Sailboat Coming In Barcelona Port

A sailboat coming in Barcelona Port towards the marina at Port Olympic. While on board of a Golondrina (swallow) which is the name of the sightseeing boats in Barcelona harbour, I took this picture of the vessel sailing past our wake. There in the background, you can see some tiny fishermen at the far end of the port's mouth. For a better idea about this area please follow this link to my Barcelona port label.

Recommended: Today I would like to suggest a new search engine implemented on top of Barcelona photoblog. This is a Google searchbox customized to look up for photography terms. It feeds from top photography sites and it is going to grow as I increase the number of sources. If you know about top-notch photography sites please drop me a line and I will add them right away.

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Classic Marionettes at Tibidabo Amusement Park: Clown

Marionetarium at Tibidabo Amusement Park

Since one picture wasn't enough here is a second marionette: the Clown. In fact at Tibidabo they have a workshop where experts make new marionettes for the park and preserve the old ones which are part of Herta Frankel's collection.

Herta was a famous Austrian puppeteer that came to Barcelona in 1942 and became very well known for her TV series for children.

Tibidabo's show only lasts about half an hour but you are going to see authentic collectionist antiques there. The place is called Marionetarium.

Classic Marionettes at Tibidabo: Trapezist

These are classic trapeze marionettes you can admire inside Tibidabo Amusement Park.

The trapezists were hanging from the ceiling on our way to the small room where the marionette show was about to start.

I am sorry if the picture appears to be upside down. There are many flaws because the image was snatched in a hurry. It was totally forbidden to take pictures of the marionettes.

Gold Fish by Frank O. Ghery, Barcelona

The Gold Fish or Peix D'Or by Frank O.Ghery near Hotel Arts and Paseo Marítimo is located in the middle of a complex of restaurants, shops and discos known as the Olympic Port which is one of the most visited spots in the city specially at night. Check a previous post with the Gold Fish silhouette in the distance. The sculpture built in 1992 for the Olympic games acts as a canopy for some of the restaurants and a fountain in the underground floor.

Red Flowers in Memoriam

How much I admire a person with a gift. Not the mundane kind of gift like when you have a talent to make money or to memorize the yellow pages, but the sort of gift that transforms an individual into a unique person, a historical character, a reference for generations to come. Most people have to die first so others become aware of their imprint on history but a few are lucky enough to leave this world with the satisfaction of not being just a number but an idea, a spirit, a name, flowing in the stream of the collective mind till the end of times. I did not have any particular reason to post these red flowers today but one item of news called my attention this morning: Luciano Pavarotti dies at 71. One single headline lost in a sea of tragic stories but ladies and gentlemen we should rise and give his eternal soul a stand-up ovation and throw a thousand red flowers in memoriam.
Una Furtiva Lagrima - Luciano Pavarotti

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Keith Richards and Woody Allen - Paper Mache - Barri Gotic, Barcelona

Is it possible to see Keith Richards and Woody Allen in Barcelona, both in the same room, considering that the only thing in common that they have is they are weird and play an instrument? 

I had the chance to live such mystic experience in front of a souvenir shop in Barri Gotic, but both celebrities were made of paper mache. I had my doubts with Keith though!. Keith cost about 220 euros as I read on the tag hanging from his "cigarrette". 

Don't say it wouldn't be great to have one of these somewhere around the house just for the fun of it, if affordable of course.

Palau Sant Jordi Sports Center and Concert Hall in Montjuic, Barcelona

Palau Sant Jordi, not far away from the tower in yesterday's post (yes, that white tip is not on the roof) is a totally different building both in design and functionality. This time we are facing a wide almost square building (see the Palau Sant Jordi on Google Earth) that in spite of looking big standing at the entrance, seems to be terribly flat from the distance as proportions are deceiptful in the enormous square of the Olympic ring on Montjuic Hill (check Palau Sant Jordi in an old post to see what I mean). Palau Sant Jordi was meant to be a sports center and as such was inaugurated in 1992 for the Olympic Games in Barcelona. Nevertheless, designers were wise enough to conceive the facilities as a multiuse space that can shift from a skating rink to a tennis court, a swimming tank, a basketball court and what's best, an important concert hall where famous bands and singers have performed. The building was designed by the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki & Associates. Find out about what other important works by Arata Isozaki here: Arata Isozaki & Associates via Emporis.

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Santiago Calatrava's Montjuic Communications Tower, Barcelona

This is Santiago Calatrava's Communications Tower standing against the sun in the middle of the big square at the Olympic Ring on Montjuic Hill. The structure is located near Palau Sant Jordi sports center, Picornell swimming pools and the Olympic Stadium. 

When you think of this artist, Calatrava, you think about impossible structures of steel and glass that resemble skeletons, carcasses with exposed ribs, sails, etc. In this case we are just talking about a 136 meter high tower that was meant only for telecommunications. But still it doesn't look like one of those horrible antennas full of dishes. It is weird I know but elegant at the same time. 

The tower's white steel structure with the tip tapering like a flame, does recall the Olympic torch or perhaps the jet engine of some extraterrestrial airship and oddly enough it doesn't stand in the way, maybe because of the line of nearby columns illuminated at night or the immensity of the square that evokes Soviet or Maoist grandiloquent and megalomaniac architecture. I digress. 

Some brief facts about Calatrava then: Born on July 28, 1951 in Valencia, Spain, he studied architecture in the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura (Valencia) and later on took post-graduate courses in civil engineering in Zurich. His work is well known all over the world so I will not deal with the many projects in his prolific career that you can consult in the following useful links:

• Santiago Calatrava: The Official Site
• Wikipedia: Santiago Calatrava 
• Santiago Calatrava's Buildings Communications Tower: Another Approach 
• Calatrava's Montjuic Communications Tower: Previous Posts

Door Ironwork at Casa Mila or La Pedrera

This is a frontal view of the fabulous ironwork door at Casa Mila aka La Pedrera by Gaudi.

Check this great link: Iron and Metals in the Works of Gaudi

Nativity Façade: Herod's Soldier Slaying Baby

This sculptoric group or scene on the Nativity Façade at La Sagrada Familia is by far one of the most sinister and dramatic representations I have ever seen in sculpture: Herod's soldiers at Bethlehem are sent to kill all boys under the age of 2.

Turtle Holding Pillar at Sagrada Familia

One of the pillars holding part of the Nativity Façade where you can appreciate this turtle, one of the many animals that adorn La Sagrada Familia. Remember natural elements such as plants or animals were a leitmotif in Catalan Art Nouveau, especially in the works of Gaudi.

A Face-Like Flower

A face-like flower, or at least this is the impression I always get from the distance whenever I come accross with them, is what I have today to bring a colorful note after the dull image in the previous post.

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Agbar Tower

The Agbar Tower, an office building designed by Jean Nouvel, is the headquarters of an important water supply company in Barcelona by the same name: AGBAR (Aguas de Barcelona). It is also known as the "suppository" and it is inspired on the shape of some monoliths on top of Montserrat mountains some kms away from the city.

View From Sagrada Familia Spires

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Dr. Robert Foundation in Sant Pau Hospital: Tile

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Scale Model By Gaudi

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Sant Pau Hospital: Tower

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Port of Barcelona

This is a view of Port of Barcelona as seen from Montjuic Castle on top of a nearby promontory.

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Montjuic Cannons Facing Barcelona Port

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Classic Cars Exhibition: Auto Retro in Barcelona

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