Barcelona is the city where I learned to dream, the place that teached me to look for hidden beauty behind every corner. See up to the roofs in Barcelona, you will find dragons, flowers, princesses, angels! The stones in Barcelona have stories to tell.
Barcelona has provided the stage for many books. There was a time, just before the 1992 Olympic games, when the catalonian culture department even paid writers and artists to visit the city with the hope that this would inspire to create. Each visit to Barcelona is a creative act on itself. So, follow your pulse and let it happen!
For our 3-days in Barcelona, I have choosen three books. One for each day, presenting three stories at different periods of Barcelonas history.
The book for the first day, the Gothic Barcelona, is "The Cathedral of the Sea" by Idelfonso Falcones.
It gives a good impression of how life in Barcelona could have been during the 14th century. The author is a lawyer with a passion for history (yes, Tom liked the book too ! ) and the book is more about Barcelona in the 14th century than about his main character Arnau Estanyol. The Cathedral of the Sea is Santa Maria del Mar, to me a most beautiful example of early Gothic, when architecture becomes spiritual and controls the laws physics and the purity of mathematics. We will follow some of the passages of this book on December 31st.
The book for the second day, Modernistic Barcelona, is "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
The book is in fact set in post-civil war Barcelona, in 1945, long after the flourishment of Modernism. However, I have choosen this book to illustrate the Modernistic Barcelona, because it is literary Barcelona and the modernistic atmosphere of Tidibabo Avenue what brings life to the main character during the grey postwar times. The book is not a favourite of mine, but I relate well to the author's fascination for the "Cementery of Old Books" and his romantic reading of Barcelonas modernistic buildings. The best examples are Casa Batllo, Casa Mila and Casa Vicens, all worth a visit, all by Gaudi. Still, to have a glimpse of the atmosphere and affluence of modernistic Barcelona, you should visit Tibidabo Avenue and climb up with me on the Blue Tram on January 1st.
The book of the third day, Futuristic Barcelona, is "The city of prodigies" by Eduardo Mendoza. I am afraid that the book is only available in Spanish, but the good news is that there is a film made from the book. The story, as in the case of The Cathedral of the Sea, is less relevant than the city stage. The book presents Barcelona between its two Universal Exhibitions (from 1888 to 1929) and reflects on the rythm of a city determined to build its future. We will visit the Exhibition area with the Mies van der Rohe Pavillion on January 2nd.
