Following our adventures from Barcelona? Here's the last of the three installations (for now) - our trip to Barceloneta beach - in spring, and the final day milling around museums. Most people I travel with absolutely hate museums or have a very short attention span for history and significance of attractions. So the only person that would humour me on my museum trips is my Mom. (Although I don't think she enjoys it much, ha!)
After we came back from Sagrada Familia, the temperatures dropped rapidly and we went back to our Airbnb for a rest / outfit change before taking a leisured stroll towards Barceloneta. We walked through Gothic Quarters towards the pier and got to see the more 'modern and city' side of Barcelona.
Passeig de Colom, one of the widest avenues in Barcelona. There used to be a sea wall here, upon demolishing, they built this road. The colourful statue is the El Cap de Barcelona, a surrealist sculpture created by American Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein for the 1992 Summer Olympics. The theme of Barcelonian art is mosaic, so this also pays tribute to Gaudi's style. It is supposed to resemble a woman's head and body, though strangely if we didn't pay attention to it, it would look very abstract and random with its bold colours and dots.
In the evening hour at Port Vell, the seagulls flock in concerted grace and flair, against the watercoloured sky as backdrop.
One of my favourite photos from the trip!
Soon, we arrive at Barceloneta Beach at the golden hour, which is nearly empty. In the summer, it's usually flooded with people (from pictures) - so it was quite an unexpected picture of calm. The beach faces out to the Mediterranean Sea.
Mom looking pretty against the lilac-dyed skies ♡
It was super cold - even though it didn't look like much, the temperature was continuously falling quickly! There were even some people playing beach volley in the distance - some of the guys even half-naked. They could have anyone fooled that it's actually summer...
As night falls, we meandered back into the Gothic Quarters- I realized I haven't gotten a picture of these backlanes at night, so I snapped a few for memory's sake.
On our last day, the morning was fairly gloomy, but nothing a hot baked apple strudel can't fix! The bakeries in Barcelona are perfect, though they have so much doughnuts and cakes than a reasonable breakfast should have 😂
Most of the bakeries do not have a seating area, so we found this lean chain cafe -365 Cafe to have breakfast round 2! The fresh fragrance of breads & coffee in the morning is just amazing. (I can't drink coffee anymore - but I still love the smell of it)
Along the streets near BBVA
We were really lucky to be at the museums on one of the Open Door Days (only 3 in a year): 12 Feb, 17 May, 24 Sep. Which means that all museums are free! We didn't plan for it that way but things are better when they are free indeed 🙂 Obviously there is a bit of a queue at the Picasso Museum, but thankfully they have a staggered ticket timing system, which means we collect our tickets first, which dictates the time we can enter the museum. Meanwhile, we can go elsewhere first instead of standing in the queue the whole time.
So we went to another museum which was just opposite Picasso's - Ethnology Museum of Barcelona! It was relatively less popular, even though I think it was very interesting.
From the pictures, it probably seems boring to you 🙂
This museum is organized according to different parts of the world by continents and cultures, and it provides an artifactual display of how things came to be from the beginning of time. So in essence, it's the book Sapiens by Yuval Harari - but presented in museum form. By the way, I do recommend this book too, it's one of the best reads of this year, and I am really happy to have read it finally.
It's quite illuminating because many of these cultures (for example, central African human ancestors versus central Asian human ancestors) have so much in common even before their first cross-over. For one, they all enjoy making little statues of humans with pronounced gender features, focused on ideas of hunting and fertility. Across cultures, they also made very similar-looking necklaces, masks, hunting equipment, etc.
I would imagine that perhaps in the past, without any communication, they would come up with vastly different art forms and different practices, but it seems not. Of course there are still differences but not too much as my expectations. Something different was the way that their accommodation are shaped or organized, for example, there was a central African ancient house that has a very, very small and flat door, but it also could have something to do with the weather and geography.
There isn't much description for each item honestly, so it's mostly up to self-interpretation.
Just like these... so meme worthy... 😂
Meanwhile, the Picasso Museum which opened in 1963, it is more art-based. Being one of the most famous artists in the world ever, it is great to experience his art in a place that was so important to him. There are many 'Picasso Museums' all around Europe due to his travels, but the Barcelona's is good to know his art as he loved this city so much. Many of his drawings depict his close friend, Jaume Sabartés, and wife, Jacqueline.
Born in Malaga (southern Spain), Picasso's family moved to Barcelona when he was 14. Later, he was in Barcelona many times during his lifetime, so visually we could see how his style was affected by the events that happened. Most of his drawings are very realistic, he tends to draw people and events that he see.
There was a depressive period of time ("Blue Period") where a lot of his paintings had so much blue in it. When Mayday asked, who said blue meant depression? I think Picasso would agree with that..
Harlequin, 1966 - the first donation to the museum
Sneak a mirror selfie!
Super huge pizza on display along Gothic Quarters~
Evidently, we missed rice. I had a Risotto with Prawns, Mushrooms, Artichokes & Prawn Brochettes while Mom had a Grilled Salmon with rice and white asparagus at König. It was comforting and delicious food on a cold day in Barcelona.
This was Catalunya Square, right before we took the Aerobus to get back to the airport and flew back to Nice. T'was a good trip ♡
Never miss a post again!
I share interesting episodes in life revolving around food, lifestyle, travel and inspirational ideas. If you would like to stay in touch, follow me on my Instagram on @amieishungry and Facebook page!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Join the discussion...