The four of us took a taxi to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. The museum is housed in the Palau Nacional (Catalan for ‘National Palace’), a beautiful imposing building on the hill of Montjuïc near Plaça Espanya. It was the main site of the International Exhibition held in Barcelona in 1929.
We were surprised to discover that the museum was free for seniors. An audioguide is available, but there is good multi-language signage explaining each of the 83 exhibit rooms so we relied only on that.
It’s the huge building back on the hill. The floor plan covers 32,000 sq meters or 340,000 square feet. The museum has four large galleries featuring medieval, gothic, renaissance and Baroque, modern art and numismatics. In addition, there is a large open oval hall behind the main gallery spaces which appears to be a performance or event venue. One end is dominated by an imposing pipe organ.
The central dome in the building was so high that at first it escapes one attention.
There were works by Miro, Picasso, Velazquez, Dali, Goya, Gaudi and El Greco. But mostly the artists were unfamiliar to me.
I took photos of a few sculptures and large glass screens. By far the largest part of the collection is paintings, with a dabbling of furniture, films and photographs.
We took the aerobus to the airport and had an uneventful flight to the small Granada airport. Saw a great sunset over snow capped mountains from the plane. There were formations in the foreground that looked like America’s Painted Desert.
There is a bus to the old city that runs only after each flight arrives in Granada. It’s only 3€ for about a 40 minute ride to the cathedral. Our Airbnb was a short walk away. We were surprised to be met right at the bus stop by our delightful host, Anastasia. She walked us back to our apartment, pointing out points of interest and good places to dine or buy chocolate along the way.
She spent about an hour with us, going over maps and providing suggestions for how to spend our next couple of days: places to eat, walking routes, where to catch the bus, where to buy a snack to take to the Alhambra, etc. She’s very outgoing and enthusiastic.
After she left we headed out to dine Spanish style. People go for drinks and tapas around eight or nine, and eventually get around to dinner some time around 10. The four of us shared a big plate of Spanish cheeses and cured meats, pickles and fruit with some wine. Then we tried another place for more drinks and tapas. There were some very interesting taste combinations. My favorite was a salmon salad, which was served as a thick loaf comprised of smoked salmon, avocado, mango, and mayo. The whole thing was sprinkled with finely grated unsweetened coconut and the plate garnished with a drizzle of chocolate.
We are late to bed tonight, but hope to be out at a reasonable hour to explore the old city neighbourhoods.
