

In 1882, a somewhat conventional neo-Gothic church was planned for this spot here in Barcelona.

But in 1883, a decidedly unconventional artist named Antoni Gaudi put his very unique spin on it.

And now, more than a century later, the Sagrada Familia is still a wild, wacky, and wonderful work in progress.

Part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sagrada Familia is Antoni Gaudi's masterpiece and life's work.

Antoni Gaudi was a pioneer in Art Nouveau, or as it's called in Catalan, modernisme.

He is famous for his twists and curves, symbols of nature, and dare I say, cartoony style.

His vision for Sagrada Familia was to create heaven on Earth.

Piece of cake, right?

He designed 18 towers to represent the 12 apostles, the four evangelists, the Virgin Mary, and the tallest in the middle for Jesus.

At nearly 600 feet high, when that tower is complete, it will make Sagrada Familia the tallest religious building in all of Europe, but it will intentionally be just a little bit shorter than the highest mountain in Barcelona.

Why?

Well, because Gaudi didn't want something man-made to be taller than something God made.

Other parts of the church have entire Bible passages chiseled in, some in Latin, others in Catalan.

And they are not one, but three different entrances, each celebrating a different period of Jesus' life: the nativity, the passion, and the glory.

Gaudi incorporated nature just about everywhere throughout the Sagrada Familia.

In fact, on this side, if it were just a normal Gothic church, these six supports here would be called buttresses.

Now, of course there's still buttresses, but with that Gaudi twist.

Here, of course, he had to make them look like trees with trunks that are a little bit wider at the bottom and then have that beautiful webbing as you get up to the tree canopy.

Now, if you look way up high, those spires also look like trees.

In fact, all that beautiful stonework mimics the same texture as tree bark.

And inside, the stone forest continues.

Sprinkled with the colors of a sunrise or sunset, Gaudi's genius is that he made stone look like it could bend like the limbs of a tree.

(light piano music) The Sagrada Familia became the religious symbol of the Renaixenca, the Catalan Renaissance.

And Gaudi became more and more religious himself as he worked on it.

In fact, at one point he moved out of his home and lived only inside the church and worked on nothing else.

Sadly, Gaudi did not live to see his obsession completed.

When he died in 1926, only a quarter of the building was complete.

Fortunately, others have carried out his vision and all these many decades later, it is still not quite complete but it is still inspiring.

(light piano music) And wouldn't you know it, Sagrada Familia is surrounded by a curious neighborhood called the Eixample.

(bright music) Centuries before Sagrada Familia was even imagined, Barcelona's medieval walls stood here, but they were torn down around 1855 for a new city extension, and the Catalan word for extension is eixample.

(bright music) The architect for the Eixample was Ildefons Cerda and he had a revolutionary idea: fresh air.

Good idea, right?

Cerda wanted to create open, beautiful spaces for cramped city dwellers to enjoy and breathe in.

His neighborhood is still called the Eixample.

And as your lungs are enjoying breathing, your eyes will be feasting on the view.

Just dripping with gorgeous Art Noveau details, wrought iron balconies overflowing with flowers, brightly colored stained glass, gorgeous, massive solid wood doors, and darling sidewalk cafes.

This is why Barcelona has been called the Paris of Spain.

The thing that made the Cerda Plan ingenious was his approach to street corners, because if you look around anywhere in the Eixample district you won't find any street corners.

Why is that?

Well, Cerda used a technique called chamfering.

It's basically like taking a cube and chopping off all four corners.

Now, why did he do that?

Well, here's the perfect example of why.

If you look around you can see all these beautiful storefronts.

We suddenly have more space for those.

And also, one of my favorite things in all of Barcelona, these grand entranceways to the apartments above.

Just look at that gorgeous wooden door.

But Cerda also had a more practical reason for using the chamfering technique, lots of extra parking!

Because here in Barcelona, you always need extra parking for those mopeds.

(bright music) Not just parking, but that chamfering or 45 degree angle would've provided the perfect turning space for the steam tram, which, back in the 1850s, was thought to be the future of public transportation.

And the genius of the Eixample design continues behind these doors, an inner courtyard to provide green space, airflow, and sunlight to the apartments and homes.

So, every single city block, and there are hundreds of them, has its own courtyard.

The styles of the buildings themselves range from Art Noveau to French Second Empire to just plain gorgeous.

But, while you're looking up, up, up, remember to look down as well.

Barcelona is such an art loving city that even its sidewalks are a work of art.

So while you're walking around and looking up at all the beautiful architecture, make sure you take some time to look down beneath your feet as well.

When you do, you will see all kinds of beautiful designs.

In fact, there are more than a dozen different designs all throughout the city.

This one here is the most popular one.

It is called the Flor de Barcelona, or the Flower of Barcelona, and who wouldn't wanna walk through a field of flowers?

These dainty, little panot tiles cover miles and miles of Barcelona's sidewalks.

Why?

Well, because up until the early 20th century homeowners had to pave their own muddy front doorsteps.

Let's just say that didn't turn out so well.

So in 1907, the Barcelona Council organized all this willy-nilly paving and local architects, including our pal Gaudi, came up with the panot idea.

There are 18 different panot styles.

When you see the Flor de Barcelona, you know you're standing in front of a modernisme site.

When you see this ocean-themed tile, you'll know you found Gaudi's panot, and these are in front of another wonderful Gaudi creation, which we will visit soon.

(bright music) First, we must go back in time to find out where, why, and how Barcelona began.

For that, we go from 20th century Gaudi to 3rd century Rome in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter.

With its soaring Barcelona Cathedral, famous Bishop's Bridge, winding cobblestone streets, and wonderful street performers filling those narrow passages with music, the Gothic Quarter is one of Barcelona's most beautiful districts just filled with curious history.

(singing opera song) Like here in this wide open plaza in front of the Catalan Government building, it is believed that this is where the Roman city of Barcino once stood.

In fact, there are a lot of Roman and Visigoth ruins here in Barcelona.

You never know when you might run into a random chunk of Roman wall like this one.

But most Barcelona's ancient ruins can't be seen right away.

So for a little help, we meet up with author, historian, and guide Emma Christie.

Beneath our feet, a little bit of Roman history.

Tell us a little bit about the Roman remains or the Roman foundations of Barcelona.

- This is quite fascinating.

The city we see today takes the form of the old Roman City as well, which is really beautiful.

- Wow.

- And there's a few really obvious Roman remains.

And quite often you'll see built into the walls sort of old Roman stones, which tend to be very, very large and very symmetrical.

So the spirit of the Romans is here, - Yeah.

- I suppose all over the city.

- From the Romans to the Renaissance and the age of exploration.

Now, lots of little plazas, lots of little squares.

This one in particular tells a very important part of the medieval or the Renaissance history.

- Yeah.

- Not just for Barcelona, but for Spain.

- Yeah.

- What happened here in this square?

- Well, the legend has it, - Legend, legend.

(laughs) - these beautiful staircase over here which leads to the king's palace, they say that here is a place that Columbus came to meet Isabelle and Ferdinand, and they were known as the Catholic monarchs.

- [Christine] Yep.

- And they were the ones who contracted Columbus to go and discover the Americas.

And so they say that when he came back from his first mission, he was met here and received on the steps and told them, "I found land."

And as you know, from that point onwards, the fortunes of Spain were absolutely transformed.

- That's amazing.

And all of that happened right here, according to legend.

- Yes.

(laughs) - According to legend.

We will see a marker of that history changing moment a bit later, but for now we continue our stroll, I do love strolling in Barcelona, and make a stop at the 14th century Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar, the perfect example of Catalan Gothic architecture.

Why is this so important to Catalonia's history?

- So this church behind us is in the Gothic style, but it's Catalan Gothic.

So the Catalan Gothic style, you can see some features of typical Gothic, such as the large rose window at the top and the points on the windows.

But then if you look at the spires of this church, you'll see that they're almost like defensive towers- - Yeah, like little hexagons kind of.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

So that's very typical in Catalonia.

You won't see that anywhere else.

- [Christine] So why was a Catalan church built here?

Well, to celebrate Catalonia's conquest of Sardinia.

Because before Barcelona became part of Spain and before Sardinia became part of Italy, back in the Middle Ages they were both part of the mighty Catalan Empire.

- Catalonia is one of the most, in my view, the most interesting history and quite distinct from the rest of Spain.

So while Catalonia's fortunes have been up, quite often the rest of Spains were down and vice versa.

So it came into being in sort of eight or nine hundreds, because back in those days, Spain wasn't - Wasn't Spain today.

- Spain, you know.

By the medieval times when this church was built in the 13 and 1400s, it had an empire that stretched all the way to Athens.

- That's amazing.

I don't think a lot of people know that or think about that at all.

They think, oh, just Roman Empire, that's it.

You know, before that Greece.

- No.

I mean, even Spanish people are surprised by how extensive the Catalan Empire was.

- [Christine] And because of all those places the Catalans traveled to, the Catalan language developed as quite the mix.

- So it sounds a little bit like French.

- A little, a little.

- No one really knows the origin of it.

But there is a theory that when the Roman soldiers were stationed on the Pyrenees which is the entrance has been, that you had soldiers from Italy, Portugal, France, and Spain all living and working together.

And one theory is that Catalan language emerged from that mixture.

- That's amazing.

So, but yes, so many places mixing together and had this whole new thing.

(bright music) Next, we fast forward in time to 1888 for a very important event in Barcelona with a curious connection to Columbus.

- It said it's the moment when Barcelona really opened up to the world and knocked down all the old limitations, the physical barriers of the old medieval city walls and the later walls that were put on top of it, push them down and started a new beginning.

So it's the entrance really to this new really, really successful periods in the Catalan history.

- [Christine] What entrance might that be?

This entrance, the Arc de Triomf.

Its original purpose was the entrance to the 1888 Universal Exposition.

The expo included many curious buildings that you can still see today, like the Castle of the Three Dragons and these splendiferous, curling hues street lamps.

Don't you just love them?

And the Columbus Monument.

It was built specifically for the expo here at the edge of the port, pointing out to sea.

(orchestral music) When guests from around the world entered the expo under this arch, they were walking under curious symbols of Barcelona's history.

- It's from Spain's past.

So you have the red brick.

It's very typical of the Moorish period.

- [Christine] Okay.

- So when the Islams were ruling Spain for 700 years.

- That's fascinating.

So I never knew that.

So the red brick was representing the Moors, and then maybe the kind of, I'm calling it marble.

I don't know if it is marble, but the white with the sculptures, that's more of the classical or Greek?

- [Emma] Yeah, very classical and the Renaissance - [Christine] Okay.

- period, which was after once the Christians took hold of the country again.

And then you go three different styles.

There's a bit of Gothic, there's is a bit of Baroque, and modernisme really tries to combine all these different architectural styles through the ages of Barcelona's histories.

- [Christine] Ah, yes, modernisme.

We've seen a bit of that here.

Art historians have said that the Barcelona Expo gave rise to 15 years of modernista fever in Barcelona.

And for a look at some seriously quirky modernisme, we visit some rooftop aliens that must have been dreamt up in a feverish dream.

(bright music) Our final stop brings us back to our pal Gaudi, who decided to dock the Barcelona skyline with not only his magnificent Sagrada Familia, but with a couple of rooftop aliens, too.

Where to find this masterpiece?

Just look for those panot tiles with little sea creatures on them.

(bright music) This is Casa Mila, part of Gaudi's UNESCO World Heritage Site named for the Mila Family who hired Gaudi in 1906 to create a one of a kind residential building along the wealthiest street in Barcelona.

And one of a kind it is.

(bright music) There are so many artistic and architectural innovations here at Casa Mila.

So just above my head here, we have this beautiful impressionistic style painting which incorporates nature, of course which Gaudi does in all of his works.

Speaking of which, look all the way to the top here and you will see one of the first circular courtyards incorporated into a building.

Now that really incorporates nature because it lets in the weather, whether rain or shine.

Casa Mila is in the Eixample so Gaudi took that fresh air square courtyard idea and put his own curvy, twisty spin on it.

The cylindrical opening looked so natural just like the opening of an underground cave.

This is the reason for Casa Mila's second name, La Pedrera or Stone Quarry.

That's because journalists at the time said that it looked like the stone was dug out of the center here and then used on the building.

Believe it or not, that was an insult at the time, but today the name is lovingly accepted.

So, let's make our way up the stairway and courtyard here at the bottom to the humorously named Whale Attic at the top.

(bright music) Today filled with wonderful exhibits about Gaudi's plans, models, and drawings.

And in between the artsy bottom and the whalebone top, people actually lived here inside this work of art.

Some very lucky people.

(bright music) And as La Pedrera's heritage conservator, Sylvia Villa Roya, explains, these were no ordinary apartments.

There's so many wonderful details.

When you first come to the house, you see and it's made of stone, it looks like a curtain or a wave.

And you think how in the world did he do that out of stone?

What was his decision?

Why did he make it look like a curtain there?

- Yeah, because if not, the stone straight it will be a mask.

So, he needs movement.

And to Gaudi said, "Well now we are going to have the sea," but it's because it's inspired in nature.

- And nature doesn't have hard corners and so Gaudi - That's it.

- never has hard corners for any of his works.

- I think I remember Gaudi said, "Curves begins to God."

- [Christine] Oh, that's nice.

- So nature, God, religion, inspiration.

That's it.

- I love it.

The other thing you see when you first come up and also throughout the interior of the house, the wrought iron railings.

Now was he the first to do that or did he just, he was because everyone else has copied him?

Must have.

- Yes.

So why did he do that?

Because the stone was too much and he needed to have something very abstract to contrast with the facade of stone.

- I love it.

To me, it looks like roots of a tree or branches, and it's fun to interpret it, right?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- That's why Gaudi wanted you to use your imagination.

He never wanted to explain exactly what it is as the big artist though.

So, look whatever you want, that you'll find your inspiration.

- I love it.

So everybody's right then, - Yes.

- because it's your own interpretation.

- Yep.

- [Christine] And these groundbreaking balconies are filled with lovely little elements.

And this door is another quirky little invention.

Mimicking the grand entrance door below, there are big doors, little doors, and even little windows at the top.

(playful music) Next, I mentioned the fun of the Whale Attic, but there is one level up from there that is really the icing on this curious cake.

And of course, we can't just have a boring, old rooftop here at Casa Mila.

So instead, we have this.

Kind of looks like a playground for some creative and wacky giants, right?

Well, you've got sculptures like this, all done in mosaic that look like a cross between ice cream and a sandcastle maybe, right?

And then you have all of these guys here that look like knights with helmets.

Well, those are actually called the guardians of the rooftop.

And if you stand closely enough, you'll hear them delivering poetry about giants in Catalan, Spanish, and English.

Wait, I'm not the only one that hears them, right?

(Guardians speaking in foreign language) And as wacky and wonderful as these warriors are, true to Gaudi style, they have a practical function, too.

They're chimneys.

Gaudi said his rooftop was the crown of Casa Mila.

And from up here, I would say, it's also the crown of artsy, quirky, beautiful Barcelona.

(bright orchestral music) So, from a cartoony yet sacred temple to nature and the divine, to carefully planned city squares that aren't really square, but are kind to your lungs and joyful to your eyes and even pretty under your feet.

To a Gothic district that is also Roman, Renaissance, and most importantly, Catalonian.

To a World Expo that celebrated the wealth of the industrial age to a worldwide art movement that broke all the rules that forced stone and iron to twist, turn, curve, and sometimes create cutesy little inside jokes, all guarded lovingly by some funny little soldiers who like to hang out on the rooftop and will tell you their secrets if you just listen closely.

Barcelona, the artsy capital of Catalunya has so much to be curious about.

Thank you for joining us on our educational journey.

And hopefully now you're even more curious about the who, what, where, why, when, and hows of beautiful Barcelona.

As they say here in Catalunya, (speaking in foreign language) (playful orchestral music) "Curious Traveler" is made possible by the following: (orchestral music) - [Voiceover 1] At Regent Seven Seas Cruises, we believe that personal space is essential to the luxury travel experience.

With no more than 732 guests, our ships allow you to explore the world and discover the freedom of having space at sea.

- [Voiceover 2] Over 300 tours across all seven continents, over 40 years of serving travelers, you can experience effortless, fun vacations, and authentic experiences with GET.

GETours.com - [Voiceover 3] Windstar Cruises, intimate, private yacht-style cruises to the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Tahiti, and more.

We look forward to seeing you on board.

WindstarCruises.com.

(light upbeat music) - [Voiceover 4] When you travel with us, you are not the typical tourist.

- [Voiceover 5] And closed captioning provided by Tap Air Portugal.

- [Christine] Still curious?

Go to curioustravelertv.com and follow us on Facebook @CuriousTravelerTV, on Twitter @CuriousTravTV, and on Instagram @CuriousTravelerTV.

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