Field Trip 3: Museu Maritima/Raval

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

FIELD TRIP--mandatory entry for class

On this field trip, our teacher brought us through an area called el rival, a university area filled with hospitals medical schools and some cute hangout spots, and then to a shipyard

- we started our journey at the ramblas, and took a turn down a really quaint side street that led to an area where children hung out , skateboarded and chatted with friends. We were informed that this area had not always been such a nice area, and at one point was full of bad kids selling drugs, doing drugs, and congregating at night time. The city had the idea that instead of trying to get the bad kids out, they would draw the younger people, families and students to the area, by sprucing it up, putting a museum and allowing people to spend time there during the day. How smart was that idea? instead of sending patrol men, liek we would have done in the states, they made some good use out of the space and now it is a cultural area filled with people! We went through this area, and made our way to a building that our teacher told us can reflect the city skyline at around dusk because it has a top portion that is bent up!

after this, we walked over to the university med school area. We got to see some old hopsitals, the one that Gaudi actually died in as well! He got hit by  a tram,and was sent here, unrecognizable. what a sad death! We learned about hospitals, and their originally function. They are called hospitals now, because back in roman times they were for " hosting" get it host- hos- . people would go there to sleep for a night or two if they were coming to barcelona, and could not get through the huge city walls. The history of hospitals date back to the roman times, and although their function has changed slightly overtime, it is easy to see where the idea came from...a place to rest and recooperate! 

--> an inscription on the wall of the hospital gaudi died in

--> the beautiful courtyard of the university

After this, we made our way to el rival, and area tht was sort of shady looking, but had a cool immigrant culture to it, and was filled with interesting buildings and restaurants. this is the place to come to if you want ethnic food ! One of the buildings pointed out to us was a sort of half way house, that people live in if they are homeless. they decorated the side of the building with a really cool pattern:

After this, we went over the the old shipyard. This is of great importance to the catalan culture, because of the heavy emphasis on mediterranean trade route. the sea was a huge resource for the barcelona people, allowing the infiltration of cultures, foods, spices, products, languages, even slaves who helped to build up roman barcelona to what it became. Without the trade routes, barcelona would never have become as prosperous as it did, which shows the importance of this ship yard. Additionally we got to see a submarine, that was created many years ago, before they were common. Apparently this design was one of the original designs and the first of its kind, although the person who made it did not get the credit for being the first--the british beat him to it.

and that sums up what i did on my field trip with catalan cultures !!!!