Best of Barcelona!

We woke to another rainy start on Thursday but forecasts indicated nicer weather for the afternoon so we were optimistic. First on the itinerary was arguably Barcelona’s most famous attraction, the Sagrada Familia by Antoni Gaudi. On November 7th 2010 the church was declared a basilica by Pope Benedict XVI. Antoni Gaudi spent over 43 years creating an outstanding, innovatory church which is still currently under construction in accordance with his original plans. Unfortunately, Gaudi could not finish the project himself as he met an untimely death after being hit by a tram in 1926.

Incredible detail has been applied to each facade

Due to the wind and rain the public were restricted from going up the towers, gutted!

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A view of the ceiling from the inside

A view of the altar

The ceiling was designed to allow light to shine down onto the altar

Stained glass windows from the inside

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Grandeur would be an understatement

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An outside view after the sun came out!

After leaving the church we decided to grab some lunch at the nearby Subway, only to leave and find a bright blue sky, just our luck! So although we didn’t manage to go up the towers it was an incredible piece of architecture to experience first hand, especially the attention to detail applied throughout was just phenomenal. The estimated completion date is approximately 25 years away so maybe I’ll return to see the finished project in the future!

We strolled around the nearby shops and took in some of the spanish sunshine before calling a taxi to rendezvouz at the Collserola Tower. With our best Spanglish we directed the taxi driver to where we wanted to go and arrived at the Funicular de Vallvidrera.

A short trip up the hill took us to Vallvidrera where we walked the remainder of the journey

Taken on the hike to the tower

Barcelona from the tower

At this point Tanya shared her planning expertise including an explanation on the grid system!

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We reached the viewing platform on floor 10 marked red on the side elevation view (left)

The tower offered a 360 view of Barcelona, Tibidabo and other surrounding towns for miles around. Used for communications, this tower was designed by another one of the world’s greatest architects (IMO) Norman Foster; the architect which designed the famous ‘Gherkin’ building in London. A quick congratulations to Ian Seymour and a couple of the students for conquering vertigo! Although the glass lift proved rather challenging…

We returned to Las Ramblas in search of some food before Zoe’s big birthday night celebrations. Let’s just say that the 11am check in the following morning cut sleeping hours far too short. Once again return times to the hotel shall be omitted!

Camp Nou, Market Smoothies & Paella

A quick glance at the sky on Wednesday morning was all the weather forecast we needed for the day, with not a spec of blue in sight it was bound to be cold and wet. With everybody wrapped up we made our way to Camp Nou for a tour of the stadium where last nights’ antics took place. Upon arrival our attention was diverted to the hill where the Collerserola Tower, offering fantastic views across Barcelona, would have been visible (had it not been shrouded in fog). Needless to say a re-booking was placed for the following day.

FC Barcelona – ‘More than a club’

The tour allowed us to experience some of the alternate uses of the stadium and how it creates additional revenue year-round. The Camp Nou project dates back to 1954 although it wasn’t ininaugurated until 1957 substituting the old Les Corts Stadium which dated back to 1922. The museum built within the stadium has over a million visitors a year and allows you to gain access to the director’s box, pitch, chapel and even the dressing rooms; much to the excitement of some of our female coursemates…

A Chapel within the stadium for pre-game spiritual guidance, or post-game forgiveness depending on their performance?

Pitch-side, can see last night’s seats from here!

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Maybe we didn’t have the best seats afterall

Upon completion of the tour we headed back to Las Ramblas to explore one of the indoor markets and to see what goodies were on offer. From smoothies to sweets, octopus to goats heads (i’ll spare pictures of the latter), there was everything you could imagine. With the smoothies looking too good to resist and two for €2 we were onto a winner.

For the curious, the luminous pink on the far left was dragonfruit!

After the market trip we returned to Husa Oriente to dry off and maintain the Spanish tradition of an afternoon siesta (when in Rome!) to regain some energy for the evening. We decided that after a couple of days in Barcelona we had started to get our bearings and so we ventured into the darker alleyways off of Las Ramblas in search of some traditional ‘home-style’ Spanish cooking. With so many restaurants and smiling staff at the door encouraging you to try their restaurant, you need quite a strong will to not get dragged into somewhere pretty average. After fending off several door staff we came across a place which was just what we were looking for and with a little bartering to get us some free wine with the meal we settled.

Paella!

Complimentary wine! Oh, and Ouzo…

The meal was brilliant and I have to say that free wine tastes twice as good! However, I still think may have been tactics behind the free shots which came out, let’s just say service charge was not included…

Barcelona v Granada @ Camp Nou 20/03/2012

We met in the lobby where spirits were high and everybody was eager to experience one of the world’s best football teams in action. The metro was our choice of transport as Camp Nou (the football stadium) has approximately 3 metro stops surrounding it with only a 5 minute walk to the stadium. Starting at Liceu the final stop was at Palau Reial and needless to say by this time we were fighting for both space and air in the metro carriage.

Upon entrance to the stadium we assumed our tickets had us seated in the stands quite high up until we walked out into ‘Porta 86’ and were greeted with this:

It was absolutely incredible and as I said in a previous post, words alone could simply not describe that moment. We half expected to be moved before the match started but no, just 3 rows from the barriers we sat and watched history take place before us with Messi scoring his 232nd, 233rd and 234th goals, breaking the club record for most career goals scored since 1950.

Pitch side!

Granada (left) Barca (right)

Pre-game

Messi after his glorious chip for his 233rd goal for Barca

Final result!

For the full highlights see below:

Hail Lionel Messi!

Open-top Buses & Olympic Tours

A slightly groggy morning ensued the previous nights antics however the sun was shining and everybody was keen to explore Barcelona. After breakfast we made our way to Placa de Catalunya, one of the main squares at the top of Las Ramblas. We boarded an open-top tour bus and began our journey to the Olympic Stadium which was built for the Olympic Games in 1992. This was a fantastic experience (although a little windy) which allowed us to stop by the main attractions located around Barcelona.

P&D @ Placa de Catalunya

Passeig Colom

We arrived at the Olympic Stadium and were greeted by our tour guide for the visit. The stadium was the main sporting area of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and consisted of two separate parts; the main stadium which held track events, javellin, shotput etc and the Palau Sant Jordi (an indoor stadium) which held events such as the gymnastics, volleyball and basketball. The Olympic Stadium is now used for events such as music shows where Madonna recently performed and Shakira is to perform there in the not too distant future.

The Olympic Torch which was famously lit by a flaming arrow which can be seen here:

Olympic Stadium Track

Olympic Stadium Stands

Santiago Calatrava Momument – this resembles and athlete holding the Olympic Torch

Palau Sant Jordi and the Calatrava Monument

To follow, we visited the Olympic museum which was home to hundreds of olympic ‘artefacts’ such as boots, javellins, medals and even an F1 car! The bus tour continued until we stopped for lunch back at Las Ramblas and we then made our way towards the beach to continue our olympic theme with a tour of the Olympic Village, built especially to accommodate the influx of people that the Olympic Games would bring.

The beach!

Beginning of the tour

This is an example of the regeneration which has taken place in Barcelona

However, this is an ongoing project and is still in progress as this industrial unit shows

With regard to the coursework brief this may be an opportunity to contrast the effects of the Olympics on how cities are developed and how London is experiencing a similar process with regeneration in order to prepare for the 2012 Olympics later this year. With that thought noted, we headed back to the hotel to re-energise with a well earned siesta in order to be on top form for the Barcelona v Granada match later on! Come on Barca!

Travel, Transfer & Tapas

Our day began with a meeting outside the Bonington building at approximately 9:45am where luggage tags were issued and passports were checked in order to ensure there were no hiccups at the airport. And so our journey began with a coach trip to Stansted, with the question ‘why didn’t we fly from East Midlands?’ becoming a popular catchphrase.

I won’t attempt to create an exciting flight experience as it was rather mundane and offered as much excitement as a 1×1 meter space can possibly provide.

Descending towards Barcelona

After some confusion we located our coach and were on our way to the Hotel Oriente located on Las Ramblas, one of Barcelonas main streets rife with people, entertainment, bars and restaurants. We checked in and started unpacking until hunger got the better of us and so P&D headed out to explore the streets and see what food there was to offer.

P&D full on all-you-can-eat Tapas

We thought we would try and walk off a portion of the copious amounts of Tapas and came across the Placa Reial, a square just across from our hotel on Las Ramblas.

Placa Reial

We came across an Irish bar (which seem to be extremely popular in Barcelona, more so than Spanish bars) and although an early morning followed with an open-top bus tour of Barcelona, the night was still young.

View of the bar

Return times to the hotel shall be omitted…Salud!

Calm Before the Storm!

Hi I’m a Level 2 student blogging to give you a taste of Barcelona from a student’s perspective!

Today was the last in a series of deadlines leading up to the Barcelona trip where the PRMD Level 2 students carried out negotiations for the Property Management & Agency module. Everybody seems confident and seemed to enjoy the experience and Barcelona is no longer simply on the horizon but just around the corner!

So with tonight’s agenda packed with relaxation, tomorrow will be set for grabbing any last minute items needed for Barcelona. Whether or not sun cream will be one of these items is another matter. BBC Weather is forecasting rain for the first three days but this has changed repeatedly over the past few days so I’m staying optimistic.

We leave on Monday and our flight is at 16:05 which I understand in a much more acceptable hour than the students heading to Vienna (especially by a student’s standards).

Also, with a Spanish A-level under my belt I would like to think I’ll be able to get by in Barcelona but almost 3 years have passed since I practiced so to describe by Spanish as ‘rusty’ might be an understatement…

I am hoping to be able to upload some videos to a YouTube channel to provide a more real experience and to really grab an essence of the trip which may be limited by just writing words on a page. The channel is posted below however I plan to add links to the videos relating to each post in my future blog posts.

http://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialTomBailey

That’s all for now, less than 3 days to go!

Barcelona

Our trip to Barcelona is heading off on Monday, thankfully a little later in the day than the students going to Vienna! We’re flying from Stansted and we’re staying in Hotel Oriente near Las Ramblas, which is the real cultural hub of the city.

On Tuesday we’re getting the chance to walk around the city and look at the amazing architecture around the city, which I’m sure will include much of Gaudi’s amazing work. From the Cathedral, to the Park and the stunning underwater feel of the Casa Milà it’s going to be a great experience. We’re also getting a chance to have a look around the Olympic Stadium, which housed the Summer Olympics in 1992.

Another highlight of the trip will be a visit to FCBarcelona’s famous Cam Nou stadium, and maybe even catching a match there in the evening!

The trip will help us complete the second module on our Concepts and Practice in Planning work, and the brief is:

“Using a non UK city and a UK city set out a comparative study of an aspect of planning practice.  This comparative study should draw out similarities and differences in approach.  In your study you need to consider institutional and political frameworks, planning control over development. 

The aspect of planning you decide to choose can vary for example should you consider an aspect of regeneration you will need to address the different. regeneration incentives available.  If you select heritage you may consider looking at the different philosophical approaches.”

Looking forward to getting out there now!