Barcelona Photoblog

March 07, 2007

Iberians: On the Track of my Ancestors

Iberians: On the Track of my Ancestors
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What do you see? An intense blue, some tiny trees and stones, silent stones. How old can these stones be?...Here I am leaning on a crumbling wall and pointing with my camera at the horizon pretending in vain to see the same my ancestors saw from this very spot at some other time. Maybe, who knows, they were fearing that invaders showed up at any moment behind those walls. My body, a microoscopic drop of water in this weird universe is standing right now in Pre-Roman "Spain". I am touching the foundations of an Iberian town buried here for hundreths of years. These rocks have witnessed so many things!...if only they could tell me. A complete village surrounded by two defensive walls in the middle of a vast valley in the Catalan province of Lleida or Lltirta in early Iberian times. The exact place: El Molí d'Espígol (Tornabous, Lleida)

March 06, 2007

Monument to the Martyrs of 1809

Monument to the Martyrs of 1809
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This is the Monument to the Martyrs of 1809, at Garriga i Bachs Square in the Gothic Quarter (Barri Gotic) of Barcelona. It honors the memory of men executed during Napoleonic occupation (see Napoleonic Wars). The bronze sculpture was made by Josep Llimona and the wall relief by Vicenç Navarro in 1941.
PS: By the way I hope FC Barcelona players don't look as dead and cold as these statues when they visit Liverpool tonight to stay in the Champions League tournament.

March 05, 2007

Almond Tree Flowers in the Early Spring

Almond Tree Flowers in the Early Spring
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To start the new week a refreshing image of the fast upcoming spring: an almond tree as taken yesterday somewhere in Catalonia. Notice that the flowers are not mere blossoms but they are fully grown. It has been a spring day, a hot spring day in fact as I had to wear a T-shirt for a while. I hope these almond tree flowers give those of you enduring a bad weather something to dream on in the meantime. Hey, this is intended to make you happy not to make anybody feel envious!

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