self-contained town is entirely given up to the fisherfolk and seafaring
portion of Barcelona's inhabitants. Philip V., when planning his
citadel, now demolished, turned out the people who dwelt where he
afterwards erected it. To compensate them for loss of home and property,
he built this well-planned and well-paved suburb out along the coast to
the north-east. With the breeze coming in every afternoon off the sea my
favourite walk was through the park to Barceloneta. Of all the seaports
I know, Naples not excepted, though the Sta. Lucia of five-and-twenty
years ago might have beaten it, the harbour front of Barceloneta is
without an equal. Here one may watch the boat-builders at work under the
oddest roofs imaginable, carpenters busy with the shaping of masts and
oars, and ship's painters putting the finishing touches to boat
accessories. I used to stand awhile admiring the inventive turn
displayed on the exterior embellishments of the marine-dealers' stores.
Wonderful pictures, of ships that could never float, from brushes
wielded by very local talent in glaring vermilion and green. I watched
the holiday-makers sitting in ramshackle booths, rapidly putting away
all sorts of curiosities of the shell-fish order, and I wondered if they
would survive the day. Perhaps the copious draughts of wine they took
was an antidote, at any rate their laughter and good humour gave point
to my unspoken thought--"let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."
[Illustration: BARCELONA. THE RAMBLA]
Going on, I often spent some time comparing the drill of artillery
recruits, whose instructors marched them up and down on a quiet bit of
the roadway, with those at home, and I generally finished my walk and
sat me down on the glorious stretch of sand that runs away north as far
as eye can follow. The evening would then draw in, and the twinkling
lights on the ships in the harbour warn me it was time to return. While
twilight lasted I retraced my steps homewards along the quay-side,
invigorated by an afternoon of sea breeze and salt spray.
The focus of Barcelona's life is the celebrated Rambla. The derivation
of this word is Arabic--"Raml-sand"--a river bed, for a small stream at
one time meandered down to the sea where now is the liveliest street in
the north of Spain.
On either side of the central promenade, under the shade of stately
plane trees, are the carriage drives. The broad walk itself is
thronged, especially in the morning when marketing is done, with an
ever-changing crowd. Boys distribute hand-bills, dog-fanciers stroll
about bargaining with dealers, itinerant merchants cry their wares. A
family of father, mother, and children cross the stream of promenaders,
followed by a pet lamb. Acquaintances meet and gossip away a good ten
minutes.
At the top end of the Rambla are situated the stalls of the
bird-sellers, who also deal in mice, a great place this for mama and her
small daughters. Lower down, the flower-sellers congregate under their
red-striped umbrellas. It was here that I made my sketch, in which
luckily, for a bit of colour, I was able to include the blue-bloused
porters in their red caps who wait about for a job with the rope of
their calling slung over their shoulders. Here too all the odd job men
stand awaiting hire. House painters in white blouses with insignia of
their trade--a whitewash brush on the end of a pole--held high, and
others--an endless variety.
Barcelona, being a business town, is democratic to the core, it is also
to the core, Catalan. The names of streets are displayed in Catalan as
well as Spanish. The animals in the Zoological Gardens also are known by
their Catalan, and Castilian as well as Latin names! Barcelona will have
no dealings with Castile, its people speak their own language and
address the foreigner in French. Barcelona is go-ahead. In the houses of
the new suburbs l'art nouveau screams at one, and everything is
up-to-date!
The Spaniard is well-known to be lazy, not so the Catalan. I have never
seen a Spaniard running, but I have seen a Catalan walking fast!
GERONA
The siege of Gerona is as celebrated in the Spanish history of the
Napoleonic wars as that of Saragossa. Both exemplify the bravery and
tenacity of the Spaniard of the north. In the first siege in 1808, three
hundred men of the Ulster Regiment, under their gallant leader O'Daly,
helped to garrison the place against two ferocious attacks by Duchesne
and his French soldiery. The first failed and the second ended in the
utter rout of the besiegers with the loss of all the artillery and
baggage train.
In the following year three French generals with an army of thirty
thousand men invested the city. Alvarez, the Spanish Governor, was
almost without any means of defence, and the women of Gerona enrolled
themselves under the banner of Santa Barbara, the patron saint of
Spain's artillery, and took their places on the ramparts side by side
with their husbands and sweethearts. Alvarez, ably seconded by a few
English under Marshall, held out until he was struck down by disease and
death. The city then, without a leader, its inhabitants starving, at
length surrendered.
So ancient is Gerona that its early history is lost in the mist of ages.
Charlemagne drove the Moors out when they were in possession, but it
soon passed back into their hands again. The Counts of Barcelona ruled
over the place until the union of Catalonia and Aragon, an event which
gave birth to the Crown Prince's title of Principe de Gerona. Hence we
know that in the twelfth century it was a city of great importance. In
consequence of its adhesion, at the end of the War of Succession, to the
house of Hapsburg, Gerona was deprived of its privileges and university,
since which time it has steadily gone down hill.
Down hill it may have proceeded, but I found it a very pleasant, quaint
old-world city set in the midst of verdant hills and running waters.
Shady walks are taking the place of now useless fortifications; and have
not I sat in one of the most delightful rose gardens you could wish to
rest in, and heard the note of the nightingale trilling on the perfumed
air? Most of Spain has gone down hill, and most of Spain is nothing but
enchanting.
[Illustration: GERONA. THE CATTLE MARKET]
Gerona is bisected by the river Oñar, and from its waters which wash
them, the houses rise tier above tier up the hill side. In the summer
when the river is running low, and if it happens to be a Saturday, you
will see one of the most remarkable sights that Spain can boast of.
Under and around the arches of the old bridge are congregated hundreds
of brown and fawn-coloured cattle. The background of ancient houses,
yellow, grey, white, brown--every tone, rises up above this throng.
Coloured garments, the week's washing, flutter in the breeze, green
shutters and blinds hang from the creeper-clad balconies.
It is market day. The lowing of oxen, mingled with the hum of bargaining
humanity in red caps and Prussian-blue blouses, surges up like the sound
of breakers on a distant shore. You who enter Spain by the east route,
go to Gerona at the end of the week--you will never regret its Saturday
market.
The Cathedral stands well. The west façade, a Renaissance addition, is
approached from the Plaza below by a grand flight of ninety steps in
three tiers. In the unfinished jambs of the south door are a series of
interesting terra-cotta figures dating from 1458.
There is nothing else in the exterior worthy of note, but directly I
entered I stopped in amazement at the daring of an architect who could
build so enormous a span as that under which I found myself. This span
is seventy-three feet, the clear width of the nave, and unsupported by
any pillars. No flying buttresses outside give additional strength to
the thrust of the roof. The stonework is perfect and the vaulting inside
simple. So bold and hazardous were the plans of Guillermo Boffy that the
chapter at first refused to sanction them. Being in doubts as to his
sanity, they sought the opinion of twelve other architects, who were
examined separately. As they all approved and passed Boffy's plans, the
construction of this marvel was commenced, and the first stone laid in
1416.
The apsidal chancel had been begun a century earlier and finished in
1346, pretty much on the same lines as this part of Barcelona's
Cathedral.
Unfortunately--how often does one have to acknowledge this!--the _coro_,
with its hideous _respaldos_, painted to imitate Gothic arches in
perspective, almost ruins this splendid and solemn interior. Among the
seats of the _silleria del coro_ there are still preserved some that
date from the fourteenth century.
Early carved work of the same period is found in the elaborate _retablo_
over the High Altar, which is surmounted by three fine processional
crosses. The _baldaquino_, also of wood, is covered like the _retablo_
with plates of silver. It is a mass of precious metal, enamelled
coats-of-arms and gems, and is an extremely interesting relic of that
century.
[Illustration: GERONA. THE CATHEDRAL]
Over the sacristy door are the tombs of Count Ramon Berenguer II. and
his wife Ermensendis, who died in 1058, predeceasing her husband by
twenty-four years. The sacristy itself contains a remarkable piece of
twelfth-century crewel work, said to be the earliest known specimen in
existence. It is covered with figures of a type similar to those of
contemporary MSS. The Romanesque cloisters form an irregular trapezium.
The columns are doubled and about a foot apart, not unlike those of
Tarragona.
The finest Romanesque example that Gerona possesses is the church of San
Pedro de los Galligans. The apse, little damaged during the siege, forms
a tower in the town wall. There is no doubt of the great antiquity of
this building, which dates probably from the early part of the tenth
century. The east end is mostly constructed of black volcanic scoriæ.
The nave and aisles, the bays of which are very simply built, are almost
prehistoric in their roughness.
In the cloisters attached to the church is the Museo Provincial. Many
relics of Gerona's heroic defence can here be seen, as well as some
early Christian and Hebrew remains.
TOLEDO
Standing high above the yellow Tagus, which, confined in a deep gorge,
rushes and swirls far below between precipitous granite cliffs, Toledo
was always an ideal position for a fortress before modern firearms
rendered Nature's defences of little avail.
Its name is associated with the great Cardinals of the Rodrigo, Tenorio,
and Foncesca families, as well as scions of the houses of Ximenes,
Mendoza, Tavera, and Lorenzana. The wealth of these Prelates was
immense, and their power, Ecclesiastical and Temporal, proportionate.
They practically had no rivals, they certainly feared none, they ruled
kings as well as countries, and their allegiance to Rome was purely
nominal. They made wars and fought in them. For their patronage of art
and literature future generations have had good cause to be grateful.
They built schools and improved the means of communication throughout
the land. Under their influence the Church was omnipotent, and they have
written their names deep in the pages of Spanish history. In fact, so
great was the power of Toledo's clergy that it grew to be the cause of
the foundation of the Capital at Madrid. Philip II., who removed the
Court from Valladolid to Toledo, found it better, after a short
residence here, to take himself and his Court to a town where he no
longer encountered the arrogance of Ecclesiastical rule.
Under the Romans, who captured it in 193 B.C., "Toletum" became the
capital of Hispania. Leovigild removed hither from Seville, and his
successor, Reccared, who embraced the orthodox form of Christianity,
made it the ecclesiastical as well as political capital of his
dominions.
For nearly four centuries, from 712, when the Moors took Toledo, it was
under their rule; but divided counsels and the treachery of the
down-trodden Hebrew enabled Alfonso VI. to enter in triumph with the
Cid. The King then styled himself Emperor, and promoted the Archbishop
to the Primacy of Spain. Under Alfonso's rule the city grew rapidly in
every way. Churches and convents were built, defences strengthened, and
Toledo knew no rival.
With far-seeing wisdom, Moor and Christian were allowed to intermarry,
and lived together in peace for wellnigh one hundred and fifty years.
The advent in 1227 of that ecclesiastical firebrand, St. Ferdinand,
however, altered this. One of his first acts was to pull down the
Mosque, wherein the Moors of the city, by Alfonso's royal prerogative,
had been allowed to worship, and commence the building on its site of
the great Cathedral.
[Illustration: TOLEDO. THE CATHEDRAL]
For two hundred years and more did the architects who followed Pedro
Perez add bit by bit, leaving their mark on its stones. Partly
constructed of granite it is immensely strong. A softer stone has been
used with great discretion in the decorative portions of the building.
No comprehensive view of the Cathedral is obtainable, so closely do the
houses surround it on the south and east, and creep up the hill on which
it is built, on the north. The west front is best seen from the Plaza
Ayuntamiento, a pleasant little garden which the Town Hall bounds on one
side. I managed a sketch from the narrow street below this garden.
Only one of the two towers of the west façade is finished as originally
intended. The other is capped by a dome, designed by El Greco, that
painter of the weird, and under which is the chapel wherein the
Mozárabic ritual is celebrated daily at 9 A.M.
The great west door, La Puerta del Perdon, is enriched with embossed
bronze work. Flanking on it either side are the doors of Las Palmas, and
de los Escribanos. The arches of all three have figures in the jambs,
which are continued round each arch in the very best Gothic of the
fifteenth century. Above the doors the façade is adorned with a
sculptured Last Supper and colossal figures in niches. In the centre is
a splendid rose window twenty-eight feet in diameter.
The north transept is entered from the steep Calle de la Chapineria by
La Puerta del Reloj, the oldest doorway of the Cathedral. Its bronze
doors, of later date than the doorway, were cast to match those of La
Puerta de los Leones in the south transept. This doorway's name is
derived from the Lions, which holding shields, occupy positions on its
pillars. Another entrance is through La Puerta de la Presentacion which
opens on the cloisters.
The effect produced by the magnificent interior is much enhanced by the
beauty of the glass which fills most of the windows. The earliest are on
the north side of the nave, and form a series which was commenced in
1418 and finished one hundred and fifty years later. The glass in the
rose window over the west door is superb, and the same may be said for
that in the north transept and the wheel window over La Puerta de los
Leones.
There is no triforium, and the transepts do not project beyond the nave.
The arches of the very beautiful chancel serve as niches for figures.
Here in each bay is a rose window forming a clerestory, and the colours
in the glass of these shine like jewels in a crown.
[Illustration: TOLEDO. THE SOUTH TRANSEPT]
There are in all twenty chapels, every one of which contains something
worth study. The lofty _retablo_ in the Capilla Mayor is of the richest
Gothic. Above is a colossal Calvary of later workmanship. Cardinal
Ximenes built this chapel, among the many monuments of which are the
tombs of Spain's earliest kings. Separating it from the _crucero_ is a
magnificent Plateresque _reja_, on either side of which stands a gilded
pulpit.
Behind the _retablo_ is the _transparente_, much admired by Toledans,
but the one jarring note in the finest of Spain's Cathedrals. This
theatrical mass of marble figures, in the midst of which the Archangel
Rafael kicks his feet high in the air and squeezes a gold fish in one
hand! is lit from a window let into the roof of the apse.
The Capilla de Reyes Nuevos contains the tombs of the kings descended
from Henry II. His tomb and that of his wife, as well as the spouse of
Henry III., a daughter of John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster, are among the
many that crowd the walls.
The Capilla de San Ildefonso is an extremely beautiful example of early
Gothic work. The much-mutilated tomb in the centre of Cardinal Albornoz
is a masterpiece of the same style. Many other great Ecclesiastics rest
in this elegant octagon, notably Inigo de Mendoza, Viceroy of Sardinia,
who was killed at the siege of Granada.
The Capilla de Santiago was erected in 1435 by Alvaro de Luna, the man
who saved Spain for Juan II. by repressing the turbulent nobles, and who
for his fidelity was rewarded by disgrace and execution in the Plaza
Mayor at Valladolid. The scallop shells which decorate the walls
represent de Luna's office of Grand Master of the Order of Santiago.
Cardinal Ximenes re-established the Mozárabic Ritual, which is
celebrated in the Capilla Mozárabe, as a reminder to the Pope that Spain
did not owe implicit allegiance to Rome.
The small detached Capilla de la Descension de Nuestra Señora stands
against the second pier in the north aisle. It marks the spot where the
Virgin came down and presented San Ildefonso with the _casulla_ or
chausable.
The Salle Capitular is a grand example of early sixteenth-century work,
with a Plateresque frieze and gilt _artesonado_ ceiling by Francisco de
Lara. It contains a series of portraits of the Cardinal Archbishops of
Toledo, and frescoes by Juan de Borgoña. The work of this painter is to
be met with throughout the Cathedral.
The _coro_ occupies two bays of the nave and is a veritable museum of
carving and sculpture. Its _silleria_ are in two rows. The lower is of
walnut and enriched with scenes representing the campaigns of Ferdinand
and Isabella. The upper of the same wood is a perfect classical contrast
and is inlaid not carved. Berruguete, whose work may be best studied in
Valladolid, executed the seats on the south side, and Vigarney those on
the north. A small figure of the Virgin in blackened stone looks really
ancient. It stands in the middle of the _coro_ on a pedestal. Nicolas de
Vergara was responsible for the two reading desks, which are
masterpieces of gilded metal work.
The Gothic cloisters enclose a delightful garden, and have an upper
cloister reached by a door in the Archbishop's Palace. From this
pleasant _claustro alto_ a very good idea of the size of the Cathedral
is obtained.
Space does not permit me to enlarge on the manifold works of art which
this noble building contains. The pictures, the iron work--though I must
just mention a beautifully fanciful knocker of two nude nymphs hanging
downwards from the head of a satyr whose hands clasped together form the
handle, which adorns La Puerta de la Presentacion--the sculpture,
notably that on the _respaldo_, or outer wall of the _coro_, and the
many relics in the Treasury, would all occupy more than I can afford.
Suffice it to say that nowhere in Spain is there a Gothic building of
such well-proportioned dimensions, such simplicity in its leading
features, such a fine idea in the interior of the spacing out of light
and shade, as in this magnificent Cathedral--the grandest of the three
due to French influence.
And Toledo's churches? There are nearly sixty still remaining, every
street seems to contain one! And Toledo's convents? There are almost as
many. Of the former, San Juan de los Reyes, on the high ground above the
bridge of Saint Martin, the last remnant left of a once wealthy
Franciscan convent, was built by Cardinal Ximenes in commemoration of
the "Catholic Kings" victory of Toro. On its outer walls still hang the
manacles and chains of the captive Christians who were set free at the
conquest of Granada, and the interior is embellished with the arms of
Ferdinand and Isabella, and covered with sculptured heraldry.
[Illustration: TOLEDO. THE ZÓCODOVER]
Santa Maria la Blanca, originally a Jewish synagogue, is in the
_Mudéjar_ style, and has some charming arabesques, with a fine cedar
ceiling said to be of wood from the trees at Lebanon. Almost
opposite--we are in the Juderia, or Jews' quarter, to the south-east of
San Juan de los Reyes--is another synagogue, el Transito. Built in 1366
by Samuel Levi, Pedro the Cruel's treasurer, in the Moorish style, it is
almost a better piece of architecture than Santa Maria la Blanca. Levi
lived next door, in the house known now as La Casa del Greco, that
painter having occupied it during his residence in Toledo. The house and
synagogue are connected by a secret passage from the vaults of the
former. These are of immense size and strength, and in Levi's day held
an enormous amount of treasure--too much for the poor man's good. His
royal master, when sufficient was accumulated, put him to death and
appropriated all he could find.
El Cristo de la Luz, one of the most interesting churches in Toledo, was
originally a tiny mosque. It is divided into nine different compartments
by four columns, from the capitals of which spring sixteen arches. It
was here that Alfonso VI. attended the first Mass after the city was
captured. Close by is the Convent of San Domingo el Real, where a
glimpse may be had of picturesque nuns while at their devotions during
early service.
As the station 'bus rattled up the steep winding ascent to the Despacho
Central we dashed through the Zocodovér, the square celebrated for
numerous _auto de fés_ and other executions. All day long it is crowded
with sauntering folk, who walk up and down, quietly enough now, on the
scene of much former cruelty, bloodshed, and many bull-fights.
On its eastern side a fine Moorish arch leads down the hill by a
footpath to the Bridge of Alcántara. Immediately the arch is passed on
the left lies the old Hospital de Santa Cruz. It is one of the best
examples of the Transition to Renaissance in Spain. The portal is deeply
undercut and elaborately carved in soft "white rose" stone and marble.
The inner gate is plateresque and only surpassed by San Marcos at Leon
and the gateway of the university at Salamanca. Cardinal Mendoza's arms
adorn the beautiful _patio_, which has a double arcade of great
elegance, and the stone work on the balustrade of the staircase leading
out of this is very fine. Opposite, on the other side of this steep
descent, are the Military Governor's quarters which are dominated by the
huge Alcázar, now the Military Academy for Infantry Cadets. Destroyed by
fire in 1886, the present edifice, rebuilt soon after, is seen in the
illustration of the Alcántara Bridge rising a great square mass on the
top of the hill. It was the fortress and palace of Moorish days. Alvaro
de Luna had a share in its alteration and Herrera completed it to the
present size by additions executed for Philip II. Many a time has it
been sacked by the conquerors of Toledo and many a prisoner of note
passed his last hours within its gloomy walls, before being led out to
death in the Zocodovér.
[Illustration: TOLEDO. THE ALCÁNTARA BRIDGE]
Both Toledo's bridges are magnificent. The Alcántara, crossed on the way
from the station, has but a couple of arches which span the mighty river
at a great height. It is defended by a gateway at either end, that on
the inner side being the Moorish Tower in my sketch. The Bridge of Saint
Martin has one arch of enormous span with four smaller, which carry it
over the rushing Tagus. Between these two bridges from the opposite bank
of the river one gets the best idea of Toledo's strength. Nothing in
Spain surpasses the grim majesty of the city, which rises above the
sun-baked and wind-blistered crags that form the gorge below through
which the river has cut its way. No spot could have been better chosen
for defence than the hill enclosed in this "horseshoe" of mad waters.
Small wonder that within its encircling walls grew up a race of Prelates
whose rule spread far beyond the borders of Castile, and whose powerful
hand was felt in countries of an alien tongue.
Of the eight city gates the most interesting is the Puerta del Sol, a
Moorish structure with two towers on either side of a horseshoe arch. It
is close to the little church of el Cristo de la Luz, and from either of
the towers a very good idea is obtained of Toledo's defences. Near the
Puerta del Cambon, another of the gates, is the site of the old palace
of the last of the Spanish Goths, Roderic, who lost his life on the
banks of the Guadalete near Cadiz when giving battle to Tarik and his
Berbers.