Until the 1850s Barcelona was confined, by law, to lie within its old city walls.  The government in Madrid feared a Catalan independence movement and wanted to keep Barcelona, the center of Catalonia, small and confined.  But by that time Barcelona was also beginning to become an industrial hub.  In 1854 Queen Isabella II ordered the walls torn down and allowed the city to expand.

This followed the pattern of other European cities.  After the risings of 1848 political leaders realized that narrow streets could be barricaded.  “To the barricades” as they cried in Les Mis.  Wide boulevards were more difficult to block and allowed the freer movement of cavalry units to points of unrest.  Vienna’s walls came down, replaced by the famed Ring Strasse.

When Barcelona’s walls came down civil engineer Ildefons Cerdá laid out a grid pattern where each block was 250 meters square, meaning that a walk around the block was one kilometer.  He cut the corners of each block so that the intersection became an octangle.  This allowed for more light in the streets, better sightlines when approaching an intersection and places for small pocket parks or traffic roundabouts.  Some of the streets had elaborate gas lampposts, now electric.

Our hotel was in a section of town laid out in this way.  And one block from our hotel is “The Block of Discord” or “Illa de la Discórdia.”  It has this name because along one block there are three distinct houses, designed by three famous Art Nouveau architects that seem to clash with each other but provide a fascinating Sunday morning walk. Some of the different buildings are set within the same iron framework.

The first building we encountered along the discordant block was Cassa Lleo Morera designed by architect Lluis Doménech I Montaner. It is a mix of Moorish and Gothic.

Further along is the Casa Amatller by Josep Puig i Cadafalch.  He took inspiration from the time when the Hapsburgs ruled Spain.  They also ruled The Netherlands and the when the Hapsburgs built the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, they borrowed heavily from Dutch/Flemish styles.  Casa Amatller is an ohmage that.

The final famous building on the block is Casa Batallo by Antoni Gaudi supposedly based on St. George slaying the dragon.  The roofline represents dragon scales.  I am not so sure.

The building has some intricate ordination.

On the corner is some contemporary decoration.

A block and a half away is a completely different type of building.  When wealthy families moved out of the confines of the old walled city they wanted to bring their church with them.  So, they did.  The Church of the Holy Conception is a 14^th century Gothic church that the neighborhood moved here in the 1870s, disassembling and reassembling it brick by brick.  The church tower was moved from another church.  As we approached the Church the bells started ringing.  Suzi went up the steps to peek inside while I stayed at the bottom with my walker.  Parishioners insisted on helping me and my walker up the stairs so from the back of the church I got a glimpse of the procession at the beginning of the service before discreetly leaving.

We strolled back to the hotel enjoying the shady streets so we could pack up and head for Oosterdam, and the beginning of 20 days on the ship.