Along North Avenue, Chicago (Buildings)

By Saturday, the high heat of last week had disappeared, leaving too nice a day to spend too long at the Art Institute. So to return to meet Yuriko after her cake class near Humboldt Park, I took the El from the Loop to Damen station, got off and walked westward for about half an hour along North Avenue, instead of transferring to a bus.

I began at the North-Damen-Milwaukee intersection. The former Noel State Bank at 1601 N. Milwaukee Ave., I’m sorry to say, is now a former Walgreens, with the excellent building boarded up and slightly forlorn.

The handsome former North Avenue Baths (2041 W. North Ave.) has been home to a number of restaurants since its redevelopment some decades ago.North Avenue, Chicago

I didn’t investigate closely, but a spot called Vajra seems to be the first-floor occupant now, offering Indian and Nepalese food.

Continuing west. A slow parade of ordinary, but interesting buildings.North Avenue, Chicago North Avenue, Chicago North Avenue, Chicago

An intriguing former church.North Avenue, Chicago North Avenue, Chicago

At one time, it was St. Paul’s Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church (2215 W. North Ave.), as indicated on the building itself. As indicated online, it has been stuck in redevelopment limbo for some time now.

Oakley and North Ave. Oddly enough, Google Maps refers to Oakley as a boulevard south of North, but an avenue north of North.North Avenue, Chicago North Avenue, Chicago

Smaller structures, some with redevelopment potential.North Avenue, Chicago North Avenue, Chicago North Avenue, Chicago

Someone spent some money on both 2542-44 W. North Ave. and 2646-54.North Avenue, Chicago North Avenue, Chicago

Further west are newer developments, rather than redevelopments.North Avenue, Chicago North Avenue, Chicago

I spent some time with Google Street View, whose images of the site go back to August 2007, when whatever had been there had been razed, but the apartments weren’t in place. By March 2009, four stories had been finished — or at least the building skin was finished. At that moment, I’m sure construction had ground to a halt.

By June 2011, the developers had found the money to add another floor, which suggests to me that the interior probably wasn’t finished in 2009, either. The first-floor retail was vacant for a long time, with Be Kids Cafe appearing only by July 2019. Not good timing, but who knew?

“This is one of the few cafe/kids activity spaces in the city that is both fun for kids and great for parents,” said an early 2020 review. “Nicely made Metric coffee drinks, chill spot for parents to hang, and awesome climbing gym for kids.”

Metric coffee? Coffee by the kilo, I guess. A brand I didn’t know, but what I know about coffee brands would barely fill a cup.

Now the Etheria Cafe occupies the spot, opening early last year. It doesn’t actually sound all that different.

The corner is across from Humboldt Park which, sad to relate, has seen its homeless population rise even in the few months since we last visited.Humboldt Park, Chicago Humboldt Park, Chicago

Not a tent city, exactly, more like a village: 40 or so unfortunates, according to local reporting.

The Tower of History & Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church

It did me good today to learn that admission to the Tower of History, in real terms, costs only a little more than it did nearly 50 years ago. Sault Historic Sites, the nonprofit that owns the structure, obviously isn’t trying to gouge visitors. Or maybe that, as interesting as it is, the tower is in out-of-the-way place, and the market won’t bear a higher price.

In any case, a newspaper article from 1975 tells me that admission for an adult was $1.25 that year. When I visited on August 5 of this year, I paid $8. An inflation calculator tells me that $1.25 that year has the current purchasing power of $7.10.The Tower of History

Thus I paid a little over the rate of inflation for all those years, but not much; we can round up the sum to pay for more maintenance, since the tower dates from 1968. Looks like it, too. Concrete all the way up and down.The Tower of History The Tower of History

The tower was the first place I went after returning to the United States that morning. It stands 210 feet over the mostly low-rise city of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. As concrete towers go, it isn’t bad, but I didn’t come just to admire it from the ground. It’s an observation tower, and I’m a sucker for those. You’re paying for the views.

Such as of the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie to the north, across St. Mary’s River, the connector between Lakes Superior and Huron.Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

The international bridge, to the west.Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Part of the U.S. locks. Superior and Huron aren’t at the same elevation, with a difference of 23 feet, so the river has long been site of a canal, and indeed work is still under way enlarging the locks.Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

A docked ore carrier. More about that later.Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

The Michigan city, to the south.Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

In the 1960s, the Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, decided to build a tower to honor the missionaries who came to the Great Lakes once upon a time, and picked the site of a log cabin and chapel built by Fr. Jacques Marquette, S.J.

Shrine of the Missionaries, it was to be, as part of a larger complex that would have also included a community center and a new church building. The ballooning expense of the tower torpedoed the other plans, however, and the Diocese of Marquette acquired the tower, which it eventually donated to the nonprofit that runs it even now. Tower of History, I assume, was a secularization of the name.

St. Mary’s still stands a stone’s throw from the tower. I’m glad the handsome 1880s Gothic Revival church wasn’t replaced by an oddity from the 1960s.Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church

The church is also a pro-cathedral.Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church

We stepped inside. Nice. I was reminded a bit of the smaller, but equally colorful Painted Churches in Texas.Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church

Perhaps there is no air conditioning — I can’t say I checked — but if so, that makes for an interesting array of fans.Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church

It was good to be back in the UP.

Thunder Bay to Marathon, Ontario

On the first day of August, I made the acquaintance of Terry Fox. In bronze, anyway, and perhaps in spirit, since he’d been dead for over 42 years. Died very young; he’d be 65 now, had cancer not taken him away. A contemporary.

Apparently every Canadian knows who he was. Ignorant as I am, I didn’t, but I learned some remarkable things about him after seeing his memorial, which is just off the Trans-Canada Highway not far east of Thunder Bay.

It was a foggy morning in northwest Ontario. The memorial features Fox as a runner, which he was. But not just any runner.

He had only one leg, the other amputated to prevent the spread of osteogenic sarcoma, bone cancer, from his knee.

“In the fall of 1979, 21-year-old Terry Fox began his quest to run across Canada,” the CBC says. “He had lost most of his right leg to cancer two years before.

“[He] hatched a plan to raise money for cancer research by running across Canada. His goal: $1 for every Canadian. Fox’s plan was to start in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980 and to finish on the west coast of Vancouver Island on September 10. With more than 3,000 miles (5,000 km) of running under his belt, he was ready.”

So he ran almost every day early that year, gathering attention as he went. By the time he got to Toronto, the nation was watching. But he didn’t make it all the way to the West Coast.

“As Fox headed towards Georgian Bay, his health changed. He would wake up tired, sometimes asking for time alone in the van just to cry… On August 31, before running into Thunder Bay, Fox said he felt as if he’d caught a cold. The next day, he started to cough more and felt pains in his chest and neck but he kept running because people were out cheering him on. Eighteen miles out of the city, he stopped. Fox went to a hospital, and after examination, doctors told him that the cancer had invaded his lungs… He had run 3,339 miles (5,376 km).

“Terry Fox died, with his family beside him, on June 28, 1981… Terry Fox Runs are held yearly in 60 countries now and more than $360 million have been raised for cancer research.”

My goal that day was much easier: drive to the town of Marathon, Ontario, from Thunder Bay, about 300 km as things are measured locally. I actually like having road distances measured in kilometers on lightly traveled Canadian roads, since they seem to go by quickly. For example, 50 km to go? Ah, that’s only 30 miles. The conversion is easy to do in your head – half + 10%.

Though I have to stress that kilometers should have no place in measuring U.S. roads. Miles to go before I sleep; You can hear the whistle blow 100 miles; I’d walk a mile for a Camel. There’s no poetry to the metric system.

(The conversion of U.S. to Canadian dollars is pretty easy these days too: 75%, or half + 25%. That way a $20 meal magically costs only $15.)

East from the Terry Fox memorial is Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park, which I visited as an alternative to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, which is highly visible from Thunder Bay but which looks like an all-day sort of place. I preferred to spend the day on the road, stopping where the mood struck.Ouimet Canyon

Ouimet Canyon is striking. A easy walk of 15 minutes or so takes you to the canyon’s edge. Foggy that morning but worth the stop.Ouimet Canyon Ouimet Canyon Ouimet Canyon

There was another place to stop in the park: a pleasant river view seen from a bench not far from the road, but tucked away behind some greenery, so that the road seemed far away. There was virtually no traffic anyway. I sat a while and watched the world go by not very fast. Or at all. I had to listen carefully to realize just how quiet the place is.

Also, the fog had started to burn off. Temps were very pleasant, whether Celsius or Fahrenheit.Ouimet Canyon Ouimet Canyon Ouimet Canyon

The Trans-Canada is King’s Highway 11 and 17 at this stretch. Highway 11 eventually splits off and goes way around to Toronto, including Yonge Street, while highway 17 hews closer to Lake Superior, and is the longest highway in the province. It is the one I eventually drove all the way to Sault Ste. Marie.

Much of the roadside is uncultivated flora. I took this to be fireweed, which meant I was far enough north to see it. I saw it in a lot of places in this part of Ontario.Highway 17 Ontario

But sometimes fauna, of the non-wild sort.

I found lunch in Nipigon, pop. less than 1,500. I could have had my laptop repaired, if it had needed work, or bought worms and leeches, if I were in the mood to go fishing. I never am.Nipigon, Ontario

Nice church. The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Roman Catholic Church. Closed, of course.Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary,

Nipigon has an observation platform just off the highway, free and open to all, and completed only in 2018.Nipigon, Ontario

Naturally I climbed to the top for the vista. I need to do that kind of thing while I still can.Nipigon, Ontario

The Trans-Canada crossing the Nipigon River. Elegant, but with a troubled recent history.

The bridge was also completed in 2018. Or rather, it was reopened that year.

“[The reopening] comes nearly three years after the bridge, described as the first cable-stayed bridge in Ontario, failed in January 2016, just weeks after it opened,” notes the CBC. Oops. Apparently no one died as a result, so there’s that.

“Engineering reports found that a combination of design and installation deficiencies caused the failure, which effectively severed the Trans-Canada Highway. Improperly tightened bolts on one part of the bridge snapped, causing the decking to lift about 60 centimetres.”

Further to the east: Rainbow Falls Provincial Park. Another short walk to a nice vista. Another thing to like about this part of Canada.Rainbow Falls, Ontario Rainbow Falls, Ontario

All together, it was a leisurely drive, but even so I arrived in Marathon, pop. 3,270 or so, before dark – long summer days are a boon up north – and took in a few local cultural sights.Marathon, Ontario
Marathon, Ontario

Just the exterior of the curling club. Wok With Chow, on the other hand, provided me dinner that evening, inside and at a table. Good enough chow, and demonstrating just how deeply ingrained Chinese food is in North America.

Ramon, I Hardly Knew You

Going to a place like Spain reminded me of how ignorant I am of a place like Spain. How is it I knew little to nothing – except maybe the name, and that he was a painter – about Ramon Casas before I encountered his work up on Montserrat?

Which speaks of another spot of ignorance. I knew there was an art museum as part of the Montserrat complex, but I didn’t know anything about it. When I found out that our combination ticket included admission to the museum as well as the basilica and Our Lady of Montserrat, I figured we’d find a good collection of medieval art reflecting religious themes, as medieval art tends to do.

I was wrong. The Museum of Montserrat does indeed display some medieval works, but only in the first rooms, as well as a collection of varying images of Our Lady of Montserrat, plus Byzantine and Slavic icons. But there is also pre-Christian ancient artwork, and European paintings and sculpture from every century after the Middle Ages petered out, including the 21st. All together, about 1,300 pieces.

Less surprising is its large collection of Catalan art, and in one of those rooms I made the acquaintance of Casas. I could hardly miss him. Here’s a detail from the first painting I saw of his, “Madeleine” (1892).Ramon Casas

Wow. The museum has this to say (mechanically translated) about its Casas collection: “More than twenty works by Ramon Casas (1866-1932) are preserved in Montserrat… His works convey the atmosphere of Paris, with portraits in interiors where Casas focuses on the detail in the female figure, immersing the viewer in the actions and attitudes of the characters. On the other hand, they also reflect the painter’s taste for the folklore of the time, with ladies wearing mantellines, combs, shawls, and where bull races are frequent….”

I decided to take a few more detail shots of Casas’ work. In order: “La cigarreta” (1906), “La religiosa” (ca. 1920), and “Júlia” and “Cordovesa,” both undated.Ramon Casas Ramon Casas Ramon Casas Ramon Casas

More specifically, I wanted images of his female faces, of which he seems to capture their essential allure.

Basilica of Montserrat

On our way to the Basilica of Montserrat last month, I was pretty sure I’d found evidence of a Spanish post office nearby.Montserrat

The post office wasn’t on the same level as this bronze lion, but up the stairs next to the lion, then to the right. I got lucky, arriving 15 or so minutes before closing. I knew the word for postage stamp (segell) and some numbers, and encountered one of the few retail clerks on our trip who knew little English, but we soon worked things out, helped along (I think) by her good mood at being so near to quitting time, or at least office-closing time, and my good mood at being at the site of a centuries-old abbey in the mountains of Catalonia.

Also, I’d already addressed the cards, so it was easy for her to see where they were going. Soon the cards were winging their way to Texas, Illinois, New York and Tennessee. I wonder whether you can still send a telegram. My guess would be no.

The basilica’s front entrance.Montserrat

Visitor tip: if you didn’t make a reservation ahead of time, you need to go back downhill to the tourist information office, where you can pick your package and times. Our Monday strategy – that is, not visiting Montserrat on the weekend, but Monday – worked in our favor, I believe, since we didn’t have to wait long to get into the basilica proper, or the sanctuary where the Virgin of Montserrat, or Our Lady of Montserrat, resides.

The entrance leads to a resplendent courtyard. Resplendent pretty much describes to the entirety of the basilica, which is mostly a 19th-century reconstruction of the earlier structure burned by some of Napoleon’s soldiers.Montserrat Montserrat
Montserrat

Interiors.Montserrat Montserrat Montserrat Montserrat

Access to Our Lady of Montserrat is via a staircase that leads to a hallway that curves behind, and above, the altar. A small window shows the statue in its sanctuary and, as they come and go, visitors to the statue.

We took our turn visiting the statue. It is behind glass now, but otherwise we saw what countless others have for centuries.

From 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica: “Nuestra Señora de Montserrat, Patrona de Cataluña (Our Lady of Montserrat, Patron Saint of Catalonia), is one of the most celebrated images in Spain, and her church is visited annually by more than 60,000 pilgrims. The image is small, black, and carved of wood, but possesses magnificent robes and jewels.

“In September 1881 it was solemnly crowned by Leo XIII., who sent a crown from Rome for that purpose. As the celebrity and sanctity of Montserrat increased, so did the number of devotees. Ignatius Loyola (1491–1556) laid his sword upon the altar of the Virgin, and, placing himself under her protection, started from Montserrat to begin his new life.”

Montserrat: Camí dels Degotalls

Serrated mountain. Yes, we could see that. And by that, I mean understand why Montserrat is called that. Actually seeing the serrated peaks rising over the Santa Maria de Montserrat, a Benedictine abbey some 30 miles northwest of Barcelona, was a little difficult on late morning of May 22.Montserrat Montserrat Montserrat

Seeing the countryside below was no mean feat either.Montserrat

Still, the abbey complex was visible enough. Besides, the clouds burned off as the day went on.Montserrat

During our look around, we made an acquaintance with these figures.Montserrat

We found a path, more-or-less level, that wound away from the complex. Along with the clouds were cool temps, a little below 20 C., making for a pleasant extended walk. With views.Camí dels Degotalls Camí dels Degotalls

Even better, almost no one else was on the path, unlike the fairly crowded abbey complex. After barely any time at all, the path takes you to a memorial to two famed Catalans. I won’t pretend I didn’t had to look them up: Josep Rodoreda and Jacinto Verdaguer. Each had a distinguished career as a composer and a poet, respectively.They collaborated on a piece called “Virolai de la Virgen de Montserrat” (1880); music by Rodoreda, lyrics by Verdaguer. They collaborated on a piece called “Virolai de la Virgen de Montserrat” (1880); music by Rodoreda, lyrics by Verdaguer.

They collaborated on a piece called “Virolai de la Virgen de Montserrat” (1880); music by Rodoreda, lyrics by Verdaguer.

Soon, depictions of the Madonna and Child were to be found on the mountain side of the path, at regular intervals.Camí dels Degotalls

Tile embedded in stone. Quite a variety. A small sample:Camí dels Degotalls Camí dels Degotalls Camí dels Degotalls Camí dels Degotalls

The path, and the Madonnas, keep going for quite a ways.Camí dels Degotalls Camí dels Degotalls

Eventually, the Virgins petered out. At some point, the path had left the grounds of the abbey, which are quite extensive, and entered Montserrat Nature Park. Or maybe we didn’t get that far, but anyway we turned around about a half-hour in, so that made a full hour.

I didn’t know, until after we’d returned from Spain, that we’d taken a walk on a part of the Camí dels Degotalls. From what I can piece together, it is the starting link in one of the feeder trails into the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route. How about that. We had no idea that we’d hit the pilgrim trail, though an hour on the trail might better be called a micropilgrimage.

I enjoyed one particular paragraph from a machine translation I got (Catalan to English) for this page.

The itinerary is available to everyone. The Paseo de los Degotalls is very close to the walls that collapse from the plans of the trinity, located 200 meters above the path. Below, with the Pyrenees in the background, the plain boils with vitality.

Sagrada Família

In a (mostly) low-rise town like Barcelona, high-rises stand out. Even unconventional high-rises. Even one of the world’s most unconventional high-rises, Sagrada Família.

You can see the basilica and its modern construction cranes from the roof of Barcelona Cathedral.Sangrada Familia

Or from Parc Güell.Sangrada Familia

From the Montjuïc Cable Car.Sangrada Familia

Or from the entrance of Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau, looking down the fittingly named thoroughfare Avinguda Gaudí.Sangrada Familia

In full, the structure is Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família. Lauded around the world these days. Not everyone has had praise for basilica down the years, however.

George Orwell was not, of course, a tourist in Barcelona in 1937, but he did visit the Sagrada Família at one point, which he mentions in Homage to Catalonia.

“For the first time since I had been in Barcelona I went to have a look at the cathedral – a modern cathedral, and one of the most hideous buildings in the world. It has four crenellated spires exactly the shape of hock bottles. Unlike most of the churches in Barcelona, it was not damaged during the revolution – it was spared because of its ‘artistic value’, people said. I think the Anarchists showed bad taste in not blowing it up when they had the chance, though they did hang a red and black banner between its spires.”

Sage about much, but Orwell wasn’t right about everything. Still, before I visited Barcelona, I was a little skeptical myself. Something that receives that much praise inspires a bit of skepticism, or should, and the many pictures I’d seen didn’t quite convey greatness, at least to me. Oddness, yes. Maybe strangeness for the sake of strangeness, as envisioned by Antoni Gaudí and carried on for decades by his successors down to the present day, but not to completion just yet.

So on our first morning in Barcelona, May 18, after a pleasant breakfast in the hotel, and a walk of only a few blocks, we approached Sagrada Família from its western corner. Despite its height, basilica emerged into view only as we rounded the last neighboring block. Then it was time to gawk.

Often enough images don’t do a place justice. That is really the case for Sagrada Família. Whatever skepticism I had evaporated. It has a presence, rising there in front of you. It is still quite a strange church, but a great strangeness — a strange majesty? — expressed in innumerable details.

Naturally, despite realizing that seeing the structure with my own eyes is the best way to experience Sagrada Família, I proceeded to take a lot of pictures. We passed by the structure more than once, so I captured it at different times of day.Sangrada Familia Sangrada Familia Sangrada Familia

As I said, innumerable details.Sangrada Familia Sangrada Familia Sangrada Familia

One side is the Nativity Façade, mostly completed while Gaudí was still alive. He was fatally struck by a streetcar in 1926 at age 73, and is buried in the basilica’s crypt, which was closed when we visited. As you’d expect, that side celebrates the birth of Jesus.Sangrada Familia Sangrada Familia Sangrada Familia

The other side is the the more austere Passion Façade, a more recent completion, though expressing Gaudí’s ideas.Sangrada Familia Sangrada Familia Sangrada Familia

I didn’t know who Japanese sculptor Etsuro Sotoo was. Yuriko did, and she was keen to see the large door to the basilica that he designed, which is in the Nativity Façade. The door’s leaf motif not only includes many leaves in bronze and glass, but also some creatures that live in the underbrush.Sangrada Familia

That was the door through which we entered the basilica on the afternoon of May 19. These days, you have to book a tour to do so, which I did weeks before we arrived in Barcelona – the only thing I booked ahead of time for the trip besides the visit to the Book of Kells and the Long Room.

In we went.Sangrada Familia Sangrada Familia Sangrada Familia

Too many distinctive features to name, but what struck me most of all were the columns supporting the ceiling, which branched like trees toward the top.Sangrada Familia

There was no shortage of other tourists admiring the place, but the vast space inside held them all pretty well.Sangrada Familia

Everyone takes pictures.Sangrada Familia Sangrada Familia Sangrada Familia

I wonder how many tens or hundreds of thousands a day. Or an hour.

Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar

Scenes from a Barcelona grocery store.

Wasn’t a very big one. One of the many 24/7 jobs in the Eixample district.

I like that brand name, Fiesta Brava. Best to translate, Wild Party? Could be. Of course, the store had much more than sangria and boxed wine. Prices might be comparable, but I’d say the few we visited were a cut above U.S. convenience stores in selection.

I’ve read that sangria is considered a drink for tourists, but I have to wonder. I expect it’s mostly Catalans visiting these grocery stores and availing themselves of those rows of sangria bottles.

This is the entry at enciclopedia.cat about one Berenguer de Montagut, machine (Google) translated from Catalan.

Master of works

He worked preferentially in Manresa, where the New Bridge project is attributed to him (1318?); in 1322 he directed the works of the Carmelite convent and from 1328 he was master major of the seat. In Barcelona he contracted, with R. Despuig, the project of the church of Santa Maria del Mar (1329). Later, with Pere Baró, he began the construction of the sanctuary of Santa Maria de Lledó.

I find it astonishing that even the name of the man who – designed – oversaw construction – both, probably – of such an edifice as the basilica Santa Maria del Mar – is known at all. But apparently it is. Still, he didn’t do it alone.

“The neighbourhood’s inhabitants poured all their efforts into building… Santa Maria del Mar, successfully completing it in only 55 years,” says a surprisingly well-written item on the basilica, published in English by a Barceló Hotel Group, of all entities, which also notes that Santa Maria del Mar has been featured in recent novels, and a Netflix series.

“Although this monumental work was overseen by Berenguer de Montagut and Ramon Despuig, the real credit must go to the residents of La Ribera [the surrounding neighborhood] and, in particular, the bastaixos — in other words, those who carried on their own backs the stone from which the basilica was built. The stone had been brought from the royal quarry, located on the Hill of Montjuïc and transported by boat to the vicinity of the church.”Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona

That’s the entrance, but for tourists (as opposed to parishioners), it was the exit. We entered from behind the sanctuary. Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona

But soon enough, the vault appears overhead.Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona

Looking back into the nave.Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona

The chapels aren’t closed off.Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona

The basilica has stood since the 14th century. It abides. Considering the vicissitudes of Barcelonan history, quite a feat. Another line from EB (1929) on Barcelona, on the political violence of the modern period: “ [E]specially serious were the uprisings of 1835, when 11 convents were destroyed, and of the “tragic week” in 1909, when over 60 churches and religious buildings disappeared from the city’s architectural heritage.”

And of course, 1929 Barcelona was completely unaware of other things to come, and soon.

Translated from the basilica’s web site: “One of the most important defeats [sic, incidents] took place at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, when the basilica burned down [sic, was seriously damaged] after a group of anarchists caused a fire there. Part of the baroque altar, some of the stained glass, numerous elements of furniture and an important part of the archives disappeared under the flames.”

Also worth mentioning: the 14th century was one of the prosperous periods in the city’s history, as a port doing well on trade from around the Mediterranean. Just the sort of place to set your historical fiction.

A look at the floor.Santa Maria del Mar

If I went to a modern headstone maker and asked for this design, would he or she do it? I wonder, but I’m also certain I’d never actually do that.

Barcelona Cathedral

We were up and out early on our last day in Dublin, which was capped by downing Guinnesses, and we flew out that evening for a somewhat late arrival around midnight at El Prat Airport, Barcelona. Our energy reserves were low, riding one of the yellow-and-black cabs – the only legal colors – along the highway, looking out to indistinct nighttime streetscapes.

Some blocks from our hotel, we left the highway and crossed into the district known as Eixample, literally Expansion. That’s what it was, for late 19th-century Barcelona. The neighborhood features a regular street grid with buildings on all four sides of every block, a mix of residential and retail, with some offices as well.

We perked right up. At taxi speed, and at the midnight hour, details are fuzzy. The big signs and the bright lights and scattering of pedestrians on the sidewalks stood out. We passed a small grocery, brightly lit. A cafe. A small restaurant. A number of closed businesses, either for the night or for good. Another small grocery, just as bright. A closed bakery. A closed boutique with small lights illuminating mannikins. A bar with a few patrons out on tables on the sidewalk. A restaurant with a takeout business. Another grocery store.

What do you know, Catalonians were working on that whole walkability thing all the way back in the 19th century, especially one Ildefons Cerdà, the pioneering urban planner who designed neighborhood.

The next morning, May 18, we were fairly eager to take to the streets of Eixample, and wider Barcelona, and walk, and figure out the subways. By mid-morning found ourselves in the Barri Gòtic, the city’s oldest neighborhood. Put another way, the original location of the city, with many streets owing their origins to Roman thoroughfares, and many buildings owing their origins to a 14th- and 15th-century flowering of prosperity in the up-and-down history of Barcelona.

You can’t wander through the Barri Gòtic without encountering Barcelona Cathedral from one direction or another. We approached from the back.Barcelona Cathedral Barcelona Cathedral

Formally, the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia. A Christian site since the 4th century at least, and site of a Roman temple before that. Completed in 1420 after more than a century under construction.Barcelona Cathedral Barcelona Cathedral Barcelona Cathedral Barcelona Cathedral

Niches.Barcelona Cathedral Barcelona Cathedral

Details.Barcelona Cathedral Barcelona Cathedral
Barcelona Cathedral

In the crypt beneath the high altar is alabaster sarcophagus of St. Eulalia, patroness of the cathedral and co-patroness of Barcelona. Martyred in the early 4th century, according to tradition.Barcelona Cathedral

Maintenance never ends.Barcelona Cathedral

The cathedral naturally counts as Gothic, but Gothic Revival as well. The Gothic-style exterior was a 19th- and early 20th-century addition, replacing a spare exterior that was the style for Catalan churches when the cathedral was originally built.

Part of the admission (€9) included a ride in a small elevator to a landing and a small metal staircase leading to a short series of walkways on the roof of the cathedral.Barcelona Cathedral Barcelona Cathedral

Thus included in the admission are expansive views of Barcelona.Barcelona Cathedral Barcelona Cathedral Barcelona Cathedral Barcelona Cathedral

Ordinary visitors don’t exit by at the place they came in, but rather through a door that leads to a cloister ringed with chapels that are behind iron bars, as they are in the cathedral itself.Barcelona Cathedral Barcelona Cathedral

The chapel next to the gift shop. They were on their way to visit St. Rita, patroness of abused and battered women.Barcelona Cathedral

I don’t remember which chapel this plaque fronted. It was the only memorial I saw in Barcelona to civil war dead, though I didn’t go out of my way looking for them. In this case clerics.Barcelona Cathedral

Not the only momento mori around. Burials in the floor. Barcelona Cathedral Barcelona Cathedral

A reminder of mortality before you step out of the cathedral grounds into the city streets. In case you needed one.

Dublin Castle

For someone who has been dead for over 800 years, even a monarch, King John of England is surprisingly well remembered. For signing Magna Carta, of course, but also losing most of France, trying to kill Errol Flynn, etc.

Another thing to remember about John: In the early 13th century, he ordered the building of a castle in Dublin to help consolidate Anglo-Norman rule, which it did. Over the centuries, via a convoluted and often violent path, the castle then buttressed English rule, then British rule, then famously the structure was turned over to the Irish Free State on January 16, 1922. These days, it houses various offices of the Republic of Ireland, including one whose antecedents were probably functioning from day one under King John.Dublin Castle

To this day, the structure is called Dublin Castle, though it was mostly redeveloped into a Georgian palace after a major fire in the 17th century. Besides housing government offices, and rooms for state occasions, the Castle is a major tourist attraction.

We took a tour one afternoon. Our garrulous red-headed tour guide from County I-forget-which-but-not-Dublin had a lot to say, as you’d expect. We had a particularly interesting discussion about the theft of the Irish Crown Jewels from the Castle in 1907, a crime that has never been solved. I asked her if there had been any suspects, and she said yes, quite a few, including a ne’er-do-well brother of the explorer Ernest Shackleton.Dublin Castle

The enclosure is expansive, and roughly the size it would have been in the early years.Dublin Castle Dublin Castle

Elements of the medieval castle do survive. Some stubs of its walls are now underground, which you climb down stairs to see, and two of the four original towers still stand above ground. One is the Record Tower, the crenellated structure in my image below that is currently closed and being restored as an additional tourist element.Dublin Castle

Next to the Record Tower is the Chapel Royal, which was added in the 19th century as a private chapel for the Viceroy of Ireland and his family. That was open.Dublin Castle Dublin Castle

As befitting its era, it was built in the Gothic Revival style. There was a good deal more Gothic Revival in Ireland than I expected.

Next stop: the State Apartments. That is, the fancy rooms used for official functions. They are well trod, and not just with tourists.

“Over the centuries, those entertained at Dublin Castle have included Benjamin Franklin (1771), the Duke of Wellington (1807), Daniel O’Connell (1841), Queen Victoria (1849, 1853, 1861 & 1900), Charles Dickens (1864), Countess Markievicz (1905), Princess Grace of Monaco (1961), John F. Kennedy (1963), Charles de Gaulle (1969), Nelson Mandela (1990) and Queen Elizabeth II (2011),” says the castle web site.

The seven signatories of the Proclamation of the Republic, whose executions soon came to be seen not just as a crime, but a blunder, have a place of honor near the entrance.Dublin Castle

The State Corridor, featuring portraits of the presidents of the Republic, none of whom I could say I’d heard of. Now I have.Dublin Castle

The State Drawing Room.Dublin Castle

Intriguing that officialdom of Republic has not, for the most part, scrubbed the Castle of reminders of Ireland’s past as part of the British Empire. There in the drawing room, for instance, is Queen Victoria, by John Partridge (1840).Dublin Castle

Prince Albert, too (1841).Dublin Castle

The Throne Room.Dublin Castle

“[The Throne Room] was created in 1788 as an audience chamber in which the Viceroy received guests on behalf of the British monarch…” notes the castle. “The throne was made for the visit to Ireland of King George IV, in 1821. It was later used by Queen Victoria and King Edward VII during their visits to the Castle. The last monarch to use it before Irish independence was King George V, in 1911.”

The Portrait Gallery.Dublin Castle

“This room takes its name from the collection of portraits of Irish Viceroys that have hung on its walls since 1849. The room’s main function was as a dining room where State dinners were held… The room continues to be used for State receptions by the Irish government today.”

Largest of all is St. Patrick’s Hall, where events for state visitors are held, and the presidents of the Republic are inaugurated. Ceiling by Italian artist Vincenzo Waldré, who made his living in England and Ireland.Dublin Castle Dublin Castle

Not too long ago, President Biden was the guest of honor at a banquet at St. Patrick’s Hall. I understand he was well received in Ireland, but not quite everyone was happy about his visit.

A leftover poster we spotted nowhere the Castle, but rather on a wall on an otherwise colorless street not far from the Guinness brewery.