OH MY GAUDI

(The title is inspired by you, Riccardo.)

Thanks to Riccardo and Marina, I arrived at the Nice airport in time for my flight to Barcelona.  Riccardo was going to escort me on the train, but the train we planned to take was cancelled.  So they drove me to the airport instead.  Without their kind hospitality, I surely would have missed my plane!  They are very lovely people.

I love Barcelona.  It's a vibrant and beautiful city that attracts a very healthy tourist trade, even at this time of year.  I got a nice, reasonably priced hotel in a great location with a balcony and this view.

That little splotch of blue on the horizon is the Mediterranean Sea.  

Everywhere you walk in this city, there is architectural beauty.

But I think nothing tops the highly imaginative designs of Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926), who left his creative imprint all over this city.  I'm here for only five days, and I'm sure I could devote all that time to just seeing his work.  But I chose just two of his most notable structures to tour.   The first is the amazing Casa Batllo'.

The house was originally built by one of Gaudi's teachers; then Gaudi was commissioned to refurbish it by the new owners, the Batllo family, who wanted a showcase home on the prestigious Passeig di Gracias.

Gaudi's designs are all about geometric shapes patterned after nature, light, color, texture and ergonomics.  I picked a few of the many photos I took to show you examples of his unique design style.

This is a fireplace--there is a single seat on one side and a double on the other, said to be designed for seating a couple and their chaperone.

These are the windows in the second floor living room that allowed the family to view the street traffic.  

This is the ceiling light in the living room.  Here and throughout this house, you can see shapes and colors that evoke images of the sea.

There is a central well that brings outside light into every room.  This well is tiled in blue, and from top to bottom the blue is shaded from darker to lighter to account for the varying intensity of the light.

This is the section of the laundry room where "intimates" were hung to dry behind sheets of sheer drapery.

Gaudi's use of ceramic and glass are displayed in these colorful wall flower pots on the terrace.

A close-up of one of the wall flower pots.  The use of pieces of broken ceramic and glass is a Gaudi innovation.

The terrace is a showplace for Gaudi's ceramic and grillwork designs.

Even the chimneys have a unique design and colorful flair.

An example of Gaudi's attention to ergonomics is this door handle, designed to perfectly fit the hand.

Gaudi's staircases are all about spirals, a shape found often in nature.

There are beautiful wood doors, windows and stair railings throughout this unique house.  Each apartment in the house was assigned a letter rather than a number.

I've seen photos of this house before, but it needs to be experienced to fully appreciate the creative genius of Antoni Gaudi.

PROUD PATRIOTS OR TOURIST TRAP?

Seborga is a small town of less than 400 people that has been the subject of bickering at various times in history between the French, the Italians, and the Benedictine monks.  In the mid-1950's, the citizens proclaimed their town a principality, independent of the Italian Republic, claiming an invalid annexation by the King of Sardinia in 1815.

So this little town has its own national flag....

And mints its own coins, which are used only within its boundaries

And has its own military police (not sure if there are only these two or more)....

And they've had an elected prince since 1963, who has purely symbolic functions.

It's a pretty little town with the arched passages that are so typical in this area.

And a couple of picturesque churches.

And the usual feline residents basking in the warm Ligurian sun.

On this particular Sunday, there was a memorial ceremony taking place for the fallen partisans of the World Wars.  The men with the feathers in their hats were members of the Alpine military unit during the Second World War and after.

The town mayor presided over the ceremony.  Yes, they have a prince AND a mayor, both of whom are quite young.

The view of the sea from the town is quite breathtaking.

At first I was pretty impressed with the chutzpah of this handful of Italians, declaring independence from the Italian Republic, but then Riccardo told me that most people thought it was just a "put on" to lure tourists to the area.  There is no real defiance here--the laws of Italy are not being violated or defied.  Whether this is an example of stubborn patriotism or a clever ploy to trap tourists is a moot argument.  Whatever it is, it's working for this little spot in the hills of Imperia.

And even if it is just a ploy, the spectacular views on the drive up the hairpin mountain curves to get there make it worth the trip.  (That's Monaco on top of the hill closest to the sea.)

In the afternoon, Riccardo and I went to listen to a choir concert at a church in Bodighera.  Marina was singing with this choir, and their performance of the Gabriel Faure' Requiem was excellent.  In the evening, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner of fresh seafood at a seaside restaurant we had visited the last time I was here.

All in all, a perfectly lovely day in perfectly lovely Liguria.

LOVELY LIGURIA

I'm back in lovely Liguria once again.  I know I keep falling in love with different areas of Italy--I am so fickle--but this is truly an area that takes my breath away.  I am constantly sighing at the vistas of sea and mountain, married together as they are in this region.

I am the guest of my friends Riccardo and Marina again, and, as usual, they are the perfect host and hostess.  Riccardo had planned tours of the area, and Marina cooked more of her delicious Liguarian dishes, including a couple of favorites from my last visit.

On Saturday, Riccardo and I toured some small towns in the Nervia Valley.  Our first stop was Pigna, a small hill town of only 930 or so people, named for the coniferous trees that surround it.  There wasn't much to see, but I always enjoy walking around these little mountain hamlets, just to soak up the local color.

And photograph the town cats.

And the town fountain.

With its unusual spouts.

Per usual, there is always a church to visit--here the Church of San Michelle.

With a zoom in, you can see Saint Michael dispatching the devil.

And inside this one, there were some treasures to be found.  This is a polyptych created by the famous Italian painter Giovanni Canavesio in 1500.

This colorful Madonna looked sad-eyed to me, but Riccardo saw astonshment.

There were also several beautiful stained glass windows.

There are sulphur springs here, and someone decided this would be a great place to build a spa, but it didn't look like business was very brisk.  Who wants to sleep in a place that smells like rotten eggs?

From Pigna, there is a wonderful view of another small hill town, Castel Vittorio, perched higher on the mountain.   There are only about 400 people who live here.

In a store selling local products, I saw bags of Pigna beans that sold for 10 euro a half kilo--thats about $13 USD for about 1.1 pounds.  Those must be really good beans.  The store wasn't open, or I would have been tempted to buy some.  

We ended our valley tour with a quick look at the small town of Buggio, population around 70.

Including the town of Isolabona, which we drove though, and the towns we toured on my last visit, Riccardo says I can now claim to have seen every hamlet in the Nervia Valley!

Saturday evening, we were dinner guests of Angelica, Riccardo's friend from language school, and her mother, Bea, whose work of art I showed on a blog from trip here in June.  I wish I spoke better Italian, because I would love to learn more about the life of this intelligent, talented woman--I feel a great affinity with her, and I can't even explore it beause of my limited language skills.  I felt honored that she remembered that I was returning to Liguria this month and extended this gracious invitation.

PARMA

My Ligurian friend Riccardo has three daughters, one of whom lives in Parma, and he asked her if she would be willing to show me her city.  Chiarra graciously consented, and greeted me at the train station at around noon.

Parma is a city of 187,000, famous for its cheese, prosciutto ham, and its architecture.  I ate the cheese and prosciutto, but I can show you some of the architecture.

Our first stop was the Palazzo della Pilotta, built by the Farnese duchy in the 16th century.  It houses a library, two museums, a theater, and an art gallery.

This is another of Parma's theaters.

The Town Hall and Governor's Palace

Me and my constant travel companion Guisseppe Girabaldi.  I can count on meeting him everywhere I go in Italy.

This sculpture in the main piazza, titled Lying Woman, was created by Colombian artist Fernando Botero.

In the Camera di Sao Paola at what once was a convent, there is a dome by Correggio, who spent most of his career at Parma.  The abbess of St. Paul Convent commissioned Correggio to do this ceiling decoration in her private dining salon.

Construction began on Parma's Bapistry late in the 12th century.  It is built of pink Verona marble in an octagonal shape and is considered to be an important example of the transition from Romanesque to Gothic architecture.

The dome is amazing.  The 16 rays coming from the center correspond with 16 alcoves below.  Each descending row of the four decorating the dome tells a different story.

This is Parma's Cathedral, circa12th century, not as impressive on the outside as some cathedrals.

But Inside the cathedral is majesty.

And this dome fresco, The Assumption of the Virgin, was created by the famous Parmagiani, Correggio, in 1530.  It is said to be the inspiration for the illusionist ceiling paintings of the 17th century Baroque period.

This palace was built by the ruling Farnese family in the early 1600's.  Today it serves as the headquarters for the provincial military police and their forensics unit.  Seems a shame, because it would make a beautiful hotel, don't you think?  The surrounding ground is a public park.

It was a lovely afternoon and I'm grateful for the guidance of Riccardo's lovely daughter in acquainting me with the highlights of Parma.  

FERRARA WITH FRIEND

Last week I met two very nice Australian women, and one of them joined me for an afternoon trip to Ferrara.  Maggie is from Sydney and is an attorney with the very interesting job of defending university students.  She handles a wide variety of cases from traffic violations to criminal charges and enjoys her job so much that she doesn't want to retire.  I don't meet many people who are that enthusiastic about continuing to work!

Ferrara, population 132,000, is only 50 kilometers northeast of Bologna, so it was a short trip by train, only 30 minutes, and a short walk of 15 minutes into town.  It was around 3 p.m. when we entered the city center, and the restaurants and trattorias were closed for lunch, so we had a really bad microwaved lunch at a small cafe.

Because Maggie was leaving the next day and needed to go back early to finish packing, we didn't do a lot of sightseeing.  We did spend some time browsing around Castello Estense, a 14th century medieval castle in the center of the city.

Complete with moat....

And drawbridge...(introducing Maggie)

And internal courtyard.

There is also a very beautiful 14th century cathedral in the main piazza of Ferrara, Basilica Cathedrale di San Giorgio.

  

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so I borrowed these photos from the Internet.

After treating ourselves to a delicious gelato, we headed back to the train station and Bologna.

Short trip, short blog!