Casa Terrades - Casa de les Punxes to open soon

Let us end this 2015 - in which we have to admit we have been a bit lazy with the blog - with a good new: next year Casa Terrades (or Casa de les Punxes as barcelonians call it) will open to the public.

Complete restoration of the inner decor is being done and next year the visit of the building - including its amazing rooftops will be possible.

For now, you can enjoy the view of this incredible building by Puig i Cadafalch from the outside. It is in the way to Sagrada Familia and near other modernism landmarks as Casa Baró de Quadras (also in Avinguda Diagonal), so you have no excuse to miss it.

Information on Casa de les Punxes by Barcelona Turisme

Barcelona at your feet: pavement tiles (panots)

Barcelonins consider the floor tiles that cover most of the city streets one of their identity signs. Over the years, the interest in this humble pieces of the urban decor has increased. Now, their position as a symbol of Barcelona is well established.

Flor de Barcelona is the tile in the middle

You will find prints, t-shirts, chocolates, and all kind of gadgets bearing the "Flor de Barcelona panot". But this is not the only existing panot. In fact, it is said that 18 different tiles or panots cover the streets of Barcelona.

Some of these pavement tiles have been designed by top names in the architecture of Barcelona.

Flor de Barcelona is a design of Puig i Cadafalch

Or the Gaudí tiles that cover Passeig de Gràcia that, as you may have guessed, is made from a design of Antoni Gaudí.

    
If you want to buy a souvenir of Barcelona with a panot print, we suggest the following shops:


Panot Store (Carrer Banys Nous 20, very near Plaça del Pi): all kinds of lovely souvenirs with the Panot Flor de Barcelona print on them

Pastisseria Baylina (Passeig de Sant Joan near the corner with carrer Provença): chocolate panots

Bestiari inside the Centre Cultural Born: has some souvenirs bearing Panot de Barcelona and reproductions of the Gaudi pavement 

Gaudi pavement

Recovered pavement in Centre Cultural Born

For more details:

El Punt Avui on the Panot (Catalan)

Information on Panots published in La meva Barcelona (Catalan)


Article on Panots in Historia de Barcelona (Catalan)

MODERNISTA HOSPITAL DE SANT PAU: the photos I took in my visit

As promised, here are the photos. They may not be proffesional but I hope you will understand. My smartphone is not the top device available ...

You may learn more from Hospital de Sant Pau and its recent rehabilitation in: http://t.co/uRkiCIriML

The best crafstmen of their time worked in Hospital de Sant Pau

It was an innovative ensemble of building devoted to the medical care of the population

There is love for the detail in every piece of work

Amazing glasswork

Ironwork is also outstanding

One of the pavilions

The clock over the main building

Another pavilion: animals decorate gargoyles and ceramic work.

A must visit: MODERNISTA HOSPITAL DE SANT PAU (Domènech i Montaner)

You must have included Sagrada Familia in the visits you plan to do in Barcelona. That’s ok, of course. But you may not have included a visit to HOSPITAL DE SANT PAU. That’s wrong.

 

Sant Pau interior detail.
Photo by Jaume Meneses
(in Wikimedia Commons)
Photo Licence in Creative Commons

You really should try to spend some time there. It is not just a Hospital. It is one of the landmarks of the Modernista style and it was conceived by one of the greatest architects that had work in Catalonia, ever. Check Lluís Domènech i Montaner biography in Wikipedia Biography and you will be impressed. He is also the author of such a significant work as Palau de la Música Catalana.

Additionally, it is quite near Sagrada Familia, so you won’t have to spend a lot of time just moving from one place to the other.

And there is still and additional reason to visit HOSPITAL DE SANT PAU. A four-year rehabilitation has been done to make the pavilions recover their past glory. It still to be completed, but the main building and some of the pavilions have already been rehabilitated and are open to the public in paid visits.

In this City Council link some details on the rehabilitation works are given. Unfortunately, there is no English translation. I will translate just a small piece of text so you can see the rehabilitation goals: “The works in Sant Pau have been done following the original project thought by Lluís Domènech i Muntaner and built between 1905 and 1930. A work that did not end until six years after the death of the architect, and that could be finished because the architect’s son took charge of them. With the aim to keep the primary essence of the buildings, and exactly as if they were treating a human patient, the building have been taken the maximum care to preserve every architectural detail.”

Here is the link to the visit website, which also includes relevant data regarding the Hospital history (which dates back to the Middle Ages) and the Modernista buildings:

http://www.visitsantpau.com/en/

I will include some photos of my visit to the Hospital in a separate entry.  

COLMADO MURRIA

shopping, gourmet products, Catalan specialities

carrer Roger de Llúria, 85 (corner carrer València - two blocks away from Passeig de Gràcia)

http://www.murria.cat/

Tel.: 93 215 57 89

If you feel like buying excellent "Terrasses" Priorat wine or superb "El Nevat" goat cheese, Murria is the place to go. They also have plenty other products, catalan and international, all excellent quality. Prices are not low cost, of course, but their quality is worth the price you pay for it. Apart from that, Murria is modernist botiga and very worth seeing it. If you don't feel like buying anything, you still should drop by and have a look at the façana and the shop attendants.

El Fornet d'en Rossend

EL FORNET D’EN ROSSEND

(Quick bite)

Rambla Catalunya 82 (in the Eixample, very near Passeig de Gràcia, Pedrera & Casa Batlló)

 

Are you visiting the modernist sites in Passeig de Gràcia and would like to have a quick bite or sit for a while? Please, don’t spend your money in the overpriced eateries in Passeig de Gràcia.

 

Rambla Catalunya is just a few meters away and it is much more relaxing. You will see where barcelonians hide from the tourist crowd!

 

El Fornet d’en Rossed is very convenient if you want to eat something quick (salads, sandwiches). Quality is good and prices ok. They have a terrasse in Rambla Catalunya (self service, order inside) so you will enjoy a well deserved rest, while seeing barcelonians walk past.