Barcelona Day 8
Rough night - a lot of upping and downing. Maybe having a moveable feast just before bed isn’t a good idea. We have experienced that dinner is typically much later along the Mediterranean than back home (8:30-9:00 much as we experienced in Greece and Italy). Woke to find a DC tour group had arrived at the hotel. Our previous quiet breakfasts were very nice. This morning the atmosphere was raucous. Retired to our room and readied for our new journey.
Today, we visited the Museo Picasso followed by the Museo Maritim (Barcelona’s Nautical Museum). We caught a bus down to old town where we followed internet directions to Picasso’s Museum. Standard Tickets were 12 Euros, although students and old farts are given a reduced rate of 7 Euros. Jenny and I found the fee worth it.
The primary exhibition involved contributions donated to the museum by Brigette Baer, archivist of Picasso’s works. On display were hundreds of his etchings, paintings and personal photos of him with friends and family, many showing him enjoying his favorite pastime, bullfighting.
The first exhibition room is not for prudes. It contained frame after frame of confused erotic meanderings. Primarily women, in twos and threes enjoying each other’s company and each other’s bodies. Occasionally a man is introduced, but overall, they were largely a collection of breasts and vulvas in washing machine mode. Although, there were those two depictions of dancing penises.
Odd that the exhibitions should begin with these, as they were his later works done in the 1950s (Perhaps not so odd, considering their shock value) Moving on we were treated to a veritable scrapbook of his later years as he traveled across southern France. Pictures of him in his studio, at the arena, at the beach, at dinner, at play with children. The photos painted a very human side of Picasso. A good friend described him as being self-confident, powerful, assertive, charismatic, direct, but vulnerable. His eyes frequently showed his vulnerability.
His early works show the influence of the masters he attempted to imitate, yet even at the dawn of the 20th century he was blurring around the edges of his works and introducing dreamlike approaches while still a teenager. This is seen best in his youthful 1896 self-portrait. Storyboards along the way describe the evolution of his art, describing his “Blue Period,” as a depressing time following the suicide of a close friend and how it gave him a bleak, cheerless view of the world, thrusting his work into somber shades of blue.
Jenny and I noticed that in many cases he labeled his pieces one after another with the same title. The general themes were the same but the approach was different in each. It was as if Picasso grabbed hold of an idea and would not let it go until he had depicted it from as many angles as he could. I saw one of his quotes that seemed to make sense of this. “If you know exactly what you want to do, why even start?” or something to that effect.
The Building which housed his work is magnificent in itself as my pictures of the stonework, chandeliers and Greco-Roman décor reveal. As with most great museums the rooms are large and airy. Plenty of room to stand and contemplate while the sea of humanity flows past leaving you undisturbed. Having exhausted every exhibit room, we browsed the gift shop then exited into an old brick alley where we purchased a pair of tasty empanadas for lunch.
Walked a relatively short distance down to the waterfront where we again walked through a different section of the out-door publisher’s fair we previously visited. then on to the nearby Nautical museum just the other side of the massive Christopher Columbus column. Here again, senior citizen status gave us a ticket price break, 5 Euros each. The museum is something of a contradiction. It appears to be a very modern affair, yet we soon discovered that it is actually a large portion of the original shipbuilding yard that dates back to the 14th century. Used in royal ship construction for centuries. Moreover, surprise, surprise, we learned that the shipyard was actually built upon an ancient Roman graveyard. A portion of it had been excavated and is on display.
The museum takes visitors through the dawn of Spanish sailing tradition into modern times dwelling as much on mercantile adventures as on wartime feats. Around every corner is a witty video recorded and narrated by characters in historic attire (English subtitles are provided). These describe everything from life on a ship, to life on the docks, to the results of piracy and sea battles to the distaste of the sea and sailors by inlanders. Several were truly delightful. However, these were mere appetizers to an amazing entre - the near 700 foot hull of a galley reproduced to show the type of ship built in Barcelona and used in the battle of Lepanto. Gargantuan in size, it strikes one dumb to realize the number of oarsmen it took to maneuver her and the kind of life such men were forced to live on board. Many oarsmen were chained slaves or convicts. (Their sad lot is plainly documented). Factoid: Rowers could get the ship up to a speed of six knots and could keep it at that speed for no more than 30 minutes. Viewing this incredible vessel alone was worth the price of admission.
Grabbed the subway back to our hotel to rest and ready ourselves for our departure to Madrid tomorrow. For dinner we ate Malaysian. Hate to say it but it had to be the best Spanish meal we ate so far was Malaysian. Seared flatbread and chicken kabobs with peanut sauce, vegetable samosas, stir fried chicken and shrimp with wide noodles, fried crispy duck in coconut cream sauce on jasmine rice, and of course wine and fruity-sweet deserts. Couldn’t have been more pleased. The name of the establishment was simply Malaysian Restaurant. Visiting Barcelona MAKE SURE you make your way here!
Buenas Noches, dear readers. Manyana - Madrid!
I am posting a selection of the thousands of pictures we took on Facebook. Look me up there and see what we saw!