I was thrilled to discover some new nooks and crannies in my favorite section of town today. Most of these were subsections coming off of the Placa de Sant Jaume. The Placa is the political hub for Barcelona. On one side of the square is the Palau de la Generalitat (above) which is the name for Catalonia's autonomous government as well as the building, and on the other side is the Casa de la Ciutat (below) which is the town hall ("ajuntament").
The Placa is not just a political site, it is also a social site where a number of gatherings take place, like dances and guessing from today's cleaning of the plaza that made it look as though a giant bubble bath had overflowed last night's festivities for All Saint's also occurred here.
Having serendipitously encountered a new neck of the woods, I also serendipitously encountered an announcement for another classic Spanish guitar performance at the Palau de la Musica. I sauntered right on through the bubbles and over to the Palau to grab tonight's ticket. The performance was outstanding again, and for an encore piece the performer, Xavier Coll, brought out his 11 year old daughter who accompanied him on the cello. Unfortunately the barbarians next to me kept taking their shoes off and whispering, so I was on double duty of rapt listener and eye dagger thrower.
Having enjoyed Portugal's dark beer I decided to try Spain's Estrella's Voll Damm at lunch. It was good as well, but not as good as Lisbon's Sagre. (picture is not mine)
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