s/v Milly: Happy Days in Barcelona Pre COVID-19

This 60th birthday celebration took place in vibrant and tourist-packed Barcelona in October, 2019. It is unbelievable to imagine in March 2020 when I finally post this, that Barcelona's streets are empty and health and life are threatened. It may seem heartless to write of my wonderful birthday celebration mere months ago, but it is with a gratefulness that we were able to enjoy the tremendous city with those we love and a belief and hope that life will again resume at perhaps a new normal. Thinking of the people of this vibrant city with hope for a timely recovery!

Just a little happy to have my two children for a visit to celebrate the big 60!

And to explore the city with two dear friends, Anne & Rob! Here in the Barri Gotic.

It was my 60th birthday! Friends and children were coming all the way from Toronto to celebrate with me in Barcelona. What an amazing gift! I felt very special. First Anne and Rob came, then Tom, Em and Gid. They all overlapped for a day of celebrating - eating at the famed Bodega 1900 where were presented with tapas after tapas at the discretion of the chef after opening with an olive sized ball that exploded in our mouths with oily richness (Strict directions were given that we were not to take a bite of it but pop it right in our mouths). We tramped around the forever interesting walking city, exploring neighbourhoods, parks, esplanades, architecture punctuated with eating and drinking at restaurants, cafes, bars, bistros and even on Milly.

Mercat de la Boderia, reportedly the best in Spain, was packed mainly with tourists. There is a certain etiquette to follow when inside. No touching, no bartering.

You could eat a full meal by going around to the various stalls of eye-candy. Here were olives galore and kebabs of olive, peppers, anchovy, tomato, etc. Anne recommended the Gilda - delicious.

The hanging bunches of dried peppers were reminiscent of Turkey.

Just a bit of red meat - ham, actually. Legs and legs of it.

And some calamari, shrimp, sardines, anchovies in paper cones for snacking.

Urchins and oysters

And eggs of all sizes including ostrich with a reminder not to touch.

Peter's favourite lunch, hence, the photo. Pinchos, Spanish take on the open face sandwich with every kind of combination of delectables from tortilla and cheese to blood sausage and artichoke. You pick what you want and they charge you by the number and shape of the toothpicks holding the pieces together. So simple, so good!

And then there were a few meals on Milly. Always fun to have additional chefs in the galley.

It was wonderful!!

From the cable car that goes from the port to Montjuic passing over the marina. Milly is somewhere in the top left corner. The super yachts were lined up closer to the showers. We had to walk quite a distance from the cheap - not really - seats.

Milly was happy, too, docked among the super yachts at Port Vell between the foot of the famous, but a bit disappointing and crass, Las Ramblas and the cool beach neighbourhood of La Barceloneta.

Barcelona is a unique city, largely because of the early 20th century artists and architects who made the city their own, the most famous of which is Antoni Gaudi.

Palau Guell, owned by an early patron of Gaudi's, commissioned him to redesign his family home. Apart from the street level floor it's rather plain from the outside. The bars on the windows are placed in such a way that the person inside can see out but the plebs on the outside cannot see the elegance within.

And it is amazing complete with an organ, lights, incredible carved wood ceilings, walls and doors.

And then there are the famous and now iconic chimneys.

The front entrance is guarded by a scary looking bird who looks starving enough to peck an intruder's head off! Among many, many talents, Gaudi was skilled at iron work.

Even the lamp posts in Placa Real in the old city are Gaudi.

Casa Batllo on the Passage de Gracia

Casa Amatller. Not a Gaudi design but another architect who contributed to the same period. Amatller made his wealth in chocolate from Cuba. We opted for a wonderful tour inside instead of joining the hordes in Gaudi's Casa Batllo next door. The tour finished with a bowl of thick hot chocolate with bread chunks to dip.

Casa Batllo and Casa Amatller

Casa Mila is an apartment block with typical Gaudi droopy, drippy stonework and rounded edges. The balcony railings were amazing!

More Gaudi at Parc Guell. Unfinished when Gaudi was killed by a tram, it was designed as a whimsical housing development. The colourful parts were largely inaccessible for restoration but it still drooped with Gaudi-ness - viaducts, winding staircases, and grottoes.

Gaudi lived in the park before moving to the cathedral. He chose an austere, deeply religious lifestyle in a beautiful location.

And, of course, the climax of Gaudi style is the still unfinished, one-of-a-kind temple, Sagrada Familia, which tells a story on the inside and out with innumerable statues and gargoyles and - all kinds of stuff.

Gaudi died after being hit by a tram when the cathedral was still largely unfinished. He had known the building was going to take longer than his lifetime. Architects are attempting to finish the cathedral in his style and according to his drawings. It scheduled to be completed in 2026.

When complete, it's spires will be the tallest structure in Barcelona. Gaudi stressed that they could not be taller than Montjuic, the city hill - any creation of man should not be taller than God's creation.

The nativity facade with every conceivable depiction of the main event including what I, the pagan, would call a Christmas tree.

The inside is awe-inspiring. Light pours through stained glass windows - different colours for different times of the day. The pillars look like trees - trees of life - reaching for the incredible ceiling and complete with branches.

There is symbolism everywhere. You could take a full day, week, month, year to study it all. There is nothing simple about this place but it's fascinating in it's extravagance.