Walkabout: Barcelona: A Little Goes a Long Ways

Singing for Flamenco dancers sounds a lot like birth. That's not to say it's not moving. It's just meant to convey as much guttural feelings of pain and anguish as possible. When a man performs it, it's sort of the like a harmonic kidney stone. When a woman performs it, well, all I can say is I've heard that really deep groan/scream before and it involved the arrival of our kids.

Flamenco dancers don't really smile. They are passionate and proud. At the end of the dance, which involves a lot of stomping and clapping, they look at you with the same sort of look that Eminem gives his audiences before he throws the mic to the floor in contempt. "Ya...I just did that. Clap if you want. I don't care." That's sort of the message you get.

Barcelona is about little great things. Walking around the Bario Gottik you constantly find little squares with little gems of places to sit down and take in musicians, gymnasts, fire dancers, etc. My daughter's favorite by far was the gymnasts that used nothing but the concrete beneath them to put on an amazing show.

The food is the same way. Your best bet is often Tapas. They are little bits of goodness that depend on what that particular establishment serves. Often, they are stacked on top of the bar in a tapas bar and you get to walk along and point at what looks good to you. Add some sangria and you've got a nice snack to hold you so you and your family are ready for a 10 p.m. dinner. 

Is Bigger Better?

We've visited a lot of churches on this trip so far, from an impressive monastery in Lisbon to a quaint neighborhood church in Venice. In Barcelona, we saw a city trying to decide if enough is enough. The Cathedral Barcelona is big and beautiful. We were accidentally lucky enough to be the first ones in for the tour of the day and a nice worker adopted us and rushed us over to an elevator we didn't even know exist. A few minutes later and we were way up, I mean way up, on scaffolding bridging the roof of the church. It was quite a view and I was proud of my son for overcoming issues he's had in the past with heights and just take it all in. We toured the large cathedral and found it steeped in history and beautiful. 

Next, we went to see the Segrada Familia which is still under construction and will be for a very long time. It has a construction crane hovering over it, which is kind of strange to see given most of the churches we've seen on this trip didn't involve cranes or powertools. It's big, really big. But, I have to say that to this non-architect novice, it just doesn't have the power and depth that the traditional Cathedral Barcelona across town conveys. It's got lots of twists and turns and liberally uses colored light, but it seems to lack the message that you find in the Cathedral. It feels a little like the church recruiting Vegas developer Steve Wynn to build a "mega church" and it just got a little out of control. As I noted before, I know nothing about architecture and I'm sure there is a long line of Spanish experts with clubs lining up to tell me what I didn't quite get during my visit.

If Barcelona has a message, from a razor thin shred of Iberia ham to a small stage full of Flamenco dancers, it is "keep it small and keep it good. The rest will work itself out."