Nosaltres sabíem d'un únic senyor i vèiem com esdevenia gos.
Envilit pel ventre, per l'afalac al ventre, per la por, s'ajup sota el fuet amb foll oblit de la raó que té.
Arnat, menjat de plagues, aquest trist número de baratilli, saldo al circ de la mort, sense parar llepava l'aspra mà que l'ha fermat des de tant temps al fang.
Li hauria estat senzill de fer del seu silenci mur impenetrable, altíssim: va triar la gran vergonya mansa dels lladrucs.
Mai no hem pogut, però, desesperar del vell vençut i elevem en la nit un cant a crits, car les paraules vessen de sentit.
L'aigua, la terra, l'aire, el foc són seus, si s'arrisca d’un cop a ser qui és.
Caldrà que digui de seguida prou, que vulgui ara caminar de nou, alçat, sense repòs, per sempre més home salvat en poble, contra el vent.
Salvat en poble, ja l'amo de tot, no gos mesell, sinó l’únic senyor.
Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out,
because this is your country. This is your democracy.
Today, The Grandma is celebrating SaintBartholomew (Sant Bartomeu in Catalan), the patron of one of herfavourite Barcelona'sneighbourhoods, Sants. Due to the COVID19, these days are difficult to celebrate, but TheGrandma wants to join to her neighbours in this celebration.
Bona Festa Major, estimats veïns i estimades veïnes!
Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, according to the New Testament.
He is said to have been martyred for having converted Polymius, King of Armenia, to Christianity. He has also been identified as Nathanael or Nathaniel, who appears in the Gospel of John when introduced to Jesus by Philip, who also became an apostle; John 1:43–51, although many modern commentators reject the identification of Nathanael with Bartholomew.
According to the Synaxarium of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Bartholomew's martyrdom is commemorated on the first day of the Coptic calendar, which currently falls on September 11, corresponding to August 29 in the Julian calendar. Eastern Christianity honours him on June 11 and theCatholic Church honours him on August 24.
Bartholomew the Apostle is remembered in the Church of England with a Festival on 24 August.
The Armenian Apostolic Church honours Saint Bartholomew along with Saint Thaddeus as its patron saints. Bartholomew is English for Bar Talmai comes from the Aramaic בר-תולמי bar-Tolmay native to Hebrew son of Talmai, or farmer, son of the furrows.
Bartholomew is listed among the Twelve Apostles of Jesus in the three synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and also appears as one of the witnesses of the Ascension; on each occasion, however, he is named in the company of Philip.
In art, Bartholomew is most commonly depicted with a beard and curly hair at the time of his martyrdom.
According to legends, he was skinned alive and beheaded so is often depicted holding his flayed skin or the curved lensing knife with which he was skinned; thus, he is remembered and approved as the saint of leather makers.
The 6th-century writer in Constantinople, Theodorus Lector, averred that in about 507, the Byzantine emperor Anastasius I Dicorus gave the body of Bartholomew to the city of Daras, in Mesopotamia, which he had recently refunded.
The existence of relics at Lipari, a small island off the coast of Sicily, in the part of Italy controlled from Constantinople, was explained by Gregory of Tours by his body having miraculously washed up there: a large piece of his skin and many bones that were kept in the Cathedral of St Bartholomew the Apostle, Lipari, were translated to Benevento in 838, where they are still kept now in the Basilica San Bartolomeo.
A portion of the relics was given in 983 by Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor, to Rome, where it is conserved at San Bartolomeo all'Isola, which was founded on the temple of Asclepius, an important Roman medical centre. This association with medicine in the course of time caused Bartholomew's name to become associated with medicine and hospitals. Some of Bartholomew's alleged skull was transferred to the Frankfurt Cathedral, while an arm was venerated in Canterbury Cathedral.
Due to the nature of his martyrdom, Bartholomew is the patron saint oftanners, plasterers, tailors, leather workers, bookbinders, farmers, housepainters, butchers, and glove makers.
In works of art the saint has been depicted being skinned by tanners, as in Guido a Siena's reliquary shutters with the Martyrdoms of St. Francis, St. Claire, St.Bartholomew, and St. Catherine of Alexandria. Popular in Florence and other areas in Tuscany, the saint also came to be associated with salt, oil, and cheese merchants.
Sants is a neighbourhood in the southern part of Barcelona. It belongs to the district of Sants-Montjuïc and is bordered by the districts of Eixample to the northeast, Les Corts to the northwest, and by the municipality of l'Hospitalet de Llobregat to the south.
The main artery of the neighbourhood is Carrer de Sants, popularly known as Carretera de Sants, which runs westwards from Plaça Espanya to the neighbouring municipality of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat. It is one of the largest commercial streets in Barcelona.
Barcelona Sants railway station, the major railway station in Barcelona, and the Parc de l'Espanya Industrial are both located in Sants.
Sants was the core of an industrial town known as Santa Maria de Sants on the plain bordering Barcelona.
In the spring of 1883, the municipalities of Sants and Barcelona decided by mutual agreement to merge the two respective municipalities.
One year later, the central government annulled the merger due to technical issues. The process was again put in motion the following year when Barcelona's city government sent a request for aggregation to the Diputació Provincial de Barcelona, but this request was not fulfilled for more than two years.
In March 1889, the Civil Government asked the Deputation to resolve the issue. A commission presided by Rius i Taulet travelled to Madrid to help move along the case. However, once more, the Deputation took no action.
The merger with Barcelona finally took effect in 1897. By then, Sants had a population of 19,105 inhabitants, and the neighbourhood had a strong industrial character, home to some of the most important manufacturers of Catalan textiles, such as Espanya Industrial and Vapor Vell.
In 2014 rioting broke out in Sants and spread to Barcelona and other cities, when local authorities attempted to demolish the Can Vies community centre, a building which had been squatted since 1997.
The most famous feast is theFesta Major, which is celebrated yearly in honour of the patron saint, Bartholomew the Apostle.
During the week-long feast, the traffic is cut off in several parts of the neighbourhood, where multiple popular activities are organized outdoors, such as butifarrades, xocolatades (gatherings where people drink chocolate), concerts, Sardanes, and Habaneres.
The neighbours decorate the streets with allegorical themes. Another feast, the Festa Alternativa, is celebrated simultaneously with great success.
Today, The Grandma has received the wonderful visit of one of her closest friends, Tonyi Tamaki. They have decided to go out and visit one of the best restaurants in Sants, Barcelona. Its name is Can Violí,and it is located in Plaça d'Ibèria near Plaça de Sants.
They have tasted delicious dishes, and they have meet again after a lot of months of confinement and prohibitions.
Tonyi has read a little post published by Time Out before arriving to know more things about this wonderful place. For TheGrandma has not been necessary because she is a usual customer of the place.
In 2018 what was a local legend in Plaça d'Ibèria called Bodega Floren that served up more traditional fare was converted into Can Violí and started to offer an updated menu.
But anyone afraid of change should face their fears and head in, and not only to branch out and try dishes like steak tartare, tuna tataki with kimchi mayo, duck cannelloni with truffle and mushroom sauce, or creamy seafood rice with red shrimp and crunchy seaweed.
They've also got something for your more traditional side, with their patates braves, croquettes, bombes, various cold cuts and cheeses from all around Spain. Not to mention, there's an excellent daily set lunch menu.
For under €15 you can choose a starter (soup, salad, vegetarian options...), a main (fish or meat usually) and a home-made dessert. Speaking of tradition, on Thursdays there are featured rice/paella dishes, and on Fridays it's the noodly fideuà.
Everything is made with great care, using quality ingredients and plenty of local products. The cellar features cava, vermouth, Catalan wines and some from Rioja, Ribera de Duero and Ribeiro.
Still not convinced? No worries, that leaves more room for us on the coveted terrace space.
Quan aquells dits sensibles toquin músiques fràgils i lentament vacil·lin llums canviant de ciris, surt de la festa. Mira quanta nit, quina extrema solitud se t'emporta, per la rialla, a l'home justificat i lliure que neix del teu silenci.
Today, The Grandma has visited Sants, one of the most popular neighbourhoods of Barcelona. The Grandma has gone to see a swimming competition celebrated in the installations of Club EsportiuMediterrani, the local club.
After seeing the championship, The Grandma has enjoyed a beautiful and popular fair, LaFira de les Cireres or Cherries Fair in the centre of the neighbourhood. Lots of farmers have come from Sant Climent de Llobregat, a little town near Barcelona, to offer their fresh products like peacocks, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, apricots and the star product, cherries.
Club Esportiu Mediterrani is a sports club founded in 1931 by a group of sports enthusiasts in particular Swimming, who frequented the beach of Barceloneta and the swimming baths located in the delightful seaside neighbourhood of Barcelona. They practice several sports, but mainly swimming and water polo.
A group of friends from the Poble Sec decided to found the Club Esportiu Mediterrani, which in 1943 already had 263 members. It was then when it split into two clubs, emerging the Club Natació Montjuïc.
CE Mediterrani Waterpool team, 1941
In 1940, he settled in what had been the deposits of the Vapor Vell textile factory, where part of his facilities are still found, together with those of Regent Mendieta Street -now Les Corts, then Sants-, opened in 1978.
The men's team enjoyed its peak between 1992 and 1994. In addition to chaining three national subchampionships, it won the 1993 national cup and it reached the 1994 LEN Cup Winners' Cup's final, lost to ASP Pescara. On the other hand, the women's team dominated the national championship through the 1990s with eight titles in a row.
Sants is a neighborhood in the southern part of Barcelona, Catalonia. Formerly an industrial town on the plain bordering Barcelona, known as Santa Maria de Sants, it belongs nowadays to the district of Sants-Montjuïc and is bordered by the districts of Eixample to the northeast, Les Corts to the northwest, and by the municipality of l'Hospitalet de Llobregat to the south.
Sants is a neighbourhood with a clear identity because of its historical origins. It was the main core of an independent village until 1897 when it became part of Barcelona, the former municipality of Sants included most of the actual neighborhood of Sants-Montjuïc district.
By then, Sants had a population of 19,105 inhabitants, and the neighbourhood had a strong industrial character, home to some of the most important manufacturers of Catalan textiles, such as Espanya Industrial and Vapor Vell.
In the spring of 1883, the municipalities of Sants and Barcelona decided by mutual agreement to merge the two respective municipalities. One year later, the central government annulled the merger due to technical issues. The process was again put in motion the following year. City hall sent a request for aggregation to the Diputació Provincial de Barcelona, but this request was not fulfilled for more than two years.
In March 1889, the Civil Government asked the Deputation to solve the case, which ultimately reflected the interests of the city. A commission presided by Rius i Taulet traveled to Madrid to help move along the case. However, once more, the Deputation took no action. The main artery of the neighbourhood is Carrer de Sants, popularly known as Carretera de Sants, which unites Plaça Espanya with the neighbouring municipality of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat.
Cheering the athletes, CEM, Sants
It is one of the most commercial streets in Barcelona. Among the places that stand out in Sants are the Barcelona Sants railway station, the major railway station in Barcelona, and the Parc de l'Espanya Industrial.
The most famous feast is the Festa Major, which is celebrated yearly in honor of the patron saint, Bartholomew the Apostle. During the week-long feast, the traffic is cut off in several parts of the neighborhood, where multiple popular activities are organized outdoors, such as butifarrades, xocolatades -gatherings where people drink chocolate-, concerts, Sardanes, and Habaneres. The neighbours decorate the streets with allegorical themes. Another feast, the Festa Alternativa, is celebrated simultaneously with great success.
Inhabitants of the neighborhood have included the writer Quim Monzó and the tenor Josep Carreras.
Sant Climent de Llobregat is a municipality in the comarca of Baix Llobregat, Barcelona, Catalonia. It is connected by road with Viladecans and Sant Boi de Llobregat. The town is well-known thanks to its cherries.
A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit).
The cherry fruits of commerce usually are obtained from cultivars of a limited number of species such as the sweet cherry (Prunus avium) and the sourcherry (Prunus cerasus). The name cherry also refers to the cherry tree and its wood, and is sometimes applied to almonds and visually similar flowering trees in the genus Prunus, as in ornamental cherry or cherry blossom. Wild cherry may refer to any of the cherry species growing outside cultivation, although Prunus avium is often referred to specifically by the name wild cherry in the British Isles.
The Grandma in Barrufet-Vapor Vell Primary School, Sants, Barcelona
Nosaltres sabíem d'un únic senyor i vèiem com esdevenia gos.
Envilit pel ventre, per l'afalac al ventre, per la por, s'ajup sota el fuet amb foll oblit de la raó que té.
Arnat, menjat de plagues, aquest trist número de baratilli, saldo al circ de la mort, sense parar llepava l'aspra mà que l'ha fermat des de tant temps al fang.
Li hauria estat senzill de fer del seu silenci mur impenetrable, altíssim: va triar la gran vergonya mansa dels lladrucs.
Mai no hem pogut, però, desesperar del vell vençut i elevem en la nit un cant a crits, car les paraules vessen de sentit.
L'aigua, la terra, l'aire, el foc són seus, si s'arrisca d’un cop a ser qui és.
Caldrà que digui de seguida prou, que vulgui ara caminar de nou, alçat, sense repòs, per sempre més home salvat en poble, contra el vent.
Salvat en poble, ja l'amo de tot, no gos mesell, sinó l’únic senyor.
Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out,
because this is your country. This is your democracy.
Today, The Grandma is in Sants, a beautiful neighborhood in the southern part of Barcelona. She has received a wonderful visit when Laura Collins, Tonyi Poppins and Isa Doe have arrived to participate in Festa Major, the Sants Festival, and have dinner in Terra d'Escudella, one of the best restaurants of the Catalan city.
Sants is formerly an industrial town on the plain bordering Barcelona, known as Santa Maria de Sants, it belongs nowadays to the district of Sants-Montjuïc and is bordered by the districts of Eixample to the northeast, Les Corts to the northwest, and by the municipality of l'Hospitalet de Llobregat to the south.
Sants is a neighborhood with a clear identity because of its historical origins. It was the main core of an independent village until 1897 when it became part of Barcelona, the former municipality of Sants included most of the actual neighborhood of Sants-Montjuïc district. By then, Sants had a population of 19,105 inhabitants, and the neighbourhood had a strong industrial character, home to some of the most important manufacturers of textiles, such as Espanya Industrial and Vapor Vell.
In the spring of 1883, the municipalities of Sants and Barcelona decided by mutual agreement to merge the two respective municipalities. One year later, the central government annulled the merger due to technical issues. The process was again put in motion the following year.
Tonyi Poppins dancing with Toni Manero
City hall sent a request for aggregation to the Diputació Provincial de Barcelona, but this request was not fulfilled for more than two years. In March 1889, the Civil Government asked the Deputation to solve the case, which ultimately reflected the interests of the city. A commission presided by Rius i Taulet traveled to Madrid to help move along the case. However, once more, the Deputation took no action.
The main artery of the neighborhood is Carrer de Sants, popularly known as Carretera de Sants, which unites Plaça Espanya with the neighbouring municipality of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat. It is one of the most commercial streets in Barcelona. Among the places that stand out in Sants are the Barcelona Sants railway station, the major railway station in Barcelona, and the Parc de l'Espanya Industrial.
The most famous feast is the Festa Major, which is celebrated yearly in honor of the patron saint, Bartholomew the Apostle. During the week-long feast, the traffic is cut off in several parts of the neighborhood, where multiple popular activities are organized outdoors, such as butifarrades, xocolatades -gatherings where people drink chocolate-, concerts, Sardanes, and Habaneres. The neighbors decorate the streets with allegorical themes. Another feast, the Festa Alternativa, is celebrated simultaneously with great success.
Enjoying Sants and Terra d'Escudella
Festa Major de Sants 2017 started on Saturday 19th August 2017. Many of the main activities are being place in Parc de l'Espanya Industrial and it's nice to walk around the 22 streets in the Sants Festival area which are decorated by residents in colourful themes.
Visitors can enjoy papier-mache giants and big heads -called gegants and capgrossos- on various events including the opening parade and at the giants ball. There are also a chance to see festive and impressive Catalan traditions like the correfoc firerun which usually starts at Plaça Osca for children and for aducts and there is usually a human castle building event at Plaça Bonet i Muixí. Sporting highlights of the Sants Festa Major are the bike race and the 2 kilometres run.
The Sants neighbourhood Festa Major festival finishes with a Piromusical fireworks and music display at Parc Espanya Industrial.
Isa Doe, Laura Collins, Tonyi Poppins and The Grandma have enjoyed a wondeful afternoon-evening in Sants taking lots of photos of its streets, enjoying the charming character of its inhabitants and having dinner in the best restaurant of the neighbourhood: Terra d'Escudella.
Barcelona was the first city in the world to be inflicted with mass aerial bombing... High above the city of Barcelona, on top of the Turó de la Rovira hill in the district of El Carmel, sits the Bunkers del Carmel,a number of old underground military bunkers that offer the best view of the city.
Built during the Spanish Civil War in 1937, the bunkers were used as part of an anti-craft battery to defend against attacks from the fascists and housed a number of guns.
When Franco came to power and the Civil War was over, the guns were retired, but the bunkers remained. Due to problems that were rising among the social classes and extreme poverty, which was experienced by many people in the city under the Franco regime, locals saw the bunkers as forms of housing and shelter.
As the years went on, during the 40s and 50s, the bunkers became somewhat of a shanty town, known as the Cannons neighborhood, and toward the end of the 50s, it provided shelter for seven percent of Barcelona’s population. During the 60s, there were over 3,000 people living in the area.
The Turó de la Rovira hill and the Bunkers del Carmel were virtually forgotten, save for the few locals who came up to admire the views, for most of the 1990s and 2000s. In 2011, however, a new patrimonial space was inaugurated in the district, a project between the Carmelite Agency and the Museu D’Historia De Barcelona MUHBA. The project excavated the bunkers, partially restored them, and improved accessibility.
The MUHBA also installed a small museum inside one of the bunkers, detailing their role during the Spanish Civil War and as housing for the local population.
Source: The Culture Trip
In the other side of the city, in Sants, the neighbours built more than 200 refuges to protect and save themselves in case of bombing. Nowadays, lots of them are being discovered and neighbours reclaim they must be restaured as a symbol of history, memory and dignity. The City Hall, sadly, doesn't want to do anything.
The Grandma is in Sants, a suburb of Barcelona. She's visiting a special street with an incredible story that wants to share with you: Souls Street.
The Romans founded the Colony Iulia Augusta Faventia Barcino between 15 and 13 BC and planned all the city inside and outside. They wanted to know which lands they were going to control and keep but to do it they needed a large net of roads to allow them the total control of the city. They profited some roads which were Iberian probably. One of this roads connected the little colony with the Via Augusta. In the western part, crossing the Raval in Avinguda Mistral direction, this road arrived to Hostafrancs and Sants and was named Camí Ral during the Middle Age.
During 1344, a big cross was built in this road and some years later, the cross was covered naming the real suburb Creu Coberta. The road continued crossing a place named the Inforcats a name with a Latin origin, inforcatos, that means crossroads, and obviously, this name demonstrates the different directions that you could take: Martorell, Sant Boi and Llobregat Delta.
If you continued across Creu Coberta and passed near the current church of Santa Maria de Sants, the road arrived to one of the most mysterious streets nowadays in Barcelona: el Carreró de les ànimes (the street of souls).
The Grandma in Souls Street
This street took this name because there was a little cemetery of animals in the past. It seems that appeared soft lights that floated on the air. This is a real phenomenon with some scientific theories but there's still a little controversy. Some theories say that these fires appear thanks to the rot of the organic materies that produces the oxidation of the phosphine and the methane gas, other say that the real cause of those lights is a phenomenon caused by the natural phosphorescence of the calcium salts of the bones.
The popular voices created the legend of these fires saying that they were the souls of the deads that appear to the mortals.
Some years later, in the 20th century, on the wall of a private house in 260, Sants Street, there was a tile that announced the presence of these souls from the purgatory which were consumed by the seven capital vices.
Nowadays, the street of the souls keeps its magical structure and it's one of the most lovely and appreciate places for the neighbours who live sadly how the new constructions are changing the suburb and how the City Hall is not interested in the idea of keeping and promoting the history of the suburb, a history that is an homage to the past generations and a great proud for the neighbourhood.
The Grandma has returned to Barcelona.
She has visited the City Hall today for two reasons: one of them, searching
information about the recent history of Sants,
a Barcelona's suburb, and the subterranean refuges built in it during the Spanish Civil
War (1936-39); and another, demanding permissions to create a new business. The
Grandma wants to create a winery.
September is
a new reborn for lots of people. It’s like January when you try to promise to
yourself thousands of things to do in the New Year, although you know that you’re
going to do nothing. Then, the most important is to not regret about this and
continue doing this kind of things that you did before.
In the case of The
Grandma, she started to read a new book some days ago. It’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
and she offers to all her families two new chapters. Enjoy them
