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This is the third picture about the Indian Punjabi Group. Some of you really enjoyed the colors so here it is. Greetings from Madrid to Barcelona Photoblog readers.
April 29, 2007
Indian Punjabi Group
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This is the third picture about the Indian Punjabi Group. Some of you really enjoyed the colors so here it is. Greetings from Madrid to Barcelona Photoblog readers.
April 28, 2007
Flowers from Madrid to Barcelona
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Hi, as many of you know, this blogger is spending his holidays in Madrid but I am already missing you. I want you all to have a nice weekend so here are these wild orange flowers for you to enjoy all the splendor of spring.
April 27, 2007
Barcelona Harbour Cruise: A City Teaser
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As I said in a previous post about sightseeing in Barcelona harbour and along the coast, a cruise on board of Las Golondrinas boats is a good teaser or appetizer before visiting the city. Of course you can plan your vacation trip in whatever order you wish!. Remember I told you about big and small boats covering a full route including harbor and coast or just harbour respectively, well, today in my blog I wanted to show you the old Golondrinas (see the one next to the steps?). This photograph I took on departure on board of one of the modern ships. It was great to take pictures as the landing docks grew tinier in the distance. The wooden platforms and stairs were full of tourists as you can see. To the left the Columbus Monument and a little to the right of the Golondrina, the Harbor Authority building, featuring an impressive architecture which I intend to cover in a different post soon. The next days I may be publishing irregularly because I will be in Madrid until next Tuesday. I suppose I can publish from the hotel. In case I can't, you will get your daily dose of images in a row on Wednesday.
Feed Issue: I am tampering with blogger labels again so feed subscribers may have noticed the service broken. It is a well known blogger issue that, upon changing old labels or typos, the feed shows old posts as newly published. This inconvenience has been fixed now. In case anyone is interested you can find the workaround here.
Note: From here I would like to thank Conny of Saabrücken Daily Photo, for choosing me as the winner in her Haiku competition and recommending my link too.
April 26, 2007
Catalan Sculpture: Satyr Riding on Top of Dolphin
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This is a satyr riding on top of a dolphin blowing a seashell. A clear allegory of a Triton, the merman son of Poseidon, half man half dolphin. There are four of them, being restored at Duke of Medinacelli Square next to Passeig de Colom and Moll de la Fusta (see Google Earth map picture). There are four satyrs in all, surrounding the first iron monument built in Barcelona (Damia Campeny, 1851), a big column holding the statue of Admiral Galcerà Marquet, Counselor of Barcelona in times of King Alphons the Magnanimous of Aragon. The place takes its name after Luis Francisco de la Cerda, Duke of Medinacelli who was the Spanish viceroy of Naples who yielded a part of the estate to the city town hall to build a square after the old Sant Francesc convent was demolished in this area of the city waterfront. The mythological creatures are being restored now but it will surely be a nice place to stay when water springs out of the seashells again. It is a recommended square to sit and relax under the shade of big palm trees on your way from Columbus monument to Maremagnum going along Passeig de Colom. By the way, did you know, that when this square was built the sea used to hit directly upon a high wall or malecon right across the road and all you see nowadays beyond Passeig de Colom is land gained from the sea? But that is part of another story.
Recommended: If you like social communities and web 2.0 stuff, follow this link via mashable: Social Tracker. Don't get too hooked up on this new toy!
April 25, 2007
Sightseeing Along Barcelona City Coast
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Sightseeing Barcelona city harbour and coast is one of the most gratifying experiences in our Mediterranean urbis. As in some other major cities like Paris, London or New York, taking a boat to navigate along the river or the coast in this case helps you to take visual shortcuts throughout the territory you are going to explore in the most pure discoverer or pioneer style. Sightseeing boats in Barcelona port are called Golondrinas (swallows). You get tickets and depart from Moll de la Fusta in front of the Columbus column monument and prices are not expensive considering today standards. You should know that there are the classic smaller ships which were the original vessels seafaring inside the harbour for about half an hour and more modern boats doing just that plus a cruise out of the port mouth and along the coast till the Forum area on the other side of the city and return to departure point. Last weekend I travelled on one of these and believe me the one hour and a half journey really was worth the 10 Euros I paid. I thought my fellow photo bloggers would love to take a peek too as an appetizer for a future visit. I hope you like this waterscape and the reflections on the intense blue sea.
April 24, 2007
Dancer in Punjabi Dress at Moll de la Fusta, Barcelona
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To follow with the Indian Punjabi Group pictures I leave you with this beautiful dancer. As you know they were performing at Moll de la Fusta during Intermon Oxfam activities. I took some other colorful shots that day. I was really surprised by the brightness of the day and the intensity of color tones in the dress and other garments.
April 23, 2007
Bascule Bridge La Porta d'Europa, Barcelona Port
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| La Porta de Europa Bridge in Barcelona Harbor |
La Porta d'Europa is a basculant mobile bridge at the entrance to the port of Barcelona by Juan Jose Arenas de Pablo, Profesor PhD. of Special Structures of Design at the University of Cantabria in Santander City.
Arenas is also known by other famous works like the The Bridge of the Barqueta (main entry of the EXPO-SEVILLA 92), The Bridge of HispanoAmerica in the city of Valladolid as well as The Cathedral of The Wines in Navarra.
The Porta d'Europa bridge insures traffic between island (due to increasing traffic volumes a new harbor entrance has been built and part of the port becomes an island) and mainland while retaining the existing harbor entrance.
State port authorities are incorporating private investment to enlarge the docks facilities, maximize maritime foreign trade of Catalonia and make Barcelona harbor a world class port that responds to Europe's increasing need for transport, distribution and logistic services.
If you want to see the bridge from this perspective take the Las Golondrinas sightseeing ships at Moll de la Fusta.
This is a Google Earth aerial photograph of La Porta D'Europa Bridge in Barcelona Port.
April 22, 2007
Punjabi Turbans and Oxfam at Moll de la Fusta, Barcelona
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These Punjabi Turbans could be seen at Moll de la Fusta today as part of the XIII Solidarity Party organized by Intermon Oxfam (member of Oxfam International), in 47 Spanish cities to claim for the better world we can altogether build and to explain participants what is being done to defend human rights. There were musical groups, games for kids, international cuisine dishes like Indian or Filipino and dancers like the ones I particularly enjoyed: An Indian Punjabi Group of boys and girls in traditional Punjabi colorful clothes that were like candy to my camera. I managed to reach the backstage to capture the turbans from behind against the sky. The pose is totally accidental but I like the resulting silhouette of both starched fans that are said to be a distinguishing feature of social standing among men in Punjabi communities. Punjab comes from the Persian words panj (five) and ab (river) and means "Land of the Five Rivers." Check this source for more information. The event is supposed to gather 200.000 participants when it is over next May 5th and 6th in remaining cities.
April 21, 2007
Ninot Market, Barcelona: Fresh Mediterranean Food
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The Mercat del Ninot (Ninot Market), is one of the best places to buy fresh food in Barcelona and worth the visit if you appreciate the benefits of healthy Mediterranean cuisine products. This renown traditional market, located in Mallorca, 135 between Casanovas and Villarroel streets, has more than a 100 years of history behind. It was inaugurated in 1894 as an open space in Les Corts, that was back then, a town out of Barcelona. In 1933 it was remodeled and covered with a big metal roof to give it the look that we can admire at present. The name Ninot comes from a small ship's figurehead located on the façade of a famous tavern that sold the best wine in the area. The figure can still be seen in the Drassanes Naval Museum of Barcelona. The place is very big so I decided to show you one of the fruit stalls, called Natura't which belongs to Luis, a friend of mine! Wanna try the best fruit in Barcelona, grab his strawberries or his pineapples, simply exquisite. Here is another shot of the Ninot Market and a link to the official site which is in Catalan only.
April 20, 2007
Bank of Sabadell Diagonal - Balmes, Barcelona
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This is the emblematic Banco Atlantico building, as seen from carrer Balmes in the city of Barcelona, which The Banco Sabadell Group acquired from Arab Banking Corporation. SabadellAtlántico was then adopted as the brand name of the commercial bank for the whole of Spain. This Bank of Sabadell branch is as we said before established in what used to be Banco Atlantico, a high-rise building, in fact the first skyscraper built on Diagonal Avenue. With its 83 meters and 23 floors it has a privileged view of the city which is not too tall. Construction of Banco Atlántico was completed in 1969 by architects Francisco Mitjans Santiago and Santiago Balcells. I hope you enjoyed watching Balmes street and the combination of old and relatively new architecture.
Now to relax a little bit after such a boring litany on banking I leave you with todays' recommended link. This time a humorous video. Maybe you have seen it before, it's about music, classical and modern. I say no more, please watch: Pachelbel Rant
April 19, 2007
Catalan Art Nouveau: Modernist House at Colonia Guell
We return to architecture. Weird, innovative, futuristic art nouveau architecture. This is not precisely the house of my dreams although I would like to have one of my own with my own garden, my own garage and my own privacy.
Scattered across the neighborhood in the heart of old Colonia Güell, the textile industrial community run by Gaudi's mentor Eusebi Güell, there are modernist houses like this who belonged in most cases to distinguished citizens in the village. Although the workers' houses aren't that bad either.
I guess living in this place which is still inhabited must be quite an advantage since it must be protected by official institutions that want to preserve Catalan cultural patrimony. Real estate business has gone wild nowadays in Spain and particularly in Barcelona so finding a tiny, take-it-or-leave-it apartment is an adventure and a life term bleeding contract.
Having a lot with a brick house like the one in the picture would imply selling your soul to the devil.
April 18, 2007
Fresh Spring Flowers Online From Barcelona, Spain
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Fresh spring flowers for my stock. My online collection is growing so fast that soon I will be able to open a separate photoblog for flower plants. No need to call 1800 numbers to order a bouquet. Come around here every other day and I'll give you your daily dose of colorful flowers in between stones and landscapes. This time I found these strong pink specimens with pointed fleshy leaves and well defined petals. Here is a good list of flowers you can use to help me find the name. I know some of you are real experts so I count on you. I wish I could give you tips on how to plant bulbs for the new season but I can't possibly be more ignorant on the matter.
April 17, 2007
Modernist Door and Mosaic at Crypt in Colonia Guell
So this is the entrance to the crypt in Colonia Guell, the textile complex property of Eusebi Güell. The gates to the sanctuary: a big metal door topped by an elaborate mosaic created using the trencadis technique, that consists of breaking tiles in small shards to compose an image which in this case portraits the Holy Trinity. I gave you enough detail yesterday so if you came here directly check previous post. Both Eusebio Güell and Gaudi were religious men who also had a passion for architecture, in different ways of course. In the case of the Catalan empresario it was more the will to immortalize his name and legacy. As the mosaic is the most remarkable piece in this composition I will show you a detail too.
April 16, 2007
Colonia Guell, Barcelona: Art Nouveau Stained Glass Window
Colonia Guell, was a textile community which was established in 1890 along river Llobregat like many other such water-powered industries. There was an important recession from 1885 to 1890 in this sector. Eusebi Güell, an important Catalan businessman who commisioned Gaudi many of his works (remember Park Guell), had to move his factory from Sants to his lands near the city, the municipality of Santa Coloma de Cervelló at present. In 1880 there were important steam-powered factories near Barcelona, like Can Batlló in Les Corts or La España Industrial and Vapor Güell in Sants that were slowly declining. Antoni Gaudi had started to build a church for all the community inhabitants in Eusebi's estate but it finally ended up as a mere crypt (but what a crypt!) due to the financial problems of his mentor in the middle of this economic crisis. The entrance to the crypt in Colonia Güell is quite similar to the impossible inclined column pattern imitating the aerial roots of trees in Sagrada Familia, in fact this small sanctuary served as a small scaled model for the cathedral. I took this interior picture of the stained glass windows, featuring a cross but also suggesting a big flower as elements of nature were a leitmotif in all of Gaudi's work. The image is taken in a hurry as opening hours are limited due to Mass service. So I only had 10 minutes to madly rush along the oval temple and then run up the external staircase to the unfinished part of the building where the church was supposed to be (there is only a small belfry). I was the last one to come out of the ugly fenced perimeter which makes it impossible to take a decent full scene shot. More to come tomorrow.
April 15, 2007
Purple Flower Plant
To keep my virtual online "flower shop" alive and to quench the thirst of some avid photo bloggers that come here often for an inspirational image to post on their blog as is the case of Happy Catholic for example, I appreciate that, we show you here today a little patch of purple flowers which I think are daisies but of course can be anything else depending on the taxonomy book you're using or the image footer you are borrowing it from on the internet. I never thought I would devote so much time to flowers but photography as well as life is full of exciting detours.
April 14, 2007
Exotic Animals in Barcelona: Marsupials - petaurus
As exotic animals seem to have a big audience in Barcelona Photoblog, let's talk about Marsupials, in this case, a couple of petaurus breviceps or gliding possums aka Sugar Gliders. Small animals that resemble squirrels, originally from Australia and New Guinea (North of Australia). Australians visiting this blog might say "hey that ain't exotic at all". Any animal coming from the other side of the world (New Zealand is Spain's antipodes)looks pretty exotic to me.
Sugar Gliders are around 16 to 20 cm, they have a membrane that runs from the forelimb back to the hind foot which allows them to glide from one branch into another. In fact I have a picture of the petaurus made to fly on purpose but totally blurred and maybe offensive for animal protectors (my friend just wanted to show me how it glided). As far as I know it is illegal to have sugar gliders as pets in some states in the USA. In Spain it is the only legal Marsupial.
Why Sugar Gliders?, they eat tree sap, gum, nectar, pollen, manna and honeydew although they don't say no to a juicy cricket (this I witnessed!). They don't like to be alone and utter a unusually loud shriek for its size when at stake. And that's all folks. Yes, you didn't click on an online pet store link by mistake. This is, still, a photoblog about Barcelona. Have a nice weekend.
April 13, 2007
Potter Magic in the Medieval Era: Suria Market
This potter seemed to have a magic wand, everything he touched suddenly acquired weird forms that little by little and against all odds finally became the most unsuspected object. But Mr. Potter here was no magician, he was a modest craftsman disguised in medieval clothes impersonating a medieval potter, one of the many trades so typical in Medieval markets in the outskirts of towns, like the fortress town of Suria to be more precise. If you want to see a stonecutter photographed the same day follow the link. There were more pictures about Suria which you can find searching in Blogger toolbar on top of the page or in my Technorati searchlet. The intense colors are created using Color Lab effect in PhotoKit Color 2.0 - Photoshop Plugin by Pixel Genius.
April 12, 2007
Barcelona Waterfront: Poblenou and Diagonal Mar
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From this point on, there starts Sant Martí District in Barcelona which includes Poblenou Waterfront in the foreground and Diagonal Mar that you can partially see in the background. This part of Sant Martí is relatively new and appeared thanks to the 1992 Olympic Games and the Universal Forum in 2004. In Diagonal Mar there is a whole new skyline overlooking the Forum area (see the solar panel back there on the horizon?) and Poblenou Waterfront is made up of five blocks or illes with private gardens. Just behind such barrier you find some old warehouses and factories as well as new buildings that have been turned into design studios, modern offices or dot-com enterprises. But that is a topic for some other post. And I almost forgot, to the right, Barcelona beaches: Mar Vella and Nova Mar Vella.
Recommended: The Green Generator, a YouTube emulator player you can embed on your website to paste any video url or code so you can watch You Tube, Google Video or IFilm among others, generating and managing your own playlist and customizible skins. It was added on April 9 to Widgetbox and it is a hot blurb now at Technorati. Demo at Peebee's blog
April 11, 2007
Towns in Spain: Giant in Monistrol de Montserrat
Tallest man marries tiny woman...no, no, no, that was a hot headline some days ago and it was in Mongolia. I wish I could give such scoops here in my modest blog! But nah, we're gonna have to aim low profile. Well at least I have a camera to show you places and things that maybe you haven't or you won't see ever, like this little town called Monistrol de Monserrat near Barcelona. Just another Mediterranean Spanish town that holds a market once a year and takes out its tallest giants to entertain its inhabitants. I have mentioned this place before in the following posts: Costumes, Catalan Folk Dance Troupe, Giants, Tomatoes, Garlic and Olive Oil, Pumpkin, Candy Stall, Say Cheese.
April 10, 2007
Garden Flowers: Orchids
As you know I am not precisely a flower connoisseur but I can't help taking pictures of them in any context. This time I got these orchids for you. I spotted a nice bunch of them in a jar at the house of one of my friends' grandmother.
Notice the white wall which gave me a good neutral background. I couldn't get rid of all the noise but it looks nice in this medium size. Don't forget to follow the link and learn about Orchidaceae family.
You can read things like: "The term 'orchid' derives from the Greek ορχις orchis, meaning "testicle", from the appearance of subterranean tuberoids of the genus Orchis" or "One orchid genus, Vanilla, is commercially important, used as a foodstuff flavoring, the source of vanilla. The underground tubers of terrestrial orchids are ground to a powder and used for cooking, such as in the hot beverage salep or the so-called "fox-testicle ice cream" salepi dondurma".
Here is a nice selection of flower shops in Barcelona via @TimeOut
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