Everyone`s talking about Barcelona. Europe`s hot new spot, the London of the `80s, an absolute must on the Mediterranean, the best thing since sliced bread. Pick your superlative–that`s Barcelona.
Or so they say. For while there`s a whole lot going on in Barcelona, the most happening place it`s not–yet.
Perhaps it`s the climate. Like many cities that face the sea, this Catalan capital is a little laid-back. The weather is deliciously mellow, and people take advantage of it, sitting, basking, just strolling up and down Las Ramblas, or wherever it`s safe to ramble. For like many port cities, Barcelona is also a little tense. There`s a smell of danger in the air, and modern-day Mack the Knifes make themselves at home, congregating in back alleyways or checking out the wares of the city`s plentiful switchblade shops.
But Barcelona is also sedately learned, a university city with a pervasively bookish air. At other times, it`s wildly experimental, a center for avant-garde theater groups whose performances range from daring to purposely depraved. Barcelona has all the ingredients to cook up a really creative stew. But they`re set at a slow simmer at the moment, and it`ll take a bit of time before Barcelona reaches a full boil.
Odd sights to see
At present, however, Barcelona is far from uninteresting. One can witness the most intriguing assortment of odd sights on any day`s tour around town. They might be enormous wrought-iron butterflies perpetually fluttering off the balcony of an apartment house near the Plaza Lesseps; a mysteriously flood-lit fungus exhibit (toxic varieties included), set up in a museum`s cobblestoned courtyard off the people-packed Las Ramblas; an 8-foot-tall red pepper standing at the back of the luxurious food and vegetable market; or an old lady feeding geese, each of which she calls by name, in the palm-tree-lined cloisters of the city`s expansive Gothic cathedral.
Barcelona exists in a state of contradictions; so much so that a semi-official government publication openly refers to the ”schizophrenia” of the city, with its pulls between ”tradition and progress, history and the present, old and young people. . . .”
These pulls are being felt perhaps ”now more than ever,” or so, roughly translated, goes the city`s latest hue and cry, ”Barcelona: mas que mai.”
The slogan has been plastered on street posts, buses, store windows and subway walls all over town, as have those little colored, interlocking rings. Barcelona will host the 1992 Summer Olympic games. And that is mostly what the ”more” is all about–more in flux, more under construction, rehabilitation and renovation, as the city gears up for 1992.
There is an enormous amount of work to be done, much of which was mapped out and even initiated during the city`s aggressive Olympic candidacy, officially kicked off in 1981. This was Barcelona`a fourth attempt at winning the host city honor (the city`s $7-million campaign, headed by mayor Basqual Maragall, beat out Paris, Amsterdam, Brisbane and Belgrade). Earlier failed efforts left the city richer in sports facilities, such as the 1929 Montjuic Olympic stadium and the 1965 Picornell swimming complex.
Urban ambition
Barcelona has a history of ambitious urban undertakings. The Spanish Village, a living museum that contains 100 architectural reproductions of Spanish towns and is set atop the mountain Montjuic, was created for the 1929 Universal Exposition. And in the 1880s, an era of prosperity and unparalleled architectural fantasy in Barcelona, the city hosted the Universal Exposition of 1888, which resulted in the highly acclaimed Park of the Citadel, complete with its own Arch of Triumph.
With construction workers almost more plentiful than Spain`s ever-present soldiers and policemen, Barcelona seems steeped in what one informed citizen termed the new urbanism. The proud Catalan capital is shaking off its second- city blues and is reasserting itself, especially in its time-honored areas of expertise: the plastic, decorative and performing arts.
It has been said that there are more artists per square meter in Catalonia (of which Barcelona is the hub) than anywhere else in the world, and, accurate or not, the region has long fostered artistic expression of the adventurous sort. ”The phenomenon in Barcelona is that the bourgeoisie supports the arts,” commented Andreu Morte, member and manager of La Fura dels Baus, one of Europe`s most controversial theater groups.
Morte`s vocabulary is spiced with creative Barcelona`s favorite passwords: anarchy, confrontation, natural dynamics, danger and contrast.
”The concept of the fiesta, of spectacle, of playing with danger,” he noted, ”is a Barcelona tradition. We`re a natural outgrowth.”
Architectural fantasy
Many of Barcelona`s natural outgrowths border on the fantastic, and nowhere is the tendency more pronounced than in its frequently unrestrained architecture. Structurally, Barcelona is a crazy quilt of majestic
proportions. There is pattern work everywhere, including the sidewalks of one main thoroughfare, the Paseo de Gracia. First, look down: The sidewalks have a greenish cast and are alive with swirls and dots and floral motifs. Then look up: The extravagant street lamps extend way overhead. Art Deco reliefs celebrating the wonders of modern industry cover the portals of one building. The more contemporary Banco Hispano Americano features reliefs in homage to the Surrealist vision of Catalan son Salvador Dali. And you haven`t gotten to the Gaudis yet.
Antonio Gaudi (1852-1926) was, and still is, Barcelona`s undisputed master of three-dimensional invention. His concrete dreamscapes provide the city with some of its most magical vistas. ”Have you been to the temple yet?” asked one starry-eyed young Englishman, as he stared in wonder at the blue and white ceramic interior of the Casa Battlo at No. 43 Paseo de Gracia. The young visitor was referring to La Sagrada Familia, or the Church of the Holy Family, Gaudi`s unfinished masterpiece that dominates both Barcelona`s skyline and its collective imagination.
The Gaudi pilgrims, and there are hordes of them, flock to the Sagrada Familia with its ossified portals, and then on to the enchanting Parque Guell, where even the trees seem to have been coaxed into outlandish positions. Returning to Paseo de Gracia, one finds the sculptural Casa Mila, or, as it is both lovingly and mockingly known, La Pedrera–the quarry. It is characteristic of Barcelona`s mentality that the city`s most advanced design center should be situated directly next door.
Vincon is a repository of exciting contemporary design, from shower curtains to wastepaper baskets, door pulls, movable loveseats, paper lamps and flannelette chairs, much, but not all of it, Spanish, and more specifically Catalan, in origin. Vincon`s environment cleverly balances turn-of-the-century embellishments with up-to-the-minute streamlining, as part of the premises once served as the house of late 19th-Century artist Ramon Casas. Gaudi`s organic chimneys can be seen from a skylight cut above the stairwell that leads to La Sala Vincon, an intimate gallery that changes exhibits every four weeks. The latest features the works of the sculptor Tito, who ”creates”
with human hair. Gaudi, no doubt, would have appreciated that. —
ABOUT BARCELONA
Here are a few highlights of Barcelona:
Best time to visit: March to May and September and October.
Restaurants: Neichel for French cuisine; Leopoldo`s for seafood; Siete Puertas and Augut d`Avignon, for classic Catalan cuisine.
Bars: Sandor, one of the oldest and a tradition; Snooker Club and Universal, both around La Diagonal, a major street.
Nightclubs: El Molino, a music hall and the only remaining concert-cafe;
Otto Zutz, a disco and bar where the action starts after 2 a.m.; Regine`s in the Hotel Princesa Sofia, for members and hotel guests only.
Shopping: Stylish designer boutiques are along the Paseo de Gracia and La Diagonal. Also, Loewe, for leather goods; Furest, for men`s fashion.
Side trips: Cadaques, a favorite coastal village retreat; S`Agaro, a popular weekend getaway for residents.
