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| Ridiculously beautiful and ornate ceiling of what used to be the chapel |
We are going back in time, before the Foleys came, to show you pieces of Barcelona that tourists rarely get to see. And it isn't the Fat Tire sign below, which we took a picture of just to show the reach of Colorado's finest brewery, it is the Generalitat de Catalunya and Catalan Independence Day.
the
ninth-century Count of Barcelona, Guifré el Pelós—Wilfred the Hairy for
anglophones and those with a sense of humor—was wounded in battle
(enemy unclear; either the Moors or the Normans), and as he lay on the
battlefield Frankish king Louis the Pious dipped four fingers in
Wilfred's blood and ran them along Wilfred's golden shield, rewarding
his bravery with a new coat of arms. - See more at:
http://www.letsgo.com/europe/spain/barcelona/blogs/markwarren/2011/06/06/legend-catalan-flag#sthash.9nvrQObq.dpuf
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| The original Fat Tire?? I think not... |
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| Yes we waited in a long line |
The Generalitat de Catalunya consists of the Parliament, the Presidency of the Generalitat, the
Government and the institutions, the Council for Statutory Guarantees,
the Ombudsman, the Public Audit Office and the Catalonia Broadcasting
Council. So it's kind of like walking through the White House and Congressional buildings, but smaller and more ornate.
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| Saint Jorge Killing the Barcelona Dragon! |
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| The Courtyard |
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| This statue was so weird we had to take a picture |
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| This figure is actually concave. Trippy. |
This building
is rarely open to tourists, but on such a day as Catalan's loss of
Independence day it is free for all who care to venture in. And it is
definitely worth the venture.
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| The modernist meeting place of Catalunyan powers |
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| Exiting Middle earth |
We
didn't get to see the President's quarters, but we sauntered through
the conference room, the chapel and arms room into a courtyard that
looked like it came straight out of Rivendell, and into the huge
ballroom that used to be the chapel (before it was relegated to a
smaller, less prominent place).
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| A ridiculously beautiful chandelier |
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| Rivendell and the House of Elrond! |
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| And
the stone lady is so sad that they have lost their freedom.
Unfortunately, as she is solidified in stone, even if they do secede
she'll still be crying. |
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The
Catalunya Independence day commemorates the defeat of the Aragon
Kingdom troops on 11 September 1714 fighting during the War of the
Spanish Succession. It reminds them of what they lost and why they hate
Spain. Yet Catalunyans don't seem to grasp the fact that saying farewell
to Spain
would mean they'd have to work a lot harder...Why you ask? Well,
although they feel that they're getting the short end of the stick in
terms of taxes [and of course other State actions that rankle their
nationalist fervor] they would have to develop their own military and
international relations which would be exceedingly costly. But hey, I'm
no economist.
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| Historical archetypes of some king and queen. |
These paper maché
Catalan giants have been used in celebratory procession for centuries.
And apparently their revolutionary garb resembled that of Paul Revere.
After viewing the Generalitat, we walked through the human chain that spanned all of Catalunya (consisting of hundreds of thousands of Catalans spanning 250 miles, yeah, they're serious) to the Parque de la Ciutadella. Passing by the most beautiful statue I've seen in Barcelona (the crying lady below) and the most beautiful fountain that I've ever seen (that will come in a later blog) through the Barcelona version of the Arc de Triunf proudly waiving a gigantic Catalan flag.
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| Tongue of Fire! |
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| Trees! Knobby branchy trees. |
The legend of the Catalan flag is worth a few lines. The
ninth-century Count of Barcelona, Guifré el Pelós—Wilfred the Hairy —was wounded in battle by Moors, or Normans, well some kind of enemy at least, and as he lay on the
battlefield Frankish king Louis the Pious dipped four fingers in
Wilfred's blood and ran them along Wilfred's golden shield, rewarding
his bravery with a new coat of arms. This then, the story goes, became the flag of Catalunya. Four bloody finger marks...Not sure if there's a legend of the blue triangle with the star...Maybe it's the reflection of the night's sky in his dying eyes...or maybe something a little more gruesome and less poetic.
the
ninth-century Count of Barcelona, Guifré el Pelós—Wilfred the Hairy for
anglophones and those with a sense of humor—was wounded in battle
(enemy unclear; either the Moors or the Normans), and as he lay on the
battlefield Frankish king Louis the Pious dipped four fingers in
Wilfred's blood and ran them along Wilfred's golden shield, rewarding
his bravery with a new coat of arms. - See more at:
http://www.letsgo.com/europe/spain/barcelona/blogs/markwarren/2011/06/06/legend-catalan-flag#sthash.9nvrQObq.dpuf
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| Plaza Catalunya should always be dressed in black. |
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| What goes better with Catalan independence than fish? |
Fun day seeing the true character of Barcelona. Everyone draped in their flags singing, lounging, drinking, eating, making impromptu Castelleres (coming up in another blog) and generally making merry. It seems strange to commemorate a day of utter failure, but hey, it's a reminder to them of who they were, and what they want to be.
