The One Where I Go Home (24th June 2011)

The last day at Montserrat is over. The leaving ceremony for the boys in the top year was very moving, but most of them will return at some point in the early future to revisit the place where they spent five of their growing-up years.

All I have to do now, as I sit here at Barcelona airport waiting for my flight to Galicia, is to leave you with some photos from The Room With The View. I hope you enjoy them!

I hope you enjoyed this blog! Next stop will be my blog on Hong Kong and Macau, so follow it on http://theducklingridehongkong.blogspot.com/

I hope you enjoy it too!

Fireworks from Above: Last Full Day Part 2 (23rd June 2011)

My time here at Montserrat is very quickly coming to a close. Perhaps too quickly! I normally take my camera around with me, but this week has been even more so. One photo says a million words, so 2000 photos from the last six months would write quite a few volumes! But what way to end my stay in Montserrat than with the famous “Nit de Sant Joan”.

Catalunya is possibly one of the regions with more culture in the whole of Spain. Obviously, every single region is packed with traditions and with a calendar splashed with countless local fiestas and national or autonomous bank holidays. And even more so as Summer rushes round the corner, with the usual heat, laziness and relaxed atmosphere for which Spain is known around the world. And Sant Joan (Saint John) is much more celebrated in Catalunya than it is in the rest of Spain, so to not go out onto the streets to build a bonfire, throw fireworks, eat the regional “coca” (traditional cake) and drink wine would be almost sinful in the eyes of Catalans. And especially at Montserrat, known to have been a crib to Catalan patriotism and regional identity for such a long time.

It is tradition that a flame is lit at Catalunya's “sacred mountain”, called the Canigo, in the Pyrenees, which is then passed on, rather in the same way as the Olympic flame, in different directions towards every town and city in Catalunya. The flame which reached Montserrat arrived at around 11:30 pm, 23^rd June, escorted by runners from the nearby town of Igualada, who had completed the semi-impossible by running from their town all the way up the steep slopes of Montserrat mountain. They were closely followed by a few other runners bringing with them a twenty or so metre long Catalan flag.

The flame was then thrown onto the pyre of wood which was placed outside the main church building and a night of merry drinking and eating, along with fireworks, quickly ensued. Like I said, there is no better way to experience a last night in Barcelona than this!

However, the most amazing sight had not yet happaned. The Room With The View (my room in the school) faces towards Barcelona, with many small towns along the way, interspersed between small hills and larger mountains. Once I reached my room in the early hours of the morning, I could see that celebrations had only just got into full swing in other places: small bursts of light which happened every split second confirmed that most other people had only just started a long night of celebrating Sant Joan and the official start of Summer for Catalans. 

Revetlla de Sant Joan a Montserrat

Over the next three or four minutes I felt like there was no better way to see Sant Joan than from above. My view was not restricted by buildings, there was only air between me and all the lights away and beyond the edges of the mountain on top of which I was. Regular bursts of light and minuscule showers disturbed the normally flickering lights, but tonight the whole area around and under me was blazing with explosions and distant rumblings. A sight to remember for a long time and a better way to experience Sant Joan there could not be!

Climbing Montserrat Once More: Last Full Day Part 1 (23rd June 2011)

An early mist had settled around the whole fo Montserrat, reminding people that this mountain is like no other. The whole atmosphere was almost winter-like: mist crept up the slopes and the sun dispersed it slowly, gradually filling the whole mountain with light once more.

The first weekend I had been at Montserrat I had gone to visit the tallest point of Montserrta mountain: Sant Jeroni. And today, my last full day, we were to visit the peak of Sant Antoni, with views of the famous “finger rock”, a tall pinnacle visible from many parts of the surrounding land.

Once more, the weather was the main control factor of the day, although I was able to take some of my favourite photos of the last six months that morning:

Its a very strange phenomenon that happens here: the mist usually settles right below the level at which the buildings, and in March the snow fell to that same level below the line of buildings at the top of the mountain. Today, the mist created some beautiful effects around the mountain. We were perched at the top of the peak behind the school and abbey. The cornice of the mountain was surrounded by a clearly marked line of mist which bulged around the car park and restaurant, but never rose above that level. A real bird's-eye view. We were peering straight into a wall of white nothingness around the rocks, and it really felt like we were at the top of the world at that point.

Sant Antoni has great views around Montserrat. Although not as tall as Sant Jeroni, the views are perhaps more impressive, with the famous “finger rock” next to us. There is a peculiar figure always seated at the top of this rock. It reminded me of the statue on the top of a hill back at

school in England, only the hill was completely vertical and around one hundred metres tall. It is in fact a statue of the Moreneta, the Black Madonna of Montserrat. And masses are held there regularly apparently too! I don't know how exactly they manage to lift an altar and a whole congregation up there without a helicopter, but it must be an incredible experience to be at the top of that rock.  

A Cathedral too Small for the Escolania (Auch, France, 18-19th June 2011)

Sometimes when in a concert we feel that the choir is not big enough for that venue. This time, the choir dominated the Cathedral of Auch so much that only a venue double its size could be worthy of their singing!

Not only did we have to go in a bus from Barcelona to near Toulouse in one day, we also had to do this the day after singing at L'Aldea! This obviously meant having about 5 hours of sleep on Friday night, which was a big change from my usual average of 9-10 hours!

The trip up to Auch, the town where the festival Eclats de Voix took place in which the boys would perform their last concert of the year, was dull, like most bus rides. However, Flaixbac, the major Catalonian radio station, saved us once more from eating each other alive. I'm joking, It was quite a pleasant journey, especially as so many of the younger boys fell asleep after the five hours' sleep from the previous night!

You might remember from the previous post that I had had a curse with the camera so far. Well, this time was no different. I somehow managed to miss my alarm in the morning, and so I left without the camera's battery. Very clever of me, I know. Unfortunately this meant that I have no photos of Auch or the last concert, or of my last weekend with the Montserrat boys, which is quite annoying.

Arriving in Auch, we were struck by the cleanness of everything around us. It looked more like Switzerland than France. The sloping fields and vineyards were the only giveaway. The most impressive building by far was the cathedral: its hard to imagine that such a big building could be in such a comparatively small town!

I'll skip most of the things we did and go straight to the concert: the last concert of the academic year and the last concert for the boys of the top year. It was certainly a memorable experience. The programme was much the same as other times, but three pieces in particular stood out.

The first was, yet again, Pau Casal's Nigra Sum. I will never ever get bored of listening to this. And the boys sang it with such passion in the cathedral that all I kept thinking of was that the largest cathedral in the world would not be comparable in grandeur to the Escolania singing this piece.

The “Cant dels Ocells” (see other “Music” posts) was once more a very engaging experience. I was not singing on the front row with other Escolania staff, but a few rows behind. I was positioned nearly underneath a pulpit. And when the “Cant dels Ocells” started it came from directly above me: the soloist really did sound like a bird in a tree!

As mentioned, this was the top year's last concert, and after a very emotional rendition of a traditional Catalonian dance song, they lined up at the front of the church with the rest of the choir spread around at equal distances from each other and sang the other of Pau Casal's most emotive pieces: la “Oracio a la Verge” (“Prayer to the Virgin”). Very soon sniffing started to be heard from aorund the naves and transepts, as the vibrato-filled voices of ten boys drifted across the church. Having listened to the boys sing so many times, all I can say si that a few of these vibratos were unintentional and entirely due to the fact that it was their last time singing together in concert. I know that for a person to sing their last piece in a choir is an emotional experience if they truly enjoy what they do, but for the audience to start to cry is a sign that the choir has really moved the audience!

L'Aldea: Back to childhood (17th June 2011)

Dogs barking; old crumbly buildings, dusty roads; lush green rice fields: this is the Mediterranean I was born to. And this is the Mediterranean I visited on the last concert in Catalunya of the Escolania de Montserrat at the town of L'Aldea.

The small church of La Ermita at L'Aldea was a whitewashed buildings with an adjacent hostel. And instead of having a cloister to its side, there was a bullring. A true testament to the strong tradition of bull “corridas” which is as deep-rooted into the church life as it is to celebrate Mass. The church itself has a typically Mediterranean feel to it: small interior, very golden altar and backdrop, and plaster-covered walls in quite odd colours, in this case purple, orange, light green... But it reminded me a lot of the church we used to go to back in the days of living in Valencia.

I seem to have had a very unlucky camera throughout my time at Montserrat: I have always wanted to film the choir singing the famous and beautiful Nigra Sum by Pau Casals, yet for some reason I have either left the camera back at Montserrat, not had memory enough for the recording or simply run out of memory during filming it. I admit this is partly my own fault, but I came here determined to have an empty camera with a full battery. So I finally managed to film it!

As this was the last concert in Catalunya, the boys were determined to give it their full energy. And it certainly stuck in everyone's head, with many people saying it was their best concert so far this year. The soloists performed brilliantly and the sound echoed around the church like it had never done before. Obviously, the acoustics were much better than for example at the Auditorium at Ripollet, which in comparison sounded quite dry.

There was a tower next to the buildings which looked quite odd: we later found out that it was part of one of many fortresses lined along the delta of the Ebro river, the second longest river in the Peninsula and by far the one with a largest current, and which irrigates a large section of the surrounding countryside (hence all the watery rice fields around the buildings). The tower was the only section remaining, but thtere were also some ruins by its side, some of which dated back to Roman times. It shows just how important this river was that even in Roman times there were already structures which acted as watchtowers against invaders or pirates.

Memories of the day are quite vague. I blame this on the extremely hot and stuffy weather which is typical around this time of year along the coast. It normally results in very sudden but plentiful downpours (I remember various times in Valencia when we were caught in these downpours). However, all in all it was a great day. Seeing the rice fields again was probably the most memorable event of the day. But like always, the choir sweated their way through the concert and gave another spotless and pitch-perfect performance!

A View of Barcelona's Industry, Tourism and Trade

The other viewpoint of the whole of BCN, other than Tibidabo, is from Montjuic park and castle. It is possibly even more impressive than the views from Tibidabo. I think this because one can see a whole other perspective of BCN from up here: the sea port, the airport, factories, energy plants, the beaches, the Olympic village and Forum... each of these has contributed at least partly to Barcelona's expansion and its establishment as a centre of the Mediterranean.

So if you want to understand (at least partially) Barcelona's prosperity, visit Montjuic castle and simply admire the views on all sides!

There are many ways of reaching the castle or the viewpoint. Perhaps the most entertaining, although quite expensive, experience of climbing up to the castle is via the Montjuic Teleferic (Cable car), which carries you over the hill's parks and museums and over to the edge of the cliff where the castle stands. Although the return ticket will set you back €10 if you're an adult, or €6 if not, the journey and views and general experience is very much worthwhile! Its also a great way of seeing the park if you are not a very keen walker, especially since many parts of the park are quite steep, which mkight make it seem even more attractive to some!

The views were really quite incredible. Not only was the port about the size of half of the city itself, with hundreds of cargo ships and freight carries, but you could see as many as four huge cruise liners sitting peacefully on the clear water as if giant ducks sitting on the surface of a very calm lake. Another sight was the Port Vell (Old Port) with its shopping malls and extensive marina filled with imposing yachts and large expensive luxurious sailing boats, as well as the odd peeling fishing boat. It comes to show how Barcelona is a centre of fishing, trade, tourism and pleasure, moulding it into a hugely important national and international trade and tourism centre. It also makes this city more attractive and economically diversified to investors than other major Spanish cities like Madrid, which doesn't have the benefit of having a beach or port.

Montjuic itself should bi visited at a slow pace over a whole day. It has a great variety of museums, such as the Geological museum, the Joan Miro museum of the MNAC(see below), although the main attractions seem to be the Castle and the Olympic stadium and surroundings. It has many gardens and other places of historical interest. The towering MNAC museum (Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya), with its grand avenue and stairway, is perhaps the biggest attraction, with a very impressive and extensive collection of Romanic art which should definitely be visited.  

The Dubai of the Mediterranean? (Barcelona, 16th June 2011)

W Hotel, BCN

As this was my last weekend in Barcelona itself I was trying to visit as much as I possibly could. I don't know if this was due to some adrenaline rush, but on that Sunday I must have walked around half of the city non-stop! (It was only once I was back at Montserrat that I finally realised I had a few rather large blisters on my feet)

Sunday morning was all about the W Hotel, a controversial yet iconic building right at the front of Barcelona's shoreline. A 5* boutique hotel, with very modern design and futuristic lobby as you can see below. The hotel is otherwise known as the Hotel Vela (“Sail hotel”) due to its shape and position right on the waterfront, making it look from far away like a very big sailing boat with fully open spinnaker sail.

Doesn't this look a bit out of place in Barcelona? Some people would argue that this seems more like a Dubai-based project, but I disagree. Clearly the strong, constant influx of large hordes of tourists and business men and women was in desperate need of another hotel for them to stay in; a hotel which would bring out one of the best views of Barcelona: its beach front. I think the building was well planned and positioned: the Barcelona coast already boasts a number of iconic structures and buildings (see post on Forum): now the BCN coastline is not only dominated by the two Mapfre towers and Olympic Village (see below) or the recently constructed Forum (see post on Forum).

Lobby of W Hotel, BCN

Because of the hotel's enviable location and 5* rating, demand for a room has been very high. This is another good reason for the approval of the project: an architect should always aim to design a building which, in first place, should not be an eyesore: in this case, the W Hotel is certainly an attractive building. Second, the building process should involve many workers, thus creating more job opportunities. Alongside this, the completed building should provide a basis for many more productive jobs (such as a hospital, hotel or airport) and for a good chance to make a profit.

Even is someone is not in agreement with the project, we should all be thankful that the area was not yet another plot of land taken over for apartments or houses: the construction boom might have ended some time ago for the housing sector, but construction can be even more profitable without building homes. This is especially the case in Spain, where there is a huge number of empty (and in many cases still in construction) apartment blocks. So to escape a greater crisis, maybe some construction companies should turn to other projects other than housing development.

Private pool and beach views

BCN: Gothic Quarter and Catalonian Socio-economics (15th June 2011)

When we think of Barcelona, the word most heavily associated with the place is often Modernism.But this city has another, perhaps even more intricate and extensive, history: its Gothic period.

The "Barri Gotic" is Barcelona's Gothic quarter, the historical centre of Barcelona, and the buzzing centre of town, filled with cafes and restaurants along nearly every single street. The Gothic quarter also boasts Roman remains, such as the hidden away remains of the Temple of Augustus (picture further below), as well as a myriad of palatial town residences along small and dark cobbled alleyways whic transport you straight back into the Barcelona of a few centuries ago. This district is the other face of Barcelona.

So why does Barcelona boast so many town residences, whereas in Madrid for instance most important buildings were royal residences or government buildings? The answer will be explained (at least partly) in the following lines. The Catalan inheritance system has long been the same as Britain's. The eldest child would always inherit the estate and money, keeping the family's name intact and without dividing large sums of money into less important smaller amounts, thus keeping the family capital intact. This resulted in wealth being retained within individual family circles for long periods of time (if properly invested), resulting in a very powerful Catalonian bourgeoisie. 

Temple of Augustus, Barcelona

Because Catalonian subjects had always felt slightly distant from the centrally-based Spanish monarchy, they often went to this rich bourgeoisie looking for funding for projects or economic backup of many kinds. This solidified the reputation, honour and name of these families, some of which are still well-known today (for instance the Guell family). This social class gained more respect and capital, which led to the construction of big, handsome town houses or small palaces in the centre of Barcelona, with many of them surviving for future generations as the Barri Gotic. 

The socio-economic analysis of Barcelona and in particular its Gothic quarter ties in deeply with the region's strong textile industry in the last 200 or so years. One particular outlying area of Barcelona, now part of the city itself, was previously known as the "Manchester of Spain" due to the strong presence of various industries and car factories there. But like Manchester itself, this area has now been redeveloped, with most of it turned into a business park with even a few skyscrapers popping up here and there. I am not going to analyse the industries in Barcelona right now, but let it suffice to say that these played a hugely important role in the growth, both economic and population-wise, of the city, much more so than any other area of Spain, even Madrid. 

Oxford or Venice? Actually, Barcelona

Back to the Gothic quarter: this area boasts many hidden plazas (squares), a maze of twisting and sloping cobbled alleyways, as well as many gems of Gothic architecture, such as this beautiful "bridge" connecting two buildings. Here one can see the intricate details and developed craft used to create such a wonderful bridge with such a relatively small purpose.

At various points you seem to wander down empty cobbled alleys, making you feel like you are in the middle of a sleepy countryside town: the noise of cars has disappeared, the sun is shining, and the odd palm tree can be spotted rising high above the roofs. Its hard to believe that we are in one of the most cosmopolitan hot-spots in the Mediterranean basin!

I did the walk between the cathedral and, the Roman temple and Montcada street in under one hour, but I would advise anyone going to spend a whole afternoon strolling down the streets and sitting down at sunset at one of the thousands of bars and cafes dotted along the way.

Barcelona's "La Boqueria" (15th June 2011)

Spain has many covered town markets and is well known for its abundant produce of fruits, vegetables and meats. The famous "Mercat de la Boqueria" ("Boqueria Market"), along the central La Rambla street, is a typical example of a Spanish-style Grand Bazaar, although without the spices and neither so old nor so vast, but still full of pyramids of fruit and vegetables and rows and rows of Spanish hams and chorizos and fuet.

The first stall which greets you once inside the market: not many stalls can boast such large quantities of so many exotic fruits  in a European town!

Although the surrounding area is known for being a bit rough at night, during the daytime this place is bustling with tourists and early bird shoppers. Shopping for fruit and fish in the early hours is still typical in many parts of Spain, when women gather quickly to buy the best of everything. Most stalls will be still be open at around 7 pm, and one can simply wonder down the aisles looking at all the typical Spanish and Catalan products or looking for something more exotic.

Sugared fruit is a very popular food in Spain, and about a third of the stalls at the Boqueria are lined with entire trays of  these products.

Another famous covered market in BCN is the "Born" mercat. Although it is currently being restored and turned into a museum, this market is one of the most important examples of iron buildings in Spain, and along with "La Boqueria" and most other Spanish covered markets, it is part of a rich history of Spain's architectural and economic history and heritage. Most urban areas, from a small fishing village in Galicia to Madrid, Spain's capital, will have at least one of these, standing as a testament to the importance of trade in Spain since a long time ago.

Until the late mid 20th Century, most people in Spain were either directly or indirectly linked to this trade, either by being the people cultivating the land or the people selling and transporting them to and from the markets. Markets became a meeting place for the people, and a few still remain as such today, although some invarioably have been overtaken by a strong tourist presence.