The Staffordshire Way : Day 1 Mow Cop to Rudyard Lake

Walking the Length of One of England's Most Underrated Counties

Like Barcelona, this is and its subsequent companion posts are a Covid lockdown project. The walk actually took place in 2005/6.

Introducing the Staffordshire Way

Staffordshire

The Staffordshire Way is a 92 mile route from Mow Cop in the north of the county to Kinver Edge on the boundary with Worcestershire in the south. The route uses existing rights of way and was opened between 1977 and 1983.

Staffordshire is perhaps the most underrated of English counties. True, the M6 runs through it from North to South, and Stoke on Trent could not be mistaken for Bath or York in any known light, - but that apart it is, to quote the Staffordshire Way Official Guide a beautiful rural county of scenic contrast. It has rugged gritstone hills, deep wooded valleys and an abundance of 18th century landscaped parkland. It also has a chunk of the Peak District National Park (not on this walk) and all of the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The walk is divided into 3 sections.

Part 1: Gritstone Country and the Churnet Valley

Part 1: Mow Cop to Rudyard

12/11/2005 Day 1 Mow Cop to Rudyard Lake

The Participants gather at Mow Cop, l to r Francis, Alison C, Mike, Alison T, Brian

Francis, Alison C, Mike and I (behind camera) would walk all seven legs. Brian, who like Francis and myself had previously completed the Staffordshire Way, walked on four of the seven days, Alison T was a welcome guest on Day 1 only.

Mow Cop

The village of Mow Cop (Mow, pronounced like the Chinese Chairman, not cutting grass) sits on a low hill on the Cheshire/Staffordshire boundary 6 miles north of Stoke-on-Trent. Open air prayer meetings held here by Hugh Bourne and William Clowes developed into the Primitive Methodist Movement which split from the Wesleyans in 1810. They reunited in 1932.

Mow Cop Castle was built in 1754 by Randle Wilbraham, a man with more money than sense. Designed to resemble the ruin of a medieval fortress with a round tower it was used as a summerhouse. (it features in a 2013 post entitled Chocolate Teapots)

Mow Cop Castle in late autumn sunshine

Although we were walking the Staffordshire Way north to south, we set off walking north along the ridge that forms the county boundary.

The Old Man of Mow

Just north of the castle, the 20m high Old Man of Mow is a pillar of gritstone left standing after the stone around it had been quarried away.

The Old Man of Mow

Continuing along the ridge in bright, if not particularly warm November sunshine we could see the town of Congleton in Cheshire to our left.

Congleton

Congleton Edge is a continuation of the 250m high ridge but there is a marked dip to its south known as Nick i’ the Hills.

Congleton Edge beyond Nick i' the Hills

Nick i’ the Hills to the Summit of The Cloud

Here we turned right, dropping off the ridge and descending through the woods to the line of the Biddulph Valley Railway. Built in the 1850s from Stoke on Trent to Congleton, it at first carried freight, adding passenger trains in 1864. By the 1920s it was failing to attract enough customers and the stations closed in 1927. Freight, mainly coal, continued to be carried but the line closed in stages between 1963 and 1977. The section we were on is now the Biddulph Valley Way a footpath managed by the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and, further on, Cheshire East Council.

The Former Biddulph Valley Railway

We walked 2.3km along the disused railway, half that distance in Cheshire. Turning right we followed a less than arrow-straight route through another 3.2km of Cheshire climbing 250m to the summit of The Cloud.

[I bought my first digital camera in 2005, and this was my first day’s walk with a camera permanently in my hand, a situation that would become second nature over the next 15 years. I was a beginner then and missed several photo ops. In May 2012, Cowpat Walk 4, Biddulph the Cloud and Rushton Spencer followed part of this route – along the railway, over the Cloud and down to Rushton Spencer - so I have borrowed a few (more summery) pictures.]

Formed by the passage of ice around its flanks in successive ice ages, The Cloud is a lump of Mudstone topped with Chatsworth Gritstone. Its southern aspect is hardly impressive.

The Cloud from the south (May 2012)

The ascent from the south is gentle….

Ascending The Cloud from the south (My 2012)

…and finishes across the tilted, heather covered gritstone cap.

Following Francis and Mike across The Cloud's heather covered gritstone cap (May2012)

The summit at 343m (1,125 ft) is shared by Staffordshire and Cheshire and is the northernmost point of the Staffordshire Way - though not quite of Staffordshire. The northern scarp provides good views in all directions, except the way we had come.

The Summit of The Cloud

The first time I walked the Staffordshire Way in the late 90s, I did this section on my own. I had the The Cloud to myself; that same day, 50 people reached the summit of Mount Everest. Sometimes you do not have to go as far as you think to escape the crowds.

Bosley Reservoir and the Dane Valley from the top of The Cloud

The Cloud to Rushton Spencer

From the south we had walked straight up the hill, descending on the much steeper east side is easier across the slope. The Cloud looks more impressive from this side.

Looking back at The Cloud

Continuing east we dropped down to Ravenscloud Brook and followed the stream as it makes its way to the River Dane which here marks the Staffordshire/Cheshire boundary.

The Ravenscloud Brook (down to the right) has dug itself a ravine through the Ravenscloud forest (May 2012)

Reaching the floodplain we turned south for the first time on the walk and met up with the second disused railway of the day,

Approaching our second disused railway of the morning (May 2012)

The North Staffordshire Railway’s Churnet Valley branch line once ran from Uttoxeter to the village of North Rode in Cheshire to join the main the main Stoke to Macclesfield line. Opened in 1849, this northern section closed in 1964 and the track was lifted. It is now a footpath.

The old railway south to Rushton Spencer (May 2012)

We soon reached the village of Rushton Spencer and after 4 hours walking I was ready for a rest and a latish lunch at the Knot Inn.

Francis and Alison C outside the Knot Inn, Rushton Spencer

Rushton means an estate or settlement among rushes – still a fairly accurate description. In the 12th century the manor (like a dozen or so others around the country) was held by the immensely wealthy Sir Hugh le Despenser, hence the ‘Spencer’.

Rudyard Lake

We followed the railway south for a further 1.5km. The path first crosses and then runs parallel to the feeder stream from the River Dane which keeps Rudyard Lake topped up. The lake was constructed in 1831 to supply water to the Caldon Canal 2 miles to the south. The locks on busy canals shift water downhill, and that needs to be replenished at the high point of the canal.

South from Rushton Spencer of the former Churnet Valley Railway

At Rudyard lake the path continues down the eastern shore, but we cut across the northern end, recrossing the feeder stream to walk through the woods on the western side.

The north end of Rudyard Lake (and the feeder stream from the River Dane)

Functional as its origin may have been, the lake and its wooded slopes possess a tranquil beauty and have long attracted those who wish to sail, fish or just enjoy the paths among the trees.

Brian and Alison T lead us into the depths of Reacliffe Wood beside Rudyard Lake

John Lockwood Kipling, an art teacher, illustrator and museum curator working in Burslem in the 1860s, met and courted Alice Macdonald. Some, evidently significant, parts of their courtship featured trips to Rudyard Lake. In 1865 he was appointed professor of architectural sculpture in the J J School of Art in Bombay (see the 2019 post Mumbai, The Posh End). He and Alice married in March and set out for India together. Their first child was born on the 30th of December 1865 and was christened Rudyard after the lake.

The lake is some 3km long and the November light was beginning to fade as we reached Rudyard village at the southern end. The redundant station on the Churnet Valley line still exists – as does its car park. As we had the foresight to leave a car or two here earlier in the day this was the end of Day 1.

Distance Completed: 20km

Staffordshire Way, Day 1

The Staffordshire Way

Day 1: Mow Cop to Rudyard Lake
Day 2: Rudyard to Hawksmoor
Day 3: Hawksmoor to Uttoxeter
Day 4: Uttoxeter to Shugborough
Day 5: Cannock Chase, Penkridge and Lapley
Day 6: Lapley to Seisdon
Day 7: Seisdon to Kinver Edge

THE END

Barcelona (3) Sagrada Familia and the Eixample District

Antoni Gaudi and The Modernista Eixample

Barcelona

We took a ‘city break’ in Barcelona in March 2008. As a Covid lockdown project I have reconstructed our visit from guide books, memory and most importantly Lynne's diary and my photographs. The third of three posts, this concentrates on the epic Sagrada Familia and the grander streets of the Eixample district north of the Old City. The posts follows the geography and history of the city rather than the chronology of our visit, which was from Tues 25-Mar-2008 to Sat 29-Mar-2008.

The Districts of Barcelona (the map has been turned, the coastline actually runs SW to NE)
The work of Vinals Reproduced under CreativeCommons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

Into The Eixample

The Sagrada Familia is Barcelona’s most powerful tourist magnet, and like many others we went there on Day 1 (Wednesday). The 35-minute walk from our hotel started in the Old City but was mainly through L'Eixample.

L'Eixample, meaning 'the extension’. was planned and built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to fill the space between the Old City and the nearby small towns and villages, thus turning Barcelona into a modern metropolis. The contrast between the narrow wandering alleys of the organically-grown Gothic Quarter and the planned blocks of L'Eixample is dramatic on the ground and can easily be seen in an aerial photograph.

The densely packed haphazard old city lies beside the harbour and is capped by the rectangular blocks of the Eixample

Ildefons Cerda

The masterplan was the work of the visionary Ildefons Cerda (1815-76). Originally a civil engineer he became the founder of modern town planning and coined the word ‘urbanization’.

L'Eixample has long straight streets crossed by wide avenues. The square blocks have chamfered corners and the streets broaden at intersections improving visibility for traffic and increasing sunshine and ventilation for the residents. Cerda planned a modern sewage system and for markets, schools and hospitals to be built every so many blocks.

The Passeig de Gràcia, one of the wide SE-NW Avenues, L'Eixample, Barcelona

Inevitably, the plans were modified when they came into conflict with municipal finances. The streets were narrowed, most blocks were constructed with four sides and an inner space rather than the intended two or three sides around a garden and only one of the two diagonal avenues was built. Despite these changes, the residents were far more middle and upper class than in Cerda’s vision of a socially mixed society.

Garden in one block opening out onto the street, L'Eixample, Barcelona

Despite not quite living up to Cera’s vision, L'Eixample remains a model of good urban planning, the buildings are well designed and constructed and if you have to live in an urban environment (and I chose not to) you could easily do very much worse.

Antoni Gaudi and the Sagrada Familia

Modernism and Catalan Modernisme

Antoni Gaudi

Much of L’Eixample is Catalan Moderniste in style. The Modernist/Art Nouveau movements swept through Europe, and to lesser extent the USA in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A reaction to the societal changes of the time, they encompassing poetry, painting, sculpture, the decorative arts and architecture. Modernism evolved in different forms in different countries. Catalan Modernisme, as distinct from Spanish Modernismo, combined the reassertion of Catalan culture with mainstream Modernism.

The Sagrada Familia as it was in 2008

Catalan Modernisme had an emphasis on architecture. Antoni Gaudi was the most important Catalan architect and in 1883 he was given control of Barcelona’s most important modernist project, the Sagrada Familia. Gaudi worked on it until his death in 1926 by which time it was a quarter completed.

The Spanish Civil War further delayed construction and in 2008 it was still less than half finished. Even so, the first sight from the intersection of the Carrer de Mallorca and the Avinguda Diagonal was impressive, even other-worldly.

First sight of the Sagrada Familia

A more orthodox view gives a better idea of what it looked like in 2008. This is the east end of the church, usually the plainer end – and, surprising as it might seem, it will be when the building is finished.

The East end of the Sagrada Familia from the adjacent patk

The towers certainly look floral, and moving round to the north side and looking up from what might termed be 'the undergrowth' they appear to be dripping with concrete moss…

The towers from the north side

…and a somewhat bewildering close-up reveals all the fussiness of baroque with none of the form.

North side, close up

Meanwhile, the other side is so different only the use of the same material hints at this being the same building. Here Gaudi’s angular crucifixion scene owes much to Cubism - another Modernist development.

Angular Crucifixion, Sagrada Familia

Inside, among the carpenters and stone masons at work on the benches in the nave, the stained-glass windows seem disturbingly anatomical…

Stained glass windows, Sagrada Familia

…and the pillars were allegedly modelled on trees but to me they resemble the brittle skeleton of an animal whose fossilised remains have yet to be found.

The nave, Sagrada Familia

The View from on High

The lift taking visitors up one of the towers had a long queue so we decided to give it a miss. Just round the corner was another lift, going the same place but with no queue, so we changed our minds.

Looking south we had a close up of one of the finials. The high ground behind is Montjuic with the 1992 Olympic Park.

Finial (foreground) Montjuic (background)

East is the Torre Agbar (now called the Torre Glòries) or sometime El Supositori. The tower has obvious similarities to The Gherkin (30, St Mary Axe to give it its proper name). The Gherkin is 36m taller and was opened in 2004, The Suppository a year later. But building work started on The Suppository two years ahead of The Gherkin, so who copied whom? Or was it just an idea whose time was due?

Torre Agbar (now Torre Glories)

Turning a little further north, the chamfered rectangular blocks of L’Eixample stretched into the distance.

Looking north east

Sagrada Familia as it is and will be

During the visit I decided that the whole project was too far over the top. Since then, my feelings have mellowed and I now rather like it. In 2010, building reached its half way stage and Pope Benedict came to consecrate the church and grant it the status of a basilica.

My memory says that in 2008 we were told the projected completion date was 2023. Now it is said to be 2026, such projects are ever prey to innumerable delays – and then there is covid - but 2026 will be the centenary of Gaudi’s death, so it seems appropriate. But what will it look like then? I offer this remarkable virtual construction from YouTube. Is that magnificent or has it now gone too far over the top? Or both?

Gaudi’s House and the Parc Güell

Gaudi’s former home now a Casa-Museu is in Parc Güell. A 40-minute walk from the Sagrada Familia, the park is in Gràcia, the district immediately north of L’Eixample and a separate municipality until 1897.

The decoration is in the expected style but the construction is relatively conventional…

Casa-Museu Gaudi, Park Güell

…as is the interior.

Casa-Museu Gaudi, Park Güell

Gaudi had always been a devout Catholic, but in his latter years he became obsessed with his religion and his big church. With no wife or family to advise him differently, he moving into his office in the Sagrada Familia, neglecting himself and pausing work only to sleep and to attend daily mass. In June 1926 he absentmindedly stepped in front of a tram on his way to confession. Shabbily dressed, unwashed and unkempt, he was taken for a beggar and not transported to hospital until a passer-by recognised him. Whether he would have survived with prompt treatment is unknown, but by modern standards this indifference to a man's fate because of his poverty is shocking.

Parc Güell surrounds the house, but apart from glimpsing one very Gaudi-esque corner we did not explore. Looking back, that was a disappointing decision, but at the time perhaps we felt we had walked enough, and it was half past two and even in Spain that is time for lunch.

A Gaudi-esque corner of Park Güell

A short distance down the little hill from the park we found a cafe that furnished a well made salad and a bocadillo.

Dining on Goat

The afternoon is covered in another post, but in the evening, we ventured out to a restaurant we had spotted earlier, attracted by a choice of goat dishes – we like goat when we can get it. Arriving at 9.30 we had the place to ourselves until well into our meal. We enjoyed starters of pinto bean and chorizo stew (Lynne) and a ramekin stuffed with garlicy, tomato-y, eggs and meaty sausage (me). ‘Menu’ is the best area of our limited Spanish, but the waiter felt the need to explain Lynne’s goat cutlet by making imaginary slices of his own ribs. More helpfully he informed her it was ‘in bread and fried.’ My roast goat he described as a ‘little arm’. The meat was good quality but as both dishes were served with chips and aubergine fritters there was, perhaps, too much frying for one plate.

More Modernisme in L’Eixample

On our final day, before heading for the airport, we took a short walk round the nearer part of L’Eixample. The Lonely Planet’s ‘Modernisme in L’Eixample walk' has 27 stops. We lacked both the time for such a marathon and the enthusiasm for so many minor modernista mansions.

Palau de la Música Catalana

Our first stop was neither minor nor a mansion. Lluís Domènech i Montaner’s Palau de la Música Catalana was built in 1908 on the border of the Old City and L’Eixample.

Palau de la Música Catalana

Domènech i Montaner was not only a practising architect, but also a Professor of Architecture for 45 years, and and active participant in Catalan nationalist politics. One of the founders of Catalan Modernisme he was interested in creating an architecture that reflected the Catalan character.

Palau de la Música Catalana

I cannot comment on the Catalan character beyond saying everyone we met was helpful and friendly, but the Palau is a flamboyant structure and highly decorated in every detail.

Palau de la Música Catalana

Cases Cabot

Not far away is the Cases Cabot, designed by Josep Vilaseca and built in 1905. Vilaseca was also responsible for the Arc de Triomf, the entrance to Barcelona’s 1888 World Fair which appeared in the previous Barcelona post (and in my collection of non-Parisian Arches of Triumph.)

At first sight it looks neither special, nor modernista, but the decoration around the balconies and along the line of the roof give it away…

Cases Cabot, L'Eixample, Barcelona

…and then there is one doorway where decoration is taken to such an extreme it is hard to believe this is the same building.

Doorway, Cases Cabot, L'Eixample, Barcelona

Casa Calvet

Its neighbour Casa Calvet, built in 1900, also requires a close up to see the modernista decorations. One of Gaudi’s lesser works, the internal staircase is, I read, the main feature of the building, but you cannot see that from the pavement.

Casa Calvet, L'Eixample, Barcelona

Casa Batlló

Further up the broad Passeig de Gràcia is a more important Gaudi building, the Casa Batlló. Originally built in 1877, the arrival of electricity in the 20th century meant it required modification and in 1904 the new owner, Josep Batlló, gave Gaudi carte blanche to rebuild his house. The end dwelling in a block of five aggressively moderniste dwellings collectively known as the ‘Bone of Contention’, Casa Batlló has similarities to the interior of the Sagrada Familia.

Casa Batlló, Passeig de Gràcia, Barcelona

Lynne described it as ‘ugly and sinister’. The large windows reminded me of  an episode of the Tom and Jerry cartoon where Tom is trying to stay awake and props his eyelids open with matchsticks; Gaudi retains the cruelty but jettisons the humour.

Casa Batlló window

I am unsure about Gaudi, I disliked Casa Batlló, I liked the Sagrada Familia as it was in 2008, but the finished article in 2026 is more problematic. He was a man full of ideas, but used them indiscriminately, often all at once. There are times when less is more; but this thought that would not have appealed to him.

Last Lunch

Back in the Cathedral Square we chose a restaurant offering a set lunch of seafood salad, rabbit with garlic and chocolate mousse; €15 including wine. Our second successful ‘set lunch’ taught us a lesson that proved useful when visiting Madrid a year later.

Then we went home.

Barcelona
Barcelona (1) La Rambla and Barceloneta
Barcelona (2) The Old City
Barcelona (3)Antoni Gaudi and the Eixample District

Barcelona (2) The Old City

The Old City from the Romans to Picasso

Barcelona

We took a ‘city break’ in Barcelona in March 2008. As a Covid lockdown project I have reconstructed our visit from guide books, memory and most importantly my photographs and Lynne’s diary. The second of three posts, this concentrates on the Old City, (La Ciutat Vella) and follows the geography and history of the city rather than the chronology of our visit, which was from Tues 25-Mar-2008 to Sat 29-Mar-2008

The Districts of Barcelona (the map has been turned, the coastline actually runs SW to NE)
The work of Vinals Reproduced under CreativeCommons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

Staying in the heart of the Old city had clear advantages but there were disadvantages, too. Barcelona is a party town; the revelry varies with the day of the week but can continue until late and a single-glazed third floor window is no defence. An hour or two after the party goers have gone, the refuse men arrive, clattering a sequence of metal bins right around the square. Sleeping can be problematic.

El Barri Gótic

Plaça de Sant Jaume

On the Friday we essayed The Lonely Planet walking tour of Old Barcelona. It a starts in the Plaça de Sant Jaume, the heart of the Barri Gótic. The lay-out here is medieval, but the square lies over most of the Roman forum so this was also the heart of Roman Barcino.

It retains its importance in modern Barcelona with the offices of the presidency of the Catalan regional government, the Palau de la Generalitat, facing the municipal government, the Ajuntament, across the square.

The Palau de la Generalitat, Plaça de Sant Jaume

My next photograph was in the Carrer dels Cotoners (Cotton Street), 200m in the wrong direction for the walk, but it is a pleasing example of the barri’s narrow alleys. I think we wandered in search of gifts to take home, many of these streets are lined with small shops selling artisan food and arty crafty stuff. We certainly acquired some slices of orange in chocolate and several small walnut/fig/toffee cakes from somewhere.

Carrer dels Cotoners, Barcelona

Sinagoga Major

Back on the suggested path we walked through the ancient Jewish Quarter. Crammed into these narrow alleys the significance of individual buildings becomes obscured, but the building on the left below is the Sinagoga Major.

Sinagoga Major, Barcelona

The original structure dates from the 3rd or 4th century. Whether it was built as a synagogue is unknown, but as it is aligned differently from its neighbours and the end wall points towards Jerusalem, it is possible. If so, it had been a synagogue for over a thousand years before the massacre of Barcelona’s Jews in 1391 brought about its closure. The building was used for other purposes and its existence as a synagogue was forgotten. The process of rediscovery started in the 1980s and it reopened as a synagogue in 2002.

Continuing the walk, we reached the church of Santa Maria de Pi, but repair work had surrounded it with fencing and swathed it in green netting.

Roman Tombs in the Plaça de la Vila de Madrid

The next place of interest was the Plaça de la Vila de Madrid. Lynne hated the Plaça, her description making the surroundings sound decidedly tacky. While writing this account, I took an on-line drive round, which is not the same as being there, but it looked a small, pleasant urban green space. Maybe it has changed.

What we both liked – and has not changed - was the excavation of a large group of Roman tombs beside the green (though Lynne berated the design of the viewing platform). The Romans generally buried their dead along the roadsides outside their cities. Walking from Santa Maria de Pi we had left the Roman city and were now on what is believed to be the spur joining Barcino to the Via Augustus the great Roman road running the length of Hispania from Cadiz to the Pyrenees.

Roman graves, in the Plaça de la Vila de Madrid

We abandoned the walk at this point. We had expected March in Barcelona to be warmer than March in Staffordshire, but on this day it wasn’t. We felt the need to return to our hotel and don another layer of clothing.

Back outside it was still cold, so we popped into the Taverna del Bisbe, the Bishop’s Tavern, on the cathedral square though not owned or run by the bishop - a shame, 'barista in mitre' would make a good photo. It was crowded, noisy, warm and sold coffee, all of which met a need.

The Plaça del Rei, Casa Padellàs, King Martin's Watchtower and Roman Barcino

Thus fortified we decided to go directly to the end of the walk, without passing go or collecting 200 Euros. The Museum of the History of Barcelona (MUHBA) was inaugurated in 1943 and now is responsible for 16 sites around the city, ranging from the Roman burials at Plaça de la Vila de Madrid to a civil war air raid shelter, but its first and most important site is Plaça del Rei.

On the edge of the Gothic quarter, bounded on one side by the city’s Roman Wall, Plaça del Rei is surrounded by the former royal palace, the state archives, the Casa Padellàs and the Mirador de Rei Marti (King Martin’s Watchtower). The mirador, a strange bookshelf of a building, was built by Martin I (Martin the Humane), King of Aragon, Valencia, Sardinia and Corsica and Count of Barcelona. He ruled from 1356 to 1410 adding King of Sicily to his portfolio in his final year. In the 15th century it was believed, at least by the locals, to be the tallest building in the world.

King Martin's Watchtower, left, and the entrance to the Royal Palace (right)

Opposite the Mirador is the Casa Padellàs, which has a fine example of a medieval courtyard and was moved here brick by brick in 1931 from just outside the Roman Wall. For all the glories above ground it is the lift that takes you down to the most important part of the museum. Descending through the building’s steal underpinnings, the display normally showing the floors, here shows the centuries. After descending 20 of them the lift stops at the level of 1st century Barcino.

Walkways led through the excavated Roman city, past a laundry, dyeing works, wine makers, fish salters, garum makers and shops that would have sold this produce.

Roman Barcino beneath the Casa Padellàs

Friday afternoon is not relevant to this post - it pops up elsewhere. In the evening we dined at El Café d’En Victor next-door to the Taverna del Bisbe. It was cheap and cheerful, which suited our mood.

Plaça de Ramon Berenguer el Gran

Warmed by a good dinner and a glass or two of Empordà, the café’s excellent house wine, we made our way back towards the Plaça del Rei. This time we approached from outside the Roman walls across the Plaça de Ramon Berenguer el Gran. Ramon Berenguer III (son of RB II, father or RB IV) known as the Great was Count of Barcelona 1086-1131.

The wall is high and forbidding. There is also a tower which frequently appears in image searches for the ‘St Martin’s Watchtower’. Google maps clearly mark the ‘bookcase’ as the watchtower, so in the absence of any other confirmation I have gone with that.

Tower and Roman wall, Barcelona

On the other side of the wall in the Plaça del Rei there was traditional music and dancing. If only it had been a little warmer….

Plaça del Rei in the evening

Picasso

The Picasso Museum is outside the Barri Gótic, 200m beyond the Roman wall, but still well within the Old City. We walked there earlyish on Thursday morning (by tourist standards) and found a queue had already formed. It moved along quickly enough.

Picasso was born in Andalusia and lived most of his life in France, but he spent much of his childhood in Barcelona. His father taught at the School of Fine Arts and young Picasso’s extravagant talent led to him being admitted to the Advanced Course aged 13. At 16 he left Barcelona to study in Madrid and then, like all ambitious young artists of the time, found his way to Paris. He frequently returned to Barcelona until the Franco years, when his exile ceased to be voluntary.

The Picasso museum dates from 1963, a little act of Catalan rebellion at a time when Picasso did not like Spain and ‘official Spain’ did not like him. His recent works were unavailable but a large number of his early paintings were collected. ‘Science and Charity’ a large canvas near the entrance was painted in 1897 when he was 16. Traditional in style and subject matter, it demonstrates his prodigious early talent. Although in the public domain in the US, this and other images are still under copyright in Europe, but his early works can be seen here.

Velázquez is long out of copyright, so here is his 1656 masterpiece Las Meniñas.

Las Meniñas, Diego Velázquez, 1656 (Public Domain)

Picasso is one of several painters to have re-interpreted Las Meniñas. In 1957 he produced a series of 58 such paintings, now on permanent display in Barcelona. I do not pretend to understand the thought processes, but I found the morphing of images from one canvas to the next while still respecting the original to be fascinating.

Las Meniñas, one of Picasso's variations

When we left the museum the queue outside was huge. I do enjoy a little schadenfreude now and again.

Parc de la Ciutadella

Before our latish flight, we spent the morning of our last day (a Saturday) in the Eixample district but detoured on our way back to the hotel and our airport taxi to the Parc de la Ciutadella in the La Ribera district of the old town. Inside the park is an ornate fountain (switched off for our visit), Barcelona zoo and the Catalonian parliament. During the 2018/19 troubles surrounding the officially illegal referendum and abortive declaration of independence the authorities often felt the need to close the park.

Parc de la Ciutadella, Barcelona

Catalonia has always been uncertain whether its destiny truly lies with Spain. They backed the Grand Alliance (i.e. the Rest of Europe) against the Spanish/French choice in the War of the Spanish Succession (1700-14). Barcelona was rewarded by a 13-month siege.

Having taken the city and confirmed his position as king, Philip V decided to end Catalan rebellion for good by building the largest fortress in Europe. La Ribera was largely razed to make way for the fort, leaving the inhabitants homeless. Taxes were levied on the citizens of Barcelona to pay for it, and those who could not pay were conscripted as construction workers. These actions did not make Catalonia any less rebellious or Philip any more popular.

By 1848 Spain was more stable and there was no further use for the fortress. It was destroyed rather than demolished and in 1872 the site became a park. For several decades the Parc de la Ciutadella was the only green space within the city.

The second half of the 19th century was a period of growth for Barcelona. The modernist Eixample district was developed and the building of the Sagrada Familia started (in 1883, completion is now expected in 2026). Barcelona was becoming a modern international city and in 1888 it hosted the Barcelona World Fair. The site chosen was the Parc de la Ciutadella and the Arc de Triomf was built as the entrance. A whimsical piece of modernist architecture with Islamic-style brickwork, it was designed by Josep Vilaseca as the arch through which Barcelona would rep les nacions (welcome the Nations).

Arc de Triomf, Parc de la Ciutadella, Barcelona

So much for the old town, the next post moves on to Eixample and the Sagrada Familia.

Barcelona
Barcelona (1) La Rambla and Barceloneta
Barcelona (2) The Old City
Barcelona (3)Sagrada FamiliaAntoni Gaudi and the Eixample District