Saturday, September 5, 2009

Mosaics and Manifestaciones: Pictures speak a lot louder than words

Antoni Gaudi is the hero of Barcelona, and today we went to see his one of his great masterpieces: the Park Güell. Originally intended to be a modern housing development, it's now an incredible public park.

We meandered around the park and headed to the top to check out the incredible views of the city:

The real surprise came later on... Walking back from a mid-afternoon cafe con leche, we were planning to toodle around El Cortes Ingles for a while. The streets were all blocked off though, with signs for a manifestación, or protest. Obviously intrigued, we followed the masses with their big drums and loud whistles.

Turns out it was a protest sponsored by the unions who put on Spain's extraordinary fireworks and fire displays. In what was more parade than anything else, the organizations held up signs protesting new laws from the EU that would prohibit their pyrotechnic displays. (Background info here)

We followed the protest, furiously snapping photos, and trying to deduce what exactly all the fuss was about. After witnessing mediocre protests all summer in DC, I really have to hand it to the Spanish — they knew exactly what they're doing.



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