Barcelona and Catalunya tour

Price: $3395

Single Supplement $340, Deposit $600

Tour Director: Professor Peter Gravgaard

Itinerary

Day 1 ()

You fly from the USA to Barcelona, Spain. Air Iberia flies directly to Barcelona. Ask your travel agent for a flight arriving in Barcelona on Day 2 of the tour between 08:00 am and 12:00 noon.

Day 2 ()

You arrive at Barcelona Airport where you will be met by the tour director, Peter Gravgaard, who will take you to the Barcelona hotel where we will stay for five nights. The afternoon is free. In the evening we will have our welcome dinner and the tour director will explain the program.

Day 3 ()

We begin the day with a citywalk through the old center of Barcelona, the Barri Gòtic. The name derives from the Goths who invaded the country at the time of the Great Migrations. They came from Sweden and, it has been suggested, the word Catalunya may be derived from Gotalandia.

Sights to see in the Barri Gòtic are: the Cathedral of Barcelona, the Museu (Museum) Frederic Marés, the Palau (Palace) de la Generalitat, the Casa de la Ciutat, the Ajuntament and the Salo (Hall) del Tinell.

The Cathedral is the grandest church in the style of Catalan Gothic, together with the Santa Maria del Mar and the Santa Maria del Pi which we will see later.

The Museu Marés houses the vast collections of Frederic Marés, notably immense collections of Spanish religious sculpture from the 12^th to the 18^th centuries and of absolutely anything and everything that his parents' and grandparents' generations had used.

The Generalitat has been the seat of the administration since its foundation by Jaume I, King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona. In 1359 it assumed responsibility for the finances of the realm. When King Philip V abolished the Generalitat, the Palau became the seat of the Royal 'Audencia'. It was here, in 1931, that the Catalan Republic was proclaimed, and it became the seat of the autonomous government.

The Casa de la Ciutat houses the Museu d'Història de la Ciutat (the city museum).

The Ajuntament is where the Counsel of One Hundred ruled the city from 1372 to 1714. The Salo del Tinell is the great hall in the Palau Reial Major, residence of the Counts of Barcelona and later the Kings of Aragon.

Day 4 ()

Today we continue our exploration of Barcelona: you will see those other two great Gothic churches - the Santa Maria del Mar and the Santa Maria del Pi.

Also not to be missed are the Drassanes, the old shipyards of the city which now house the Maritime Museum. This is, perhaps, the most complete and best preserved medieval industrial workplace in existance. Here were built the ships that assured the maritime traffic of the Catalan empire in the Mediterranean. A modern replica of the flagship, in which Don Juan of Austria led the allied Christian fleets to victory over the Turks, is also displayed here.

From Drassanes we walk along the Ramblas, the famous promenade, passing the Columbus Monument and, perhaps, stopping to see Gaudi's Palau Güell which now holds the Theatrical Museum of Barcelona. This as a day with great possibilities for enjoying this lively city.

Day 5 ()

Today will be devoted to seeing the architecture of the Modernismo movement in Barcelona. Not only will you see buildings by Antoni Gaudi, but also some fine works by his contemporaries, Puig i Cadafalch and Domènech i Montaner. We will start our walk at the Plaça de Catalunya with its famous Els Quatre Gats café. 'The Four Cats' was the meeting place for young artists around 1900 and it was here that Picasso had his first exposition.

The next building to merit your attention is the Palau de la Musica Catalana, built in 1908 and designed by Domènech i Montaner. Next (in the Carrer de Casp no 48) you will see the Casa Calvet, designed by Gaudi in 1898.

In the Paseig de Gràcia we have a trio of interesting and very famous Modernismo buildings known as the Mançana de la Discòrdia (Block of Discord) alluding to the mythical judgment of Paris. First, the florid Casa Lleó Morera designed by Domènech i Montaner in 1905 and considered wildly revolutionary in its day. Second, the cubical Casa Amatller with Dutch gable and extravaganza of ceramics, wrought iron and sculptures by Puig I Cadafalch in 1900. Third, the Casa Battló, designed by Gaudi in 1905, with exuberant curves of iron and stone and upper façade suggesting animal forms.

Close by is another Gaudi masterpiece: the Casa Milà (known as La Pedrera, 'the Stone Quarry'.) This is Spain's most famous apartment house complex, where the architect let his imagination run riot. Fruit and vegetable forms are part of the design, windowpanes in the main gate are shaped like turtleshells and the chimneys are known as espantabrujas (witch-scarers).

The other two artists have more creations nearby: Edificio Vidal-Quadras (the Museu de Musica) and Casa de les Punxes by Puig I Cadafalch and the Casa Montaner and Casa Thomas by Domenech I Montaner.

Today's last visit is to Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece - the Sagrada Familia or, to give his cathedral its full name: the Tempio Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia, the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family. Here, Gaudi hoped, men and women could pray and do penance for the sins of modernism. Begun in 1882 and still unfinished when Gaudi died, in 1926, it is a unique manifestation of bizarre modernism but also of Catholic tradition and piety. The structure has three façades: the Façade of the Nativity, of the Passion, and of the Glory. Each façade should have four towers, symbolizing the twelve Apostles. Four higher towers symbolize the four Evangelists, with one very large tower to symbolize the Saviour and one to symbolize the Virgin.

Gaudi died, run down by a streetcar, before the cathedral was completed, and his body is buried in its crypt.

Day 6 ()

Today is devoted to visiting Barcelona's museums. Four major institutions are possible: In the Parc de Montjuic you can visit the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya which cannot be overestimated. This is perhaps the most important center for Romanesque art in the whole world. Also in the Parc de Montjuic is the Fundacio Joan Miro.

Then there is the Picasso Museum at Montcada 15-19 with interesting Picasso Notebooks and some 2500 paintings and drawings given by the painter to the city where he grew up. Finally, in the Parc Guell we may visit the Gaudi Museum at Carrer del Carmel 28.

Day 7 ()

Over the next two days we will explore Catalunya to the north of Barcelona. Today we will first visit Girona to see its magnificent cathedral - it has the widest single nave in Europe, 22m (75 ft) across. Another treat is the little museum which houses the 11^th century Tapestry of Creation (Genesis) and the Codigo del Beatus, a tenth century illuminated commentary of the Apocalypse. Be sure not to miss the trapezoidal Romanesque Cloister with beautifully carved capitals, including one of a giant rabbit threatening a man.

Not far from the cathedral, in the Jewish quarter (the 'Call') can be found the old school of the Cabala, the Museu d'Isaac el Cec'. This is where the Cabalistas de Girona used to teach Jewish Mysticism, the Cabala. Their most famous member was Moses ben Nahman (Nahmanides).

From Girona we continue to the Emporda, the area between Girona and the French border. We will visit the little medieval village of Pals, which was saved from dereliction by the efforts of Dr Jaime Pi-Figueras and his helpers and declared a national monument in 1978.

From Pals we drive to the extensive ruins of Ampurias, once the Greek port of Emporion. From here there is a beautiful view of the Gulf of Roses. On to Figueres, where we spend the night.

Day 8 ()

In Figueres we will visit the wonderful Salvador Dali Museum - one of the most visited museums in Spain. The exhibits are by turn delightfully absurd and grotesque and absolutely nothing is sacred. Even the museum catalog, according to Dali himself, is intended to misinform.

Next we visit the monastery ruins of Sant Pere de Rodes with a fine view of the coastline. From here we drive west through the Olot basin, the Garrotxa with volcanic formations, to Ripoll, where we will see the chapel of Sant Joan de les Abadesses, founded by Count Wilfred the Hairy in 887. Look out for the strange wooden 15^th century Deposition in one of the side chapels. Its weird figures have inspired the nickname, 'Las Brujas' (the Witches).

Close by is Santa Maria de Ripoll, a Benedictine monastery, also founded by Wilfred, whose extensive library, full of Arab translations of classical texts, was one of the great transmitters of Arab and classical learning to the West.

The monastery's famous abbot, Oliba of Ripoll (971-1046), exerted influence throughout Europe by instituting the Peace and Truce of God ('treuga Dei'). This established time limits for warfare which, if broken, incurred sanctions by the Church - such as a ban on marriages, burials etc.

Santa Maria de Ripoll is also famous for its great West Portal (known as the Stone Bible). This fine example of mature Catalan Romanesque art depicts practically every scene from the Bible as well as the zodiac and several monsters to boot!

From Ripoll we drive to our hotel in Vic where we have our FAREWELL DINNER and spend the night.

Day 9 ()

It is the last day of the Barcelona and Catalunya Tour, so we will escort you to Barcelona Airport for your return flight to the USA. Please ask your travel agent to book you a flight between 10.00 hours and 14.00 hours.

Bon Voyage!

Bibliography

J.Amalang, Honored Citizens of Barcelona, Princeton, 1986
J.H.Elliott, The Revolt of the Catalans. A Study in the Decline of Spain,1598-1640, London,1968
Robert Hughes, Barcelona, London, 1998
Archibald Lewis, The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718-1050, London, 1965
Joanot Martorell, Tirant la Blanc, NY 1984
George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, Penguin, 1982
Jordi Pujol I Solay, Construir Catalunya, 1980