1st Sunday = Free Museum Day + Night at the Opera

For many museums in many places, there are special free admission days. In Barcelona it seems that the 1st Sunday of the month is that day. Lucky us! We managed to get to 3 different museums to take advantage of this budget friendly opportunity. We found some seriously great museums, ones I would not have visited based on the description in a guide book but thoroughly enjoyed.

Let's Start with the Frederic Mares museum (excuse my lack of accent marks. I'm lazy).
Frederic Mares was an artist, but more importantly he was a collector. Er, hoarder rather. He collected an absurd amount of absurd things, and seemingly never threw anything away. He eventually turned his collections into a museum; a most bizarre and delightful museum. His tastes were varied and his collection eclectic.

The first floor almost is entirely Medieval/Romanesque/Renaissance era statues of Mary and Jesus. A few people, but it is primary statues of Mary holding Jesus, who looks more like a ventriloquist dummy than a baby, and wall hangings of Jesus on the cross. 

But there were also these lovely columns. Those are good.

I developed a theory about all of them. For more on that, watch the video clip.

And then upstairs, oh the oddities! First was the room filled with keys. Keys to what? Nothing. Just keys for keys sake. And of course a couple hundred fancy Spanish fans, a hundred or so pipes, thousands of cigar bands, match books, and stamps. Dozens of decks of playing cards,
old tools, weapons, bicycles, creepy dolls, books, and statues.

Our next museum took us back in time, back to the Roman city of Barcino. It's the Barcelona City History Museum! Home to the preserved Roman ruins of a fish factory. Apparently the Romans had this fermented fish sauce called garum that was wildly popular among Romans and all the people they conquered. I suppose it is a testament to how truly awful ancient food was if it was improved with a fermented fish sauce and everyone was really into it. Don't get me wrong, certain aged foods are delightful. I would not say that fish ages well. I would not like to live near a factory where fish is made to age. It sounds awful. But visiting one 2,000 years later is great! You barely notice the smell.

Our third and final museum was the Maritime museum. This one was cool, but was especially a hit with the youths in our party. Maybe because there were some interactive exhibits, movies, and a FULL SIZED GALLEY just hanging out in the middle of the place.

This is part of an exhibit on sailor superstitions, which I thought were interesting.

Fun facts, or maybe not so much fun as disgusting, the men rowing ships like these had a life expectancy of 2 years, were often slaves, and these ships could be smelled from miles away. Like before you could see a galley, you could smell it. They were primary a war ship, so the decks were often painted red so they wouldn't have to try to wash the blood out. I am happy to be a middle class land lubber.

And we wrapped up the night at the Palace of Catalan Music for an abridged performance of Carmen. This is such a cool, pretty, modernisme building.

Nearly everything you see is ceramic tile mosaic. Each pillar and all the ceiling is intricately decorated, and rather than a large central chandelier, there is a giant stained glass window/light in the center of the concert hall.

And in the ceilings along the left and right sides of the space you can find composer names in the mosaic. I found a familiar one...

I love listening to art while looking at art inside of an art. A lovely way to spend an evening!