Travel « My Itchy Fingers

Old City of Steel – Toledo, Madrid, Spain Trip #8

March 10, 2012 at 12:09 pm | Posted in itchy backside | Leave a comment
Tags: Architecture, Culture, Food, Religion, Spain, Travel

The high-speed train RENFE is the best way to travel from Madrid to Toledo – about 30 minutes and costs 10.60 euros.

Reached Toledo station close to 10 am….Had to take a shuttle bus to the
old city..

The former capital of Spain, Toledo is a fortress city with striking gates all around the city.

Primate Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo. Admission is 6 €. We didn’t
go in though as we thought we had spent enough time looking at one of the
most beautiful cathedrals in Spain when we visited Sagrada Familia…

Some renovation work was going on..

Puerta de los Leones (Portal of the Lions), so named because of the lions
that surmount the columns of the gate that encloses the small entranceway

Two elderly ladies negotiating the labyrinth in old Toledo. Most of these
are so narrow that cars are not allowed, which makes walking around
quite pleasant, except that they are rather steep and hilly

Living closely together…

See anything interesting here?

Besides the cross on the roof top, there was a stone statue of Christ on the
facade of this house

The sign said, “For safety reason”….

Besides the many old buildings, we noticed the abundance of metal products available in shops and on the streets. The metal-working industry has historically been Toledo’s economic base, with a great tradition in the manufacture of swords and knives since about 500 BC.

Brave knights stood guard at the balcony, ready to fight!

I think I need to put on some armour too…wow…this one is for ladies! So
embarrassing! Haha…

Time to hang up your pans! Bring out the swords!

I also noticed many interesting designs of door knobs…

Dunu what’s with the masking tape mark…

Dragon door knob!

Another dragon door knob!

This horse-shaped one kinda reflects the way of life in older days where
knights and swords were common

Tisu Girl doing what she is best at…being an itchy finger! Knock! Knock!
Anybody home?

The door knob wasn’t very special…but notice there was a small door on
the bigger one? If you are a Pixar Animation fan, you would remember the
scene where Mike Wazowski opened a small door within a bigger door while
which Sulley came out later. The smaller door here was meant for human,
not just short ones…hahah…and the bigger door was meant for human
riding on horses… :p

I have no idea why didn’t we take a photo of the exterior of this church…and I forgot what drew us in…But I remembered there was a little poster at the entrance about the panoramic view of the city, so we went in for a look. Only cos 2.3 € per person.

The interior of Iglesia de los Jesuitas

There were many beautiful sculptures in the church…

Itchyfingers do not fully understand this one…Why was this man holding a
skull?

Just underneath were some bones in the glass cabinet…Not to sure if these
in the middle were skulls, cos they were adorned with decorative motifs…
We were the only ones at this corner so it felt a bit eerie…

After walking through the main hall of the church, Itchyfingers proceeded upstairs. The bare walls were such a far cry from the elaborate hall downstairs…

After climbing the concrete stairs, soon we saw these tall and long metal
stairs….

Climbing up…

Looking down…Can be quite scary if you are afraid of height….

Set in the highest location in the city, Iglesia de los Jesuitas offers great views of Toledo and the surrounding region from its twin spires.

The reward – panoramic view of the city! The tallest building in the centre
is Hospital of Tavera

Can see the cathedral here…

The Alcázar, a Spanish palace or fortress of Moorish origin, at the far distance

The view was so clear you could see people fixing the roof…

Itchyfingers stayed for a while before more tourists came up. It was getting a bit chilly too. Time for lunch too!

We were looking around for some affordable food and happened to peek into one eatery. Then the lady inside came out and invited as to have a look.

We had thought there would be seats inside or upstairs but this shop happened
to serve pre-cooked food for take-away. Somehow we were a bit shy to
leave and also the price was quite affordable, so we decided to try it out…
Waited a while for the lady to microwave our order…

I think we made a bad choice…First the food were not very nice. Second, the
portions were too big for the two of us, especially the meatballs, which only
Tisu Boy was eating. We had pasta, mushrooms and fish too. Third, the plastic
packs were a bit wasteful, and lastly, our outdoor alfresco lunch and ourselves
got cold very soon as the chilly wind was constantly blowing! :p

Nice pods on the tree…

One more round of walking around the city brought us here.

The Cambron Gate is one of the oldest gates into town

Saw some of these beautiful porcelain plates on display outside a shop that
was closed…

The best thing for the day trip to Toledo was – my small bag of chocolates!
Very nice and beautifully packed, but the price was not so friendly on the pocket! :p
Should have taken a picture of the shop inside!

Aeroplane Building – Bilbao, Spain Trip #7

January 24, 2012 at 8:00 pm | Posted in itchy backside | 2 Comments
Tags: Animals, Architecture, Arts, Design, Museum, Photography, Spain, Travel

An overnight coach took Itchyfingers from Barcelona to Bilbao, one of the must-go places during our visit to Spain. I think most people would associate Bilbao with its most famous museum, the Guggenheim.

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary
art designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry

A sculpture of metal balls. This is Anish Kapoor’s High Tree and eyes, 2009

Opened in 1997, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao was an instant hit among
locals and tourists due to its unique design. It was hailed as the most
important building of its time

Sited in the port town of Bilbao, the museum is intended to resemble a ship

The museum is a spectacular structure made of titanium, glass, and limestone.
Titanium was used probably cos it’s corrosion-resistant since it is located
next to river Nervión. This same metal is commonly used in aeroplanes…

The reflective titanium panels resemble fish scales, echoing the other organic
life forms that recur commonly in Gehry’s designs, as well as the river Nervión

I always wonder how these masters managed to persuade their client to
accept their radical design…Well, I guess that’s why they are masters…
Despite being an architectural and construction challenge, the museum
was delivered on time and on budget…

Close up of the titanium facade. Looks like copper sheets! :p Though it
is supposed to be corrosion-resistant, but there seem to be rain water stains
forming on some parts…

Catch the interesting reflection at different angles…

This huge spider sculpture was an attention grabber! Titled, Maman (1999)
the spider sculpture is the work of artist Louise Bourgeois. Maman is the
familiar French word for Mother

At over 30 feet high and over 33 feet wide, the spider has a sac containing
26 marble eggs. Looks quite gross when you stand underneath the body…

Another look at the giant arachnid

We decided to walk to the end to take in the view of the whole museum
before it starts to rain again

View from the highway…Such an impressive architectural work of art!

You can get a clear perfect reflection of the museum across the river…

Itchyfingers are so jealous of the people of Spain. Not only they have their native master Antoni Gaudi producing architectural wonders like the world-renowned Sagrada Família and Casa Mila, they also have masters from overseas designing an iconic building like the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. Do you know that we nearly get a Frank Gehry’s masterpiece in Singapore? In case you didn’t know or have forgotten, when our Government opened its tender to build an Integrated Resort in Sentosa island, Frank Gehry was one of the architects who was invited to conceptualise and submit his design. I was really hoping that his design would be accepted so that Singapore can boast to have a Frank Gehry’s work. Unfortunately, for god-knows reason, our dear Government chose to award the project to the ugly and boring-looking design by Resort World. Maybe they cannot stomach something so radical and got a shock of their life? But see for yourself here to compare the two design. If thousands of tourists visit Bilbao just to experience and marvel at the unconventional and creative design of Guggenheim Museum by Frank Gehry, I think they would also visit Singapore for the same reason. I don’t think anyone has visited Singapore purely for its architectures…Just imagine what a great difference the waterfront will look like at Sentosa, especially at night! What a shame!

This side is the entrance to the museum with the signage which is too small
here to see…It was already drizzling…

This gigantic flower doggy sculpture has become so famous that it is a must-see
landmark when you visit the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. This is Puppy
by Jeff Koons

Closer look at some of the flowers. These look familiar…We saw similar ones
at one of the Sentosa Flower Festival…

The interior is very interesting with plenty of curve lines. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed. We managed to snap this before we realised it is strictly prohibited.

Because of the numerous wavy design, Computer Aided Three Dimensional
Interactive Application (CATIA) and visualizations were used heavily in the
structure’s design

One of the exhibit, The Matter of Time by Richard Serrain. These are
huge permanent installation of eight bent steel sculptures. Visitors
are free to explore around and within the mazelike structure. Ooops…we
forgot we are not supposed to take photos… :p

Tulips by Jeff Koons

We were curious about the design of the loos…Unfortunately, there is
nothing to shout about

Overall, Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a masterpiece definitely worth a visit. However, Itchyfingers discovered something unusual on our way out…

These are steps leading to the main entrance of the gallery. Do you see
anything wrong here?

The steps are leading up underneath this piece of titanium structure! So
if someone were to walk at this end mindlessly without noticing, he might
just hit his head! Hahah!!! Wonder who made this blunder! Was it an oversight
by the master himself or his assistant? Apparently they realised this mistake
and added the railing to stop people walking here, but being Itchyfingers,
we had to illustrate our point by doing a demonstration…hahaha…

House of Bones – Barcelona, Spain Trip #6

December 13, 2011 at 12:44 pm | Posted in itchy backside | 6 Comments
Tags: Architecture, Arts, Photography, Spain, Travel

Just a short walking distance from La Pedrera brought Itchyfingers to another work of Antoni Gaudi - Casa Batlló. It is actually a building restored by Gaudí and Josep Maria Jujol, built in the year 1877 and remodelled in the years 1904–1906. The building was designed for Josep Batlló, a wealthy aristocrat, as an upmarket home. Señor Batlló lived in the lower two floors with his family and the upper floors were rented out as apartments.

Wow!!! So beautiful! Look at the cute skull balconies! They look like masks too!
Do the pillars look like bones? In fact, the local name for the building is
Casa dels ossos, or House of Bones, due to this skeletal organic quality!

One of the first things at the stairway that welcomed visitors once we stepped in.
The entrance hall used to be the private access to the Batlló family residence

This modernistic staircase stood out due to its organic appearance,
like the backbone of some huge animal

The Noble Floor, the largest apartment in the building, was the former
residence of the Batlló family. I love the mushroom-shaped fireplace!

An ergonomically designed doorknob

The Batlló family

The beautiful window with spectacular views onto Passeig de Gràcia

The stained glass looked like shells…

Ventilation on the window

I found the effect of light on the ceiling particularly intriguing here. In line
with the oceanic theme of the building, the ceiling was swirled like a whirlpool

The side window and the grand chandelier

Another lovely, glowing lamp

A lovely private courtyard with direct access from the Noble Floor. Too bad
it was still drizzling…If you have not noticed it yet, the windows got smaller
the higher they go. Lower floors tend to get lesser light penetration, hence they
were made bigger

Mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles. These were also found on the facade
of Casa Batlló

Nice!

A cute model of the Casa Batlló

As usual, Itchyfingers left our marks whenever there was a guest book
around…. 8) It was there where we saw an old but working lift

The light well at the inner courtyard was the core of the house, and the space
which allowed light and air to pervade the entire building

It was decorated with more than 15,000 tiles of different shades of blue,
which drew inspiration from the sea. I felt like I was inside a submarine!

The old lift. You need to manually open the metal gate and the wooden
door in order to use it…

Time for a ride! I took it twice!

Finally we got to the roof top with the colourful chimneys and the dragon’s
back

It was still drizzling….

The arched roof looked like the back of a dragon or dinosaur. A common
theory about the building is that “the rounded feature to the left of centre,
terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the lance of Saint George
(patron saint of Catalonia, Gaudi’s home), which has been plunged into the
back of the dragon.”

A closer look at the tiles

The other side of the dragon’s back with scales…

The loft is a service area constructed from catenary arches. The structure is
rather unusual in that it is independent from the rest of the house

Taking the stairs down…Felt as though you were in an underwater palace…

Another look up the light well….

Take a look again at the facade to appreciate its beauty one more time.
This was where we were at the big window of the Noble Floor

While you are there, don’t forget to look to your left for Casa Amatller, another
modernist building. It is privately owned so its interior cannot be visited
but there are temporary exhibitions at the main entrance

The admission charge (including audio guide) of €18,15 (about SGD$31) to Casa Batlló is higher than Sagrada Familia and La Pedrera, especially when it is much smaller. But Casa Batlló is self-financing and does not benefit from any public or private subsidies. With its unique design, Itchyfingers will still recommend a visit to Casa Batlló! Do try to come earlier to avoid the queue.