Bite-Sized

After work today, I took my own little Moderniste tour of more beautiful buildings that are often overlooked even as they are right in front of our tourist eyes.  The first was Casa Macaya, a house designed in 1901 by Puig i Cadafelch.  

While the front of the house is simple, with painted designs, intricate stonework decorates the windows and the balcony.  To the left of the main entrance is a carving of a cyclist.  

This is a reference to the architect, who was simultaneously workig on Casa Amatller on Passeig de Gracia (on the Block of Discord by Gaudi's Casa Batllo) and hurried between his two projects on a bicycle.  As with nearly everything of interest in the city, this house is owned by La Caixa and apparently hosts many art exhibitions.

While on my way to my next stop, I passed this gem.  It's a beautiful house on a street of beautiful houses, and yet I can find absolutely no information on it, despite the distinctive "1908" design at the top.

All that I know about it was that the composer Eduard Toldra lived in the house for a bit.

For those of you who aren't Catalan music history buffs, Eduard Toldra Soler was a conductor and composer who founded the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra at the Palau de la Musica Catalana.  Pretty much the most beautiful place ever to work.  If I remember correctly from my visit to the Palau, Toldra lived in an apartment above the concert hall and had a private balcony looking down on the stage.  As the tour guide told it, he also had a dog who loved to "sing along".  Everyone was relieved when he moved out of the apartment and, apparently, to this new palace.

My next stop was Casa Granell, a colorful house built in 1901 by Jeroni Granell.  It has a gently curving front facade (see the shadows at the top) and then a perpendicularly undulating roof.

Up close and personal with Casa Granell.  See the delicate Mdoerniste floral designs?

I had the luck of seeing someone enter the house, which has a beautiful entrance hall and stairwell of stained glass and tile mosaics.

Another surprise was Francesc Cairo's house at Carrer de Girona, 132.  Built in 1909, it is yet another beautiful facade reminiscent of when Carrer Girona housed Barcelona's early 20th century bourgeoisie.

The nearby Casa Lamadrid is another reminder of that time period.

Domenech i Montaner, the architect, managed to make the most of the narrow facade using ceramics, decorative balconies, bands of contrasting colors, and a Gothic-inspired central turret bearing the date of construction.

 My final stop before heading home was Casa Thomas, another Domenech i Montaner masterpiece (he sort of hogged the area), commissioned by the printer Josep Thomas.

Thomas wanted a two-story building that could house his workshop on the ground floor and a residential area for his family onthe second floor.  Montaner contrasted the neo-Gothic facade with the use of floral elements, reptiles in the lobby, and delicately contrasting colors in a pattern on the facade.

Over the years, the upkeep of the building has been kept in the family; Montaner's son-in-law completed the renovation of the house and added the three upper floors (raising the turrets).

Hungry from some serious adventuring, I plunged into... another adventure!  Mission: Pintxos.  Pintxos are basically tapas placed on top of a small piece of bread (like a round slice of baguette) with a toothpick stuck into it.  Well, that's the typical format.  Once you know the basics, you can get creative.  Since food journeys need a guide, I entrusted myself to Euskal Etxea.

As with any good pintxos place, the majority of the restaurant is standing room at various bar ledges, with a few tables thrown in for groups.  You grab a plate from a stack and prowl the counter, picking up whatever strikes your fancy.

A lot struck my fancy.

Clockwise from top: Iberico ham on a croissant, a  giant mushroom croquette on bread, creamy crab with a slice of roasted red pepper and a slice of salty fish all on top of bread, a typical Spanish tortilla (potato omelet) slice with a spicy pepper all on top of bread, and a little crisp pastry shell filled with a sort of apple jelly filling topped with a light cheesy cream.

But my place at the bar meant I was also oggling lots of other options

A snowstorm of shredded cod (?) on top of bread

Some delicious-looking cheese topped with basil and some sort of fruit chutney

Peppers stuffed with a pate-like mixture, then garnished with greens

One of the beautiful things about pintxos places is that despite the myriad cold delights laid out like a buffet, they also serve hot pintxos.  Waitstaff sidled up with their latest wares, hot from the kitchen, and you grabbed or didn't.  I grabbed.

Hot chorizo on toasted bred.  Yum.

One of those stuffed pepper things, but hot and breaded.

As I waddled out into the night, I spotted a curious-looking statue with a flame on top.

This statue, which I later discovered is called Fossar de les Moreres, is a memorial plaza built over a cemetery where defenders of the city were buried following the Siege of Barcelona at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714.  It continues to bolster Catalan spirit by serving as a memorial to the Catalan soldiers who fell during the war and bears a poem by Federic Soler called "El Fossar de les Moreres."

Another perk of these wanders?  The absurd.
Spotted: A giant owl atop an otherwise very proper building.

Located at the corner of Avinguda Diagonal and Passeig de Sant Joan, the Rotulos Roura Company building serves as the perch of this giant owl with even more giant, glowing eyes.  In a past decade, it was an advertisement for the company, which sells and installs neon lighting.  Since 2003, though, the owl glows no more.