Palau Güell re-opens after lengthy restoration. Access is restricted due to fire regulations, see details of the Palau Güell and how to get tickets here…
A festival of affection: roses, books and love on Saint George’s Day in Barcelona.
20 AprIf you’re in town over the Easter weekend, Saturday is Saint George’s Day –the Patron Saint of Catalunya– and the streets will be full of stalls selling roses and books, as well as excited, happy people enjoying this traditional Catalan festivity. It’s a kind of local Valentine’s Day.
This is one of Catalonia’s most popular festivities and people throughout the principality enjoy spending their time browsing the stalls to buy a book and a rose as gifts for their partner or, if they don’t have one, for someone else they love. Traditionally, a man would give a rose to his partner and she would give him a book, but nowadays people give both to their partners and other loved ones as a token of affection.
Roses for Saint George's Day
Barcelona’s streets are beautiful on Saint George’s Day; the colourful rose stalls and booksellers’ stands are everywhere, bargains and best-sellers abound –popular authors madly signing copy after copy– and the balconies are decked with the gold and red of the Catalan Flag. If you have a walk around, you’ll probably see rose stalls belonging to NGOs or charities, perhaps you might prefer to buy from these rather than some of the more commercial stalls.
Perhaps you can give a loved one a pleasant surprise as a fond remembrance of your stay in Barcelona.
Saint George, Palau de la Generalitat, Carrer Bisbe
The tradition of giving a rose on Saint George’s day is said to date from the 15th century Festival of Roses, celebrated on the 23rd of April by which time Saint George was firmly established as an important Saint and when the sculpture you can see on the façade of the Palau de la Generalitat in Carrer Bisbe was made.
The rose bedecked Palau de la Generalitat is open to the public on the 23rd of April, so this is your chance to see Marc Safont’s wonderful Gothic architecture on the Ceremonial Stairs, Gothic Gallery and the Chapel of Saint George, and Pere Mateu’s Pati dels Tarongers, all hidden behind the Neo Classical Façade. The Sardana national dance is widely performed on this day.
Gothic Gallery, Palau dela Generalitat
Saint George appears in several accounts of battles in Catalunya –naturally on the winning side– and Jaume I mentions the Saint’s contribution to the conquest of both Mallorca and Valencia.
This may seem strange to some because Saint George, as the first Crusaders discovered in the 11th century, was known to the Saracens as the Green Knight and appears several times in the Koran, as well as in many popular legends in which he rescues damsels from dragons.
The name George means farmer, or person who cares for the land, and the saint has always been connected with the springtime and is a protector of the harvest. It is perhaps also for this reason, along with his legendary penchant for rescuing damsels in distress from marauding dragons, (a rose bush is said to have grown from the dragon’s spilt blood) he is associated with the romantic gift of a spring rose. Perhaps also George’s connection with husbandry is the reason the roses all come with an ear of wheat, usually tied to the stem with a little ribbon of Catalan Flag.
The gift of the book on National Book Day is a much more recent tradition, beginning in 1926 throughout Spain. The 23rd of April was chosen because it was the date of Cervante’s death. Although the custom disappeared in many areas of Spain , the practice soon became popular in Catalonia and quickly became part of its Patron Saint’s Day, its origin soon forgotten.
Have a nice day!
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Palm branches, Messi, SpongeBob and Chocolate: it’s Easter in Barcelona.
14 AprPalm branches, Messi, SpongeBob and Chocolate: it’s Easter in Barcelona.
Take a walk down the always pleasant Rambla de Catalunya in Barcelona –arguably the city’s finest street– and during these days you’ll see stalls both sides of the central promenade.
Palmes, elaborately woven palm branches for Palm Sunday
And on the stalls, wrapped in plastic to protect their pristine perfection, are palm fronds, some plain and some woven into amazingly elaborate shapes. These are the “palmes” that are taken to mass on Palm Sunday to be blessed.
Traditionally, young girls would carry the woven palm branches and boys and older girls and adults the long branches or “palmons”.
Your godmother would make a gift of the palm branch. You would then buy the ribbons and decorations you can see on the stalls, and decorate your branch before taking it to Mass. Decorations are usually sweets and little pink and white sugar figures.
On leaving church, everybody would repeatedly crash the base of their palm onto the ground, splintering it.
This year Palm Sunday is on the 17th of April.
Stalls selling Palmes, Palmons and Easter Decorations on Rambla Catalunya
Messi Chocolate Boot
Another great tradition is the “Mona de Pasqua” or Easter Cake. Originally made as a true sponge (using no fat) and decorated with a hard boiled egg, the Mona was given by the godfather to his godchildren. This gift was made every year, using an egg for each year of the child’s life, until they reached the age of twelve when children would usually make their first communion. The “Mona” symbolised the end of the dietary restrictions of Lent. Over the years, the hard-boiled egg was replaced by a chocolate one and, “monas” became increasingly elaborate. Today in these commercial times, they are carefully prepared to make the most of the current consumer fads and trends and much ingenuity is invested in making the most unusual and desirable edible creations.
Kung-Fu Castle for Easter
Thus you’ll see Messi and his Golden Boot, SpongeBob, Pirates of the Carribbean and many more popular figures, all made of chocolate and icing and waiting for indulgent godparents to greedily snap them up and give them to the youngsters who will just as greedily devour them.
The Barcelona Chocolate Museum also has workshops and exhibitions on chocolate eggs and Easter “Mones”.
La Casita Blanca is no more…
5 FebLast week one of Barcelona’s most legendary institutions closed its doors forever. True to form, La Casita Blanca closed with absolute discretion, not a word was slipped out to the press until after the fateful day. After 100 years of discreet, service, Barcelona’s prime refuge for clandestine lovers will perish at the hands of the Council’s demolition mob.
You dear reader, may not have heard of La Casita Blanca nor know what it was and why it occupied such a place in popular imagination, so in a few lines…
In the beginning…
A hundred years ago, there was a small restaurant, just by Plaça Lesseps, where they served seafood. After a large lunch, diners could pop upstairs and stretch out on a clean, fresh bed for the afternoon siesta in one of several rooms available. This quickly became popular and more and more couples began to frequent the restaurant, cursorily grab a quick bite and then rent the bedrooms for their afternoon “nap”.
In fact, the service was soon so popular that when the old building was knocked down and the current one –due for demolition this spring– was built in 1912, a chap from Vilafranca called Sendra bought it and devoted it wholly to renting out furnished rooms for couples. In fine Catalan tradition, the business has remained in the family until this week. Thus, the famous Barcelona meublé was born – a furnished room rented out for people to have sex in. I suppose using a cod French word made it sound a bit finer.
As time goes by…
While many of these popped up in seedy areas and were used mostly by professionals and their clients, La Casita Blanca, famous for its absolute discretion and exemplary cleanliness, was a popular place for unmarried couples and clandestine lovers.
The place got its name from the bold advertising strategy it employed.
The freshly washed and spotlessly clean bed sheets were hung out to dry rooftop terrace.
In days when people were rightly terrified of contagion, this public policy gave the place its name, and a good one at that.
Despite its fame and popularity, for years La Casita Blanca was a completely safe haven for those navigating the rocky waters of extramarital sex. During the early part of the last century, extramarital sex was regarded much as corruption and venality is viewed by today’s politicians and businessmen –the only sin involved is that of being discovered. Means were needed to avoid public exposure of a popular pursuit.
During Franco’s time, a couple could not check into an hotel together without showing their “Family Book” and ID to prove they were a married couple.
Where to go was the question on everyone’s minds.
Friends’ flats were not always an answer. The doorkeepers, peering from behind lace curtains in their cubicles, kept a close eye on the toing and froing in the bourgeois buildings of the Eixample and were notorious police informers.
Women were especially vulnerable of course. Discovery for a man could be embarrassing, problematical and might affect his career, but would not often be catastrophic.
On the other hand, discovery of a clandestine affair and public exposure could easily mean a woman’s total ruin and permanent social exclusion.
So, as market leader with a fine business head and sense of purpose, Mr Sendra set up an effective system for protecting La Casita Blanca clients’ privacy. Both entry and exit was organised in such a way that no two clients ever bumped into each other. The garage, by means of an ingenious traffic light system, ensured that no two cars or taxis ever crossed paths and, once inside, were literally blanketed off from each other by moveable orange hangings.
Inside the labyrinthine corridors and hallways, strategically placed doors made a couple certain of complete discretion and no two clients ever suffered the embarrassment of meeting face to face inside the 2000 m2 building. To leave the room, clients would ring the bell marked “S” if they wished to leave on foot, or “T” if they required a taxi to pick them up in the garage. “C” brought the highly trained (more than a year’s apprenticeship was required) and trustworthy waiter… All transactions were done in cash; no cheques or later credit cards were accepted as part of the policy of discretion. (Because of this one unsuccessful attempt at robbery was made some twelve years ago.)
Part of the service was a post-match briefing for married men. On leaving the room, a man who had “popped out to see the match” was given a run down on the game’s highlights and could see the day’s scores displayed on a blackboard. Armed with this information, the disloyal and deceitful husband was sure of not putting his foot in it when, on entering the lift with his lawfully-wedded, he was greeted by a cheery neighbour with comments on the extraordinary events of yesterday’s encounter.
La Casita Blanca was strictly traditional in its approach. Only mixed couples over 23 years old were accepted, thus avoiding possible prosecution under the “social danger” laws directed at homosexuals or accusations of corruption of minors.
Rooms were traditional, too.
Not for La Casita Blanca the oriental extravagances of the common brothel.
The 43 rooms were done out in classical kitsch style, dark woods, red plush hearts, mirrors everywhere…
These days when kisses of all kinds are no longer clandestine, when youngsters ask who Franco was and gape at the stories their elders tell of fighting (often in the streets) for the right to love freely, La Casita Blanca was until last Monday, providing food for 30 families and pleasure for uncounted multitudes. The council is on record as laughing –literally laughing aloud during a plenary session– in the face of the staff spokesman who officially asked for a reprieve; but, this may be fair dealing as the whole of Barcelona often rightly laughs at this council’s antics.
You can read more stories and legends of Barcelona here…
Tags: Barcelona, barcelona tourist information, eixample, stories and legends of Barcelona
La Boquería market
20 Jan
La Boquería or Sant Josep Market
The Boqueria Market (or Sant Josep) market is the most well know and spectacular of the 39 food markets in Barcelona and the largest in Europe.
Located just off the Rambla between Carme and Hospital streets, the Boquería Market is a riot of colour and activity and is now a major tourist attraction.
The Boqueria Market is said to have taken its name from the place where goats (boc, in Catalan) were slaughtered and their flesh sold. The city gate by this site was known as the Boqueria Gate.
Fruit Stall in the Boquería
The first thing you see when entering Boqueria Market from the Rambla are the fruit stalls on either side of the main alley. An incredible array of colourful fruits tempt the thirsty visitor, especially as they’re so nicely presented and packed for quick consumption.
You can take your choice from pre-packed, ready to eat fruit salads, pineapple, mango, kiwi and a seemingly endless range of exotic fruits and fruit juices.
These stall have now started to offer tacky sweets and other stuff, which is a bit of a shame.
Just off this main alley you can buy all the same stuff at a more reasonable price, especially if you can do without the packaging. But it certainly is a sight worth seeing.
The market is (more or less) organised; fruit and veg to the outside, then pickles, olives, grains and pulses.
Then come the stalls selling meat chicken and offal (incredible displays of innards, brains, whole heads, trotters, tongues, tripe, gonads, goolies and gizzards).
Shell fish at the Boquería
The inner circle is devoted to fish, fresh, preserved and shellfish. And what a selection! A friend of mine, an international chef working in Britain and Switzerland, had never seen anything like it. “I wouldn’t know where to go to see fish like this.”, he said goggle eyed at the tuna two foot across. And indeed, it’s outside most people’s experience to see everyday shoppers snapping up a moving lobster or seeing the lady of the stand hitting the mussels to make sure they stay closed and fresh.
The salt cod stands are curious, too. You can see the cod’s progress through the various baths. It starts as a rock hard piece of salt incrusted fibre, and, when complete, it has become a succulent chunk of three-inch thick cod steak.
Delightful in batter or in one of the traditional Catalan sauces.
Take a glance at the spice stalls and you’ll think you’ve been magically transported from Boqueria Market to Marrakech.
Marvel at the varieties of wild mushrooms, fresh and dried…
Bar Pinotxo
Don’t miss a drink and bite to eat at the justifiably world-famous Pinotxo, a bar just to the right of the main entrance.
A timeless classic, Pinotxo –written up in newspapers, food magazines and guides the world over– has just a dozen or so stools, no written menu and turn over is pretty quick at lunch-time with the next row of punters hungrily peering over your shoulders to see what’s on offer.
The owner Juanito, or one of his acolytes, will sing out what’s choice for the day.
In fact, Pinotxo is always busy, and an early, hefty breakfast there among a crowd of weary but happy fellow debauchees has helped me recover from a long night out far too often…
Owner Juanito Bayen is a charming and joyous character in his striped waistcoat and bow tie. He always has a smile and a cheery word for his customers and is on top of the whole show, sorting out orders in given in broken Spanish with a Japanese or German accent and quickly passing them on his nephew Albert, the cook.
If you love good food and great character, you’ll love Pinotxo.
Read more about things to see and do in Barcelona, here.
Tags: Barcelona, boquería market, shopping in barcelona, things to do in barcelona
