Day 98, 10 October 2012. Barcelona Old City/Gothic Quarter free walking tour with Gorka at Runner Bean Tours. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_Quarter,_Barcelona). It was the best of days in many different ways. The Apple Store managed to magic up a replacement iPad for us in a mere 24 hours so we spent a couple of hours getting Dwermy up to speed before joining a great free walking tour of the old city (www.runnerbeantours.com).
It never ceases to amaze us how much we fit into 2 and a half hours of walking and talking. First of all, Barcelona is full of s**t. Not dog s**t, not cat s**t, not even, given we're in the land of the matadors, bull s**t. But actual human s**t and s**ting logs. Seriously. Check out the Christmas log story here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tió_de_Nadal. The human s**ter is El Caganer - “El Caganer” - The Christmas crapper
Among the figures in a good “Pessebre” or nativity scene you will find a funny little fellow who is a Catalan Christmas tradition. It is a an elf or gnome-like figure wearing the traditional Catalan "barretina" red beret and with his trousers down, his backside bare, defecating! The origins of El Crapper are a bit murky, not surprisingly, but he's been dropping his britches to "fertilize the earth" since at least the middle of the 19th century. He is a very popular fellow in Catalunya and thought to bring good luck. Public figures, both local and from around the globe including President Obama, Prince William and Kate Middleton were all portrayed with their pants down for Christmas 2011 (see... that's were those nudie photos of Kate came from...) The local governments have tried over recent years to avoid having El Caganer in their public nativity scenes in an effort to discourage people from using the streets as public toilets during the festive season, but the tradition has held on due to vociferous protest from the people. All I can say is thank god this isn't a tradition in Australia. 'Nuff said. Right, moving on to all the amazing history and buildings we saw (just had to get all that s**t s**t out of my system). We had a smallish group of only 14 or so people (much bigger and it's like herding cats it seems). First stop was Eglesia de Santa Maria del Pi. Or the Church of Saint Mary of the Pine Tree. A bit like Julio Iglesias vs. Joe Church, it does sound much more exotic in Spanish. And there is a pine tree in the square. Another feature is the temple to sharp things, also known as the Solingen knife shop. As a chef, James was in knife heaven. Getting back to the church, it is renowned for its Catalan religious architecture and thumping great, 10m across, Rose window of stained glass which glowed with colour even on a cloudy day. Our guide went on and explained the origins of the Catalan flag - yellow with four red stripes. The myth of it's origins is quite gory and it involves the death of Wilfred the Hairy (not making this up). He was mortally wounded and another king decided he needed a proper coat of arms or standard and, as Wilfred lay dying with his blood pumping out, he stuck four fingers into the blood and drew them across Wilfred's golden shield - and thus the Catalan flag was born. Apparently. Now, whilst the yellow and red flag is still seen, the more popular version involves a white star on a blue triangle superimposed upon it, pushing for Catalan independence from Spain. Popular balcony decoration in these parts (pictured). Continuing on, entranced with the stories, we visited the old Jewish quarter "El Call" and heard the tale of a man, a medieval document and a compass finding the old building that contained a synagogue and Roman remains - as recently as the 1980s. One of our next stops was a tiny winding street with a shrine to Santa Eulalia. Not one of the saints names we were familiar with. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eulalia_of_Barcelona). She was a 13 year old Christian girl who was persecuted by the Romans under Emperor Diocletian. She was subjected to 13 tortures, one for each year of her life, until she was eventually decapitated. She is now interred in a sarcophagus in the Cathedral. Whilst the tour didn't visit the Cathedral itself, we did visit the cloister where 13 massive white geese are kept as a tribute to her... white, pure, and so forth. Our guide did say at Christmas the number can drop one or two. But there should be 13. Another interesting fact we learned, as we stood next to the Church of Sant Feri Neri, in Placa de Sant Feri Neri, we found out that in Spain at least, whenever there is a square next to a church, then it was likely to have been a graveyard at one time. This is such a place and a very sad spot generally speaking. During the Spanish Civil war the Italians were experimenting with bombing techniques and dropped a bomb on the church, killing the people sheltering in the basement (many children). They waited a short while and then, when the square was full of first responders, they dropped a second bomb - the church still shows signs of the damage with huge chunks of stone ripped out of the facade from the shrapnel of the second bomb into the square. We moved on and saw a well preserved section of the old Roman city walls of Barcino (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Barcelona). The section we saw was part of the wall and aqueduct. When the city was expanded the old walls were sometimes destroyed and sometimes just built around - it is apparently not uncommon to walk into a shop or home in the old quarter and have a chunk of Roman wall inside a room! We passed by the headquarters of the Spanish Inquisition which is now used for art exhibitions. Above the door is the coat of arms of the inquisition which is a little bloodcurdling. An olive branch for forgiveness (repent and all is well), the cross in the centre and to the right, a sword if repentance is not forthcoming. Might is Right then when you've got God on your side. More chilling was the building in the little square near the headquarters. In various spots on the stone wall there are blocks of stone with inscriptions in hebrew. Once the Jews had been driven out of Barcelona their cemetery proved to be a convenient quarry/ancient form of recycling and homes were constructed using the headstones. We went via the Placa de Sant Jaume where the Barcelona government buildings are and learned why the flag of Barcelona includes the English red cross on white along with the yellow and red Catalonia flag. It is to honour Sant Jordi (St George) who is the patron saint of Catalonia. The references to St George occur in many places in Barcelona... not least of which in the works of the architect Gaudi who was a staunch supporter of Catalan Independence (or depending how you look at it, a return to the way Catalonia was before the Castillian kings took over, banned the language, scrapped the institutions and made it part of Spain....) Not a lot of love lost for Spain here in Barcelona. We visited the Placa del Rei where the Palace is, went around the Cathedral and even climbed a mountain (what a tour!) Mind you Mont Taber was barely noticeable - just a plaque on the ground in the spot which was once the highest point in Barcelona - a towering 16.9m. What was more interesting was the building next to the plaque which contained, in their original spot, the remaining four columns of a Roman Temple to Augustus. There is now a small viewing room where you can sit and look up and marvel at having a roman temple in your house. We finished the tour (finally) at Eglesia de Santa Maria del Mar (Church of Saint Mary of the Sea). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_del_Mar,_Barcelona). What we liked about this church, aside from the peace, tranquility and fabulous architecture, was that it was built for the people and by the people. Started in the 1300s, people who could afford to give money, did and people who couldn't contributed their skills and if all else failed, their labour, lugging the massive stone blocks to the site. The tour finally completed and with more history and stories and photos than two heads could possibly contain we zipped home on the metro like the seasoned Barcelonan residents we have already become. Rest Day Tomorrow!