Sant Felip Neri

Sant Felip Neri is one of our best kept secrets, although it is increasingly visited by tourists, that are usually surprised when they find this little oasis in the middle of the Old Town.
Sant Felip Neri is one of those places where you can actually breathe the history of Barcelona. The baroque church, the Renaissance house...and the shrapnel marks on the facade of the church.
Do not be fooled: these are not the testimony of executions of priests during the Civil War, as some have tried to make us believe. These scars were caused by the bombs that Franco's National Aviation, with the help of the Italian fascist army launched over Barcelona 75 years ago now. The bombing, which was done in two shifts with the intention of making it more deadly, was one of the first to be made ​​over the civilian population instead of attacking military targets, and caused hundreds of deaths throughout Barcelona. Only in Sant Felip Neri 42 people were killed, many of whom were children who were trying to shelter from the bombing in the basement of the church.
All buildings in the area were destroyed, leaving only the facade of the church standing, and the area was later rebuilt, creating the little square, adapting two Renaissance facades to create two new entrances, bringing parts of buildings that had been sacrificed when the Via Laietana and the Pla de la Catedral was opened.
It is very important that the Sant Felip Neri remains as the oasis it is now, as it also is that we do not forget our history and pay respect to the victims by explaining the true facts of what happened here.

The Blue Tram - El Tramvia Blau

I know, I know, it is clearly something for tourists, but ...is there someone from Barcelon who never used the Tramvia Blau (Blue Tram)? And if there is, what is he waiting for?
I remember nothing that made me as happy as boarding the Blue Tram to, and then the Funicular to take me to the Tibidabo amusement park with my family!
Obviously, for me the most important thing was not that we were riding the only tram left in the city, or travelling in a wagon built in the early twentieth century, but getting closer to my dream destination, the amusement park. Specifically, the 1276 meters it takes, bridging a height gap of nearly 100 meters, from Kennedy Sq to Doctor Andreu Sq, who, for the record, was the driving force behind this tram line.
The Tramvia Blau was the only one circulating in Barcelona from 1971, after the other lines were replaced by buses, until 2004, when the Trambaix started to circulate. 
Of course, if someone came from another planet and saw these two trams, he surely would doubt that the modern tram along Diagonal Avenue and the old one in Av Tibidabo are individuals of the same species!

The dancing egg (L'ou com balla)

The main purpose of ​​this blog, as its name suggests, is to collect some things that are really typical in Barcelona. And the truth is that there must be few traditions that are more typical from Barcelona than l'Ou com balla (The dancing egg), held on the day of Corpus Christi. although it is also celebrated in other catalan cities and villages, this tradition has its origin in the Cathedral of Barcelona, and is known at least since 1673.

The idea of this celebration is to make an egg dance. The egg has previously been emptied, of course, and you can see it dancing in fountains of cloisters, courtyards and gardens that are decorated for the occasion with spring flowers and fruits.

If you have never seen it before, it is worth going to see the dancing egg, which moves playfully over the water. It is a simple but very mysterious ritual at the same time, which rememorates the consecrated host and has also clear references to the fertility of the egg.
The tradition was lost for a while and the city recovered it some years ago, so now you can go see the egg dance in various locations in Ciutat Vella, as the cloister of the Cathedral, la Casa de l'Ardiaca, l'Ateneu Barcelonès, the Archive of the Crown of Aragon or the Museu Frederic Marès.

Hydraulic mosaic of the Eixample

One of the things that amaze me of the houses of Barcelona are the mosaics of many floors of the Eixample. This pavement is closely linked to the Modernist movement, and for that reason it is so commonly found in Barcelona. It was a technique imported from France that was very popular among the families of Barcelona's high society.
One of the leading manufacturers was Escofet, who collaborated with architects as Domènech i Montaner and Gaudí in developing unique hydraulic mosaics, such as those found inside the Pedrera, hexagonally shaped and green-apple coloured, which later inspired the tiles of Passeig de Gràcia.
There was a time when many people, trying to be practical, covered these tiles with other materials such as wood flooring or ceramic which looked more "modern" and uniform. Fortunately, it now appears that there is some consensus in considering these ceramics positively and therefore make the effort to preserve them. Some have beautiful designs, others are more discreet, but they all have their charm, and are still produced using traditional methods, so can be considered unique pieces.
Those of you who have this kind of mosaic at home, take care of it and preserve it!

Santa Llúcia Fair

Is there any Barcelonian who, as a child, has not visited with his parents the fair of Santa Llúcia? And of course, bought there everything necessary for Christmas: the nativity figures, with the Caganer as undisputed big star, the Christmas tree, the moss, different kinds of plants and herbs...

Santa Llúcia, by the way, was a Sicilian martyr of the third century. The medieval legend says she was subjected to a trial in which she was punished and they took her eyes out, but miraculously she kept watching. That is why she is the patron saint of the blind and people with sight problems, together with the dressmakers and tailors, among other professions. Her festivity is celebrated on December 13.

This year the fair of santa Llúcia celebrates 225 years! It is one of the most deeply rooted and ancient Christmas traditions in Barcelona, ​​documented since 1786. In fact, years ago there were several fairs, with stalls placed together by type of goods sold. Over the time, however, they were united into a single one, and currently there are about 270 stalls altogether.

All the inhabitants of the city, of every social class, visited the fair sooner or later. It is said that it was a good place to arrange weddings!

For those who have not been there yet this year: it will be open until December 22, from 10:30 am to 8:30 pm. When the fair closes we will have to go to the one that is held at the Gran Via.

The Born market...always under construction

Contrary to what many people think, the Born market has not always been under construction!
Actually the building was completed in 1876 and it is, along with the San Antonio market, the main example of iron architecture in Barcelona. This was a popular architectural and construction trend of the second half of the nineteenth century, and arose thanks to the availability of new materials as an effect of the Industrial Revolution.

After the demolition of the citadel and walls of the city, Barcelona needed a market for the supply of fresh produce, mainly fruits and vegetables. The Born market was a very modern building: quite large, under cover and ventilated. This market was in use for a century, until Mercabarna opened in 1971. The location of the Born was obsolete and there was a need of a new market, more powerful and far from the city center.

And so the emblematic building of Born was left abandoned for 30 years, while someone figured out what to do with it. Finally it was decided that it should serve as the main building of the Provincial Library in Barcelona, ​​but the discovery of some remains of the medieval and modern city made the works stop. If everything goes as expected, it seems that in 2012 a cultural center will open there, and it will include the archeological site and a display of the War of Succession and the subsequent loss of freedoms of Catalonia.


That would be great, but it is a promise that has been progressively delayed since 2005, so I have some doubts about it. I start to think that those works will be forever!

The whale Ulisses

Remember the whale Ulisses? Together with the gorilla Floquet de Neu (Snowflake), he was probably the most famous inhabitant of our zoo.

Actually his fame soared when someone told us that he had become too big for the aquarium and the zoo of Barcelona, and he had to be moved to another location to prevent him from suffering. It was the year 1994 and the transfer was thoroughly prepared; it was followed by thousands of people on huge screens and broadcasted live by TV3. Everything was settled to make sure he had a nice trip to Sea World in San Diego, California.

Well, what has happened to our most beloved killer whale after all this time? Now Ulisses is 30 years old and is a little chubby (he has gained around 1300 kilograms since then). He recently became the father of a little whale (150 kilograms at birth) called Moana and born after in vitro fertilization. It turns out that the poor Ulysses has not been able to meet his daughter, who was born in a French aquarium.

Something that seems to be certain is that Ulysses will never come back to Barcelona. The agreement that was signed with Sea World stated that he and half of his offspring would return to Barcelona. Of course that was signed when it was thought that at this stage we would have a marine zoo big enough to accommodate a killer whale, which currently does not seem to be happening in the near future.

À la ville de...

Those of us who are old enough remember the 1992 Olympic Games and what they meant to Barcelona.

Those who are still a bit older can also remember that day 25 years ago, when Juan Antonio Samaranch opened an envelope and said in French "à la ville de ... ... (short dramatic pause dramatically) .... Barcelona! "

It is probably one of those moments that all who live in the city can remember, a day when Barcelona began a new path. Everyone has his own story that day, and I have mine:
as a 10 year-old, I was not aware of the meaning of all that, but I remember that the news ran fast at the school. Everyone was shouting, shooting soccer balls up in the air and running endlessly.


In the middle of all that inexplicable joy, there was a moment when I became aware of the importance of the day. And what made me realize that was something that happened for the first time in my life: our teacher gave us free time and we were allowed to read comics in class!

It was precisely then, reading a Tintin comic in class, when I realized the historical moment that we were living.