sábado, 29 de agosto de 2015

BARCELONA: CASA LLEÓ I MORERA




The Casa Lleó i Morera is one of the most important modernist buildings of Barcelona and it was designed by the architect Domènech i Montaner. However it isn't as popular as other modernist buildings maybe because it could not be visited until recently.

It is located in the elegant Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona near Casa Batlló (designed by Antoni Gaudí) and Casa Amatller (designed by Puig i Cadafalch (in what is known as "Manzana de la Discordia" or "Block of Discord" for the professional rivalry of the three architects of these buildings.

Currently you can visit the first floor which include rooms with very highly decorated wooden walls and ceilings, a hall with sculptures and mosaics and a gallery at the rear of the house with an impressive stained glass window.

Below you can see some pictures of my visit to this modernist building:


Casa Lleo i Morera in Barcelona
Casa Lleó i Morera in Barcelona is a modernist building designed by the architect Domènech i Montaner

Casa Lleo i Morera
The Casa Lleó i Morera stands on the southern corner of the block known as the "Mansana de la Discòrdia" (block of discord), where the Casa Amatller, by Puig i Cadafalch, and the Casa Batlló, by Antoni Gaudí, are located too


Casa Lleo i Morera in Barcelona
On the right, gallery of the third floor of Casa Lleó i Morera, located in the elegant Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona


Casa Lleo i Morera in Barcelona
Tempietto on the roof of Casa Lleó i Morera


Casa Lleo i Morera in Barcelona
The first room I visited in Casa Lleó i Morera in Barcelona

Casa Lleo i Morera in Barcelona
Lavishly decorated wooden ceiling of one of the rooms of Casa Lleó i Morera


Casa Lleo i Morera in Barcelona
High quality wooden doors in Casa Lleó i Morera because after one hundred years they still close perfectly

Casa Lleo i Morera in Barcelona
Detail of a rose in a stained glass window of a door in Casa Lleó i Morera in Barcelona


Casa Lleo i Morera in Barcelona
Hearth on the first floor of Casa Lleó i Morera in Barcelona

Casa Lleo i Morera in Barcelona
Wooden ceilings are highly decorated in Casa Lleó i Morera


Casa Lleo i Morera in Barcelona
Tile on the hall ceiling of the first floor of
Casa Lleó i Morera


Casa Lleo i Morera in Barcelona
Sculptures on the legend of Sant Jordi in the elevators hall of Casa Lleó i Morera 

Casa Lleo i Morera in Barcelona
Gallery covered with an impressive stained glass window in the first floor of Casa Lleó i Morera



Casa Lleo i Morera in Barcelona
In my opinion this gallery covered with stained glass windows is the most beautiful place in Casa Lleó i Morera


Casa Lleo i Morera in Barcelona
Rooster in stained glass window on the gallery on the first floor of Casa Lleó i Morera in Barcelona


Casa Lleo i Morera in Barcelona
As well as the previous cock, I liked too these Geese in the same stained glass window



Casa Lleo i Morera in Barcelona
Mosaic on a wall of the room of the previous gallery



Casa Lleo i Morera
Rear facade of Casa Lleó i Morera in Barcelona




Casa Lleo i Morera
Rear courtyard of Casa Lleó i Morera


Next you have links of some of the most beautiful places of Barcelona and surroundings. Most of them are located in four areas: Modernism RouteGothic Quarter (and Old City), Montjuïc and Barcelona Seafront. Cliking on the links below you will get more and information and pictures.


- Modernism Route





- Gothic Quarter, Montjuíc, Promenade and Tibidabo



Finally, clicking on the next link you will find more links to other beautiful places in Barcelona.

domingo, 16 de agosto de 2015

BARCELONA: LA MOLA


Un domingo de agosto decidimos hacer la subida a La Mola donde en su cima se encuentra el Monasterio Románico de Sant Llorenç del Munt. Esta excursión es una de las más conocidas de las que se pueden hacer cerca de Barcelona por las fuertes pendientes de algunos tramos del camino.

La motivación de esta ascensión era doble. Por un lado hacer un poco de ejercicio en un entorno bonito como el del Parque Natural en el que se encuentra y, por el otro, ver de cerca este monasterio románico que he visto tantas veces en foto.



Monasterio de La Mola
Monasterio de La Mola



El Camí dels Monjos, el itinerario que seguimos para la ascensión, une los monasterios de Sant Cugat y Sant Llorenç del Munt y tiene unos 25km de longitud. Su nombre viene del hecho que lo utilizaban los monjes para desplazarse entre ambos monasterios. De hecho hay tramos empedrados y escaleras en las partes más empinadas para permitir subir a los burros y caballos con los que subían provisiones y todo aquello que necesitaran.

Nosotros nos incorporamos en este camino a la altura de Matadepera. Desde este punto son unos 6km entre la ida y la vuelta. Nosotros tardamos alrededor de 1h20 en realizar la ascensión y unos 45 minutos en hacer el descenso (un poco más de 2h en total) más la hora que estuvimos en el restaurante recuperando fuerzas con un buen bocata.

Para llegar al punto de partida hay que entrar a Matadepera por la segunda entrada y subir por el Passeig del Pla hasta la Plaça del Pla de Sant Llorenç. Ahí cogeremos la calle Cavall Bernat hasta la calle de las Belles Roques a la derecha. Seguiremos por esta calle hasta la calle de Vistalegre, que cogeremos a la derecha. Continuaremos hasta el final de esta calle donde podemos aparcar el coche.


Mapa del Camí dels Monjos de ascenso a La Mola desde Matadepera



Mapa del Camí dels Monjos a La Mola
Mapa del itinerario del Camí dels Montjos desde Matadepera a La Mola


Después de dejar el coche, cogeremos un camino que sale a la derecha junto a una casa blanca. Al final del camino encontraremos un depósito a mano derecha. Hay que coger el camino a mano izquierda donde enseguida encontraremos una marca amarilla y blanca y una placa que indica “El Camí dels Monjos”. Comenzaremos a subir por un camino que todavía tiene tramos de empedrado que existían antiguamente.


Camí dels Monjos a La Mola




Cami dels Monjos a La Mola
Comienzo de la subida a La Mola desde Matadepera pel Camí dels Monjos



Cami dels Monjos a La Mola
En este punto el camino es suave pero las pendientes mayores se encuentran en la parte inicial de la ascensión




Cam dels Monjos a La Mola desde Matadepera
Pared vertical al junto al camino de subida a La Mola




La Mola en Barcelona
Vistas desde el camino de subida a La Mola



 La Mola en Barcelona
Torre de piedrecitas junto al camino




Camí dels Monjos a La Mola
Las indicaciones del camino son constantes así que no hay pérdida posible




Montserrat desde La Mola
Montserrat desde La Mola



Ascenso de La Mola
Tramo final de ascensión a La Mola



Cima de La Mola



Monasterio de  La Mola
Este es el primer punto del Camí dels Monjos desde el que se ve El Monasterio de Sant Llorenç del Munt en La Mola



Monasterio de  La Mola
Últimos pasos sobre un camino empedrado para llegar a la cima de La Mola




Monasterio de Sant Llorenç del Munt en La Mola



Monasterio de  La Mola
Monasterio románico de Sant Llorenç del Munt en la cima de La Mola


Monasterio de  La Mola
Al llegar a la cima de La Mola el día ya era soleado



Monasterio de  La Mola
Ábside de la iglesia del monasterio románico de Sant Llorenç del Munt en La Mola


Iglesia del Monasterio de  La Mola
Iglesia del monasterio de Sant Llorenç del Munt en La Mola


Monasterio de  La Mola
Campanario románico del monasterio de Sant Llorenç del Munt en La Mola


Monasterio de  La Mola
Dentro del monasterio de La Mola



Monasterio de  La Mola
Los ventanales que se ven corresponden al restaurante del interior del monasterio


Burros y caballos en La Mola
Con estos animales suben lo necesario hasta el monasterio porque yo no vi ningún camino por el que pudiera subir un vehículo



Vistas desde La Mola



Vista desde La Mola
Vista desde La Mola en Barcelona


Vista desde La Mola
Otra vista desde la cima de La Mola






Barcelona desde La Mola
Desde la cima de La Mola se podía ver la Torre de Collserola, las Torres Gemelas de la Villa Olímpica en Barcelona y las chimeneas de la Central Térmica de Sant Adrià


Camino de Descenso de La Mola



Descenso de La Mola
El día era más soleado y caluroso durante el descenso


En los siguientes enlaces puedes obtener más información sobre El Camí dels Monjos para ascender a La Mola:


Otros pueblos, ciudades y lugares interesantes que he visitado cerca de Barcelona son:






  • Castelldefels




  • sábado, 8 de agosto de 2015

    BARCELONA SCIENCE MUSEUM: COSMOCAIXA




    The Science Museum of Barcelona is called CosmoCaixa and is located on the slopes of Tibidabo, in a building designed in Catalan Art nouveau style. Formerly known as the Science Museum of Barcelona, it closed for renovations in 1998 and reopened in 2004 under its current name. 

    Cosmocaixa
    Cosmocaixa is the Science Museum of Barcelona



    Cosmocaixa offers interactive, enjoyable science and an open door for anyone who is eager to learn and understand why things are the way they are.

    The museum features a variety of exhibitions, permanent and temporary, that showcase the environment, nature, science, and space. CosmoCaixa also has a Bubble planetarium, a digital planetarium and exhibitions devoted to interaction such as touch and play for small children.

    In addition to its permanent facilities and exhibitions, CosmoCaixa offers a scientific and educational programme that includes, practical laboratory workshops, lectures by today's most relevant scientists, conferences, courses and debates involving experts from all over the world, which are part of the Museum's activities for the general public throughout the year.




    DeLorean DMC-12 time machine
    DeLorean DMC-12 time machine of Back to the Future trilogy. I visited Cosmocaixa in 2015. To this year in the future Marty McFly and Dr. "Doc" Brown travelled in this time machine in Back to the Future Part II


    Hall of Matter



    The permanent exhibitions of Cosmocaixa, like the Hall of Matter, help us explore the basic concepts of Science, through experiments and using the latest technology.


    In the Hall of Matter you can discover Science on a journey through Time and its history, the best way of understanding evolution, from the origin of the universe to our times.




    Plasma lamp in Cosmocaixa
    A plasma globe or plasma lamp in the Hall of Matter. It was invented by Nicola Tesla and it is usually a clear glass sphere filled with a mixture of various noble gases with a high-voltage electrode in the center of the sphere.


    Plasma globe in Cosmocaixa
    A closer view of the plasma globe



    Flooded Forest





    The Amazon Flooded Forest, wich features more than 100 plant and animal species that convince visitors they have been transported from the Mediterranean to the very heart of the tropical jungle.


    Flooded Forest in Cosmocaixa

     A flooded forest which allows visitors to experience wet and dry environs of an Amazon rainforest. I saw turtles and caimans


    Exhibition about the first Personal Computers



    The ZX Spectrum was an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd.

    This Spectrum was based on a Zilog Z80 A CPU running at 3.5 MHz. The original model Spectrum had 16 KB (16×1024 bytes) of ROM and either 16 KB or 48 KB of RAM.



    The machine's Sinclair BASIC interpreter was stored in ROM (along with fundamental system-routines).



    Spectrum ZX
    Spectrum ZX was one of the first personal computers




    The Spectrum was among the first mainstream-audience home computers in the UK, similar in significance to the Commodore 64 in the USA.


    The Commodore 64, Oric-1 and later the Amstrad CPC range were rivals to the Spectrum in the UK market during the early 1980s.




    Commodore 64
    Commodore 64 personal computer



    The Most Important Equations in Science




    Special Relativity Theory
    One of the most popular equations in Physics shows the equivalence of mass and energy as a consequence of the Special Relativity Theory




    Field Equations of General Relativity Theory
    The Field Equations of General Relativity Theory and the Uncertainty principle of Quantum Mechanics are inconsistent. String theory and Loop Quantum Gravity are two theories which try to make them compatible




    Equations of Science in Cosmocaixa
    I'm an electrical engineer (Telecommunication engineer in Spain). So some of the equations I used usually in my studies were the entropy of a source, the wave equation and the Euler equation



    Equations of Science in Cosmocaixa
    Maxwell equations of Electromagnetism 
    (22) are fundamental for designing communications systems




    Equations of Science in Cosmocaixa
    The Uncertainty Principle you can find in the previous picture, the Schrödinger and Dirac equations and the energy of a quantum are some of the most important equations of Quantum Mechanics





    Useful Information



    - Address: C/ Isaac Newton, 26
    - Website: CosmoCaixa

    - How to get there:


    • Bus: V13, V15, 22, 73, 75, 60 y 196
    • FGC: Cosmocaixa - Av. Tibidabo Station


    - There is a Parking inside (not free)
    - Inside the museum you can take a break in the restaurant and cafeteria.




    Next I would like to show you some places Barcelona can offer to children as well as Cosmocaixa Museum. I'm sure that children will like and enjoy the following places in Barcelona:


    - One day visits near Barcelona




    Finally below you have links of some of the most beautiful places of Barcelona and surroundings. In my opinion, they are the places and buildings you can't miss if you visit Barcelona.

    Most of them are located in the Modernism Route and the Gothic Quarter. Cliking on the links below you will get more and information and pictures.


    - Modernism Route



    - Gothic Quarter and Old City




    - Outside the city centre