Palm Tree Stump in Barcelona

    As a wood guy I am always interested in wood related things. Also it is interesting to see how the local conditions effect the choice of building materials.  Spain was hot and dry, the view from the hills surrounding Barcelona showed no ground water, not a river or a creek or a pond any where. 

Barcelona in the distance

 
   It is not a surprise then that brick and stone were the preferred building materials.  And in many places where we would have used wood, wrought iron and other forms of metal work prevailed.

door at the Gaudi basilica

 
  Over the last couple of years Eva and I have taken southern vacations where I have seen palm trees. Naturally I have wondered about the wood available from a palm. ( don't snicker you worldly wise ones.  I am a simple man from small town northern Ontario, at heart)

   While in Barcelona we were walking through a local park where we saw this stump. (pop can to show scale).  This was big palm tree and when it was cut down it left a stump that is similar to a tree stump except the fiber in it is much less densely packed.  The palm looks more like a giant weed stem and not like a tree at all.  It does explain why there are is no palm lumber, though one does see pole and beam construction using palm logs. 

  

Doors of Barcelona Pt. 2

    Our trip to Barcelona was the most interesting and most difficult that I've made.  Given the strength and international scope of Spanish there seems little effort to learn English outside of the very tourist focused places.  If you are in a tourist area you are overpaying and probably not getting an authentic experience. 

   As we wondered around the non-tourist spots there was tonnes of things to see.  The stone work and tile work were both outstanding and the wood work is not too shabby either.

These were a couple of doors facing onto a busy street. The top door was a fairly common design, I suppose it added to the strength of the door without making it too heavy.  Barcelona is a very old city, if you have travelled in Europe you know that the front door to the building is right on the sidewalk so is not only a statement of style but also a security feature.
Many places had lighter wooden doors with iron or steel grill workon the outside.  That was often very beautiful too.


   Once you get past these doors you enter a court yard from which stairs take you up to apartments.  The entire city seems to be five to seven floor buildings with stores on the ground floor and apartments above.  Sometimes these doors grant entrance into garden courtyards filled with palms and fruit trees. Just like everywhere in the world there are nicer and less nice places to live.


 I suspect that the heat of the summer would be too much for this boy from Ontario but the spring was pretty nice.

doors of Barcelona

    You are going to have to take my wood about the amazing wood working I am seeing in Barcelona because I can't get my net book to load the photos that I have taken.
   Next week when I get home and decompress and have my new computer to work with I will feature some photos from the old port city of Barcelona Spain.
  cheers,