Story: Bus-celona

The big department store, El Corte Ingles on Catalunya Square, is said to be the largest building in Barcelona. I could satisfy my appetite in the restaurant or cafeteria on the top floor and also whet my appetite to sightsee as I gazed out the windows at the Barcelona panorama. It is here that I first boarded the Bus Turistic.

The spacious and magical city of Barcelona is the capital city of Catalonia. It is chock full of sights to experience and the best way to do so is on the exceptionally convenient and inexpensive Bus Turistic. Double-decker buses, equipped with multi-lingual guides and brochures are of the hop on-hop off variety. Buy a ticket for a day and get off at stop near a place you want to visit and then get back on again. Save your energy for walking around the sight rather than walking to the sight and save lots of time as well. Three bus lines will take you to 42 stops. The lines are interconnected. I prioritized my interests and thanks to the Bus Turistic I actually saw everything I wanted to see in my day and a half in Barcelona.

The region of Catalonia in northwest Spain has produced artists of extraordinary talent—Joan Miró (1893-1983), Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926), Salvador Dali (1904-1989). Although its geography is confined—the Pyrenees on the north and the Mediterranean Sea on the east—imagination and talent of its native sons appears to know no boundaries. And Catalonia has done justice to preserving their achievements for all to enjoy. A bus trip to the Dali museum in Figueres to see how this artist transforms reality into fantasy or is it fantasy into reality was a day well spent. But because of the Bus Turistic I could enjoy Miró and Gaudi in Barcelona.

The legacies of Joan Miró and Antoni Gaudi have been eminently preserved in the museums, architecture and parks of Barcelona and indeed partly contribute to the lightheartedness and magical character of this city. A large Miró painting welcomes visitors at the Barcelona Airport, Terminal B. The Miró Foundation in Parc du Montjuic displays his tapestries, sculptures and paintings. Their colors and alluring whimsical lines have a lingering charm. It is a purpose-built edifice and several large rooms display his enormous canvases which allow the viewer to take in each at a distance perspective. "The Caress of the Bird", a brightly painted bronze sculpture pieced together from clearly defined two-dimensional shapes, is displayed on the rooftop where other Barcelona birds may befriend it and where the visitor can get another enticing view of the big city.

Gaudi’s experiments with visual balance through bright colors and shapes create a dynamic uncertainty in the structures in Parc Guell. I left the park feeling a bit dizzy from an upset status quo and amazed at the fluidity and softness of shape he created with his building materials. The park’s gatehouse is a typical example of this. His work is lots of fun but perhaps somewhat “gaudy”. According to the Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, this word first came into the English language in 1583 and so was not derived from Gaudi. The Dictionary defines it as “marked by dazzling brilliance, showiness or extravagance”. To me, this best describes Antoni Gaudi’s work. Does anyone know if there is a connection or is it coincidence?

Another stop positioned me to explore the Picasso Museum where five medieval palaces have been refurbished to display the paintings, drawings and ceramics of the artist, mostly in chronological order with an emphasis on his early works. Most interesting to me was his fascination with "Las Meninas" ("The Maids of Honour") depicting the Spanish royal family, by Diego Velasquez (1599-1660). Picasso (1881-1973) spent many months recreating, copying, and paraphrasing this painting into his Picassoesque reality and these studies are on display. Both Picasso and Velasquez are Andalusian, not Catalonian.

But these artists who perform magical tricks with reality are not the only ones to do so in Barcelona. One Bus Turistic stop called Port Vell, positioned me for what was to be my favorite destination, the Barcelona Aquarium comprising 35 different aquariums. Live displays of marine environments, particularly environments of the Mediterranean are beautifully reconstructed. The very best of all though is the Oceanarium, 36 meters in diameter and 5 meters deep, containing 4,500 cubic meters of water. A transparent tunnel 80 meters long runs through this magnificent tank. Visitors walk through it eerily surrounded by the swimming sharks, morays and their ecosystem mates. Their swirling and constant movement shape the water and make it sparkle which may make them the best Catalonian artists and magicians of all.

Other magicians of Barcelona perform some quite remarkable tricks at all the bus stops and everywhere in between. I had to be careful not to let my wallet vanish up the sleeve of these (con) artists.

So much has been written about Barcelona; so much has been enjoyed in Barcelona. Each visitor has his/her perceptions, memories, and magical experiences of the city. These are mine, viewed on the next best thing to a magic carpet, the Bus Turistic. I have renamed the city, Bus-celona.

For more information see:

http://www.bcn.fjmiro.cat/
www.casamuseugaudi.org/
http://www.aquariumbcn.com/
http://w3.bcn.es/V66/Home/V66XMLHomeLinkPl/0,4589,417470534_417617303_3,00.html
http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/general/barcelona-safety.html
https://www.elcorteingles.es/supermercado/secciones/entrada/noIdentificado.asp
http://www.barcelona-on-line.es/eng/reserves/bus_turistic.htm