The baldie is fled, long live the baldie!
The business (basically a CRM database) passed into better hands in 2012. These materials remain here for cannibalisation and amusement.
The baldie meanwhile has found pastures new: as a singing organ-grinder for your event in the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands or Spain!
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- Language All our guides are native English speakers and speak the local language fluently.
- Knowledge Our local and subject knowledge is profound and up-to-date.
- Interactivity See someone interesting? We'll interpret. Tired/full of energy? We can adapt the programme.
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Barcelona tours - Juan Marsé's Barcelona
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Overview
Cervantes prize-winning novelist Juan Marsé was born in Barcelona in 1933 and situated much of his writing in the neighbourhoods of Carmelo, Gracia and Guinardó, heavily marked by the post-war immigration from other parts of Spain. His marvellously evocative Last evenings with Teresa/Últimas tardes con Teresa sets the scene in the following passage:
Mount Carmel is a naked, barren hill located northwest of the city. Their invisible strings managed by the expert hands of children, you will often see brightly-coloured kites in the blue of the sky, shuddering in the wind, hovering above the summit like coats of arms announcing a warrior dream. In those grey postwar years, when empty stomachs and body lice required a dream a day to make reality more bearable, Mount Carmel was the favourite and fabulous field of adventure for the scruffy children from the neighbourhoods of Casa Baró, Guinardó and La Salud. They climbed to the top where the wind whistles to launch crude home-made kites constructed with flour paste, cane, rags and newspaper: for a long time there trembled and flapped fiercely in the city sky photos and news of the German advance on the fronts of Europe, death and destruction reigned, the weekly ration of Spaniards, misery and hunger. Now, in the summer of 1956, Carmel's kites no longer bear news or photos, nor are they made of newspapers, but rather of fine tissue paper bought in some shop, and their are colours garish, shocking. But despite this improvement in their appearance, many are still home-made, their frames coarse and heavy, and they gain height with difficulty: still the neighborhood’s warrior banner.
Itinerary
Accompanied by excerpts from Marsé's work, this walk introduces you to the remains of the shanty town that began to spring up around the Civil War anti-aircraft battery in the 1940s and the varied pursuits of the residents--including small-scale iron-mining, goat- and psychedelic-pigeon-keeping and finch fancying--and draws a contrast with the more settled part of Gracia where we begin our walk. We'll visit a couple of the more atmospheric neighbourhood bars to help you recover from any culture shock.
Details
| Grade | easy |
| Base | Barcelona (Meeting point information here, where relevant - make sure you have the right one!) |
| Location tags | Barcelona, Carmel, Catalonia, Gracia, Grí cia, Guinardó, Monte Carmelo, Turó de la Rovira, |
| Theme tags | archaeology, gastronomy, gastronomy, history, literature, nature, |
| Your guide(s) | Mr Baldie |
| Walking distance | 6 km / 3.73 miles |
| Walking time | 3 hr |
| Total return travel time from base to walk | 0.5 hr |
| Total time from "hello" to "goodbye" | 3.95 hr |
| Fiestas and markets in places we go through - combine a walk and some partying or shopping! |
Note that there are also events in most places on January 6 (Three Kings), Carnival, Easter, April 23 (St George), June 23 (St John), and September 11 (Catalan regional/national day) |
Photos
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Comments
Page URL
You can find all this information, as well as the booking form, at http://oreneta.com/baldie/baldie/spanish-walking-tours/barcelona-walking-tours/barcelona-city-walks/juan-marses-barcelona/Roughly how much will it cost?
N.B. This form and the B2C business have retired. Contacts here.| your group | |
|---|---|
| number of people in your group (kids 0-2 don't count, kids 3-16 = 0.5) |
This is the total size of the group. Unlike other (city) tours, you won't have to share your guide with a couple of dozen strangers. |
Book this tour
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- Otherwise we'll send you full information, a fixed price, and details of how to pay securely. (If you pay via Paypal or Google Checkout, we'll quote and bill you in British pounds. This marginally reduces our admin costs and, barring a sudden collapse of your currency, doesn't hurt you.)
- If after you have paid you change your mind about the day or the walk, or if the weather is really bad, then we'll try out best to offer you another option. Our cancellation and refund policy is here.
- Barcelona walking tours
- easy walking tours
- archaeology walking tours
- gastronomy walking tours
- gastronomy walking tours
- history walking tours
- literature walking tours
- nature walking tours
- Barcelona walking tours
- Carmel walking tours
- Catalonia walking tours
- Gracia walking tours
- Grí cia walking tours
- Guinardó walking tours
- Monte Carmelo walking tours
- Turó de la Rovira walking tours
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