Mataró
Saturday, as the air show in Barcelona has been cancelled in a bit of tit for tat by the Spanish authorities, we decided to visit Mataró, to see the roman remains. we set off quite early and arrived there at around 10:30 am having learned from the hotel receptionist that there were guided walking tours daily around the old town, we got off the train and after a little trouble found the tourist office in the ajuntament (town hall) we went in and asked about the guided tours and were given a basic street map with numbered locations and after handing over our passports, we were given a paddle like device wih a number pad on it that we had to dial a nunber and hold the device to our ears, and heard a dissemodied voice tell us about the particular attraction that we were looking at, the walk will take about three hours, the lady told us. We decided to start at number one and work our way around in numerical order, a mistake as we were to find out later.
We started with #1, guess where, the Ajuntament, then down the main road to the chapel of St. Sebastian, which was also one of the gates into the city through the walls, then across the square to the church of Santa Anna which dates from the 18th century, it was beautiful inside, but photography was forbiden, I cannot see why, it oul have been different if they had been selling postcards, then out and on to the old fish markets which has been converted into a large cafe/resturaunt, it was designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch, a Catalan modernist architect and contempary of Antoni Gaudi, but I must say that I prefer his work, not quite so outlandish as Gaudi, next on to some roman remains, part of a bath house, not a lot to see, but part of the water system is included in an ultra modern building housing a college for architects ! Then on to the remains of the old city walls which date from 1569 -1600 and now form part of the boundry of a magnificent Plaça with cafes and bars, we stopped at one for refreshments, then on to the Hospital de Sant Jaume i Santa Magdalena built in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was built outside the city walls as it was filled with sick and dying people with many horrible diseases and plagues, apparantly the inhabititants did not wish to catch whatever it was the patients were suffering from. It is still used as a hospital and is very modern behind the old facade, attached to the hospital is a beautiful chapel, dedicated to Sant Jaume, next stop was a shop selling selling pasta and cereals designed by Puig i Cadafalch, it was quite small, but had wrought iron work and tiles in the front depicting the goods that were sold there, it was built in 1896 and still has the original wooden sign hanging inside and still carries out the same family business then on to the Rengle Market, another of P. i C`s designs, by this time he was employed as the City architect,it is situated in the Grand Plaça (Great Square), a bit of a misnomer as it is one of the smallest squares we have ever seen, the market wasn`t that spectacular either, a row of ten back to back stalls five on each side, with an arched tiled roof over them, quite an attractive little building though, then on to the Basilica de Santa Maria, a really large and impresive church dating from the 17th century,
the front has been remodelled at a later date, maybe the late 18th century, you will be able to see this from the photos as the tower is much older then the facade, it also houses a museum of the religous history of the town, but was closed as it was Saturday, next on the list was Casa Parera, anoth of P i C`s houses with a Modernist facade, then on to La Presó ( a Model prison) built in 1863 to an English design with seperate cells and levels, it is now no longer in use but was used up until Franco`s death, not a well loved place by the locals, there is an ongoing debate as to whether it should be demolished or retained as a memorial to those who suffered in it durng Franco`s reign, a difficult problem as when democracy returned to Spain a policy of forgive and forget was taken, but now younger Catalans wish to know and learn of the oppresion thet was suffered after the civil war.
We decided to miss the next one on the list, an old Fransican College, it was a long walk over a mile away and when we got there we would have had to walk back to the prison again. So it was on to Casa Coll i Regàs, a modernist house built for Señor Coll i Regàs by guess who, this one is much more in the Gaudi style that we are used to from Barcelona, Señor Coll i Regàs made his money from textiles and the decorations show this whith statues and wrought iron work whilst the higher floors lean toward Dutch architectural design as he travel there frequently about his business, but the tiles and mosiacs are included, it is a small frontage by Barcelona standards, but the house would not look out of place there. next stop Residència Sant Josep, an old folks home run by Fransiscan monks and nuns, and paid for by our benevolent textile baron, which was built in 1912, I do not have to tell you who was responsible by now, next door is La Beneficència, built a bit earlier, again by the textile oligarth, but this time for fallen women and single mothers then on to the Conjunt de Sant Josep, our Fransiscan friends monestary and Comvent built at the turn of the 17th century, then next to Can Serra Arnau the oldest complete house in Materò, a date carved under the main entrance states 1565, it is now a museum, closed on Saturdays, but intact as origanal, and guess where it is, in the bloody square behind the Ajuntament, and it`s number effing 18 on the tour, number 19 is in the same square, a building dating from the 18th century, now completely modernised and used as council offices, all concrete and glass, but it does retain one, yes one, original stone window and the cellars, why bother we wondered.
Now a really long walk, about 2 miles to the highlight of the tour, the Roman Villa, Complete with mosiac floors, bath house and everything, one of the finest in Europe, the guide book says, we are really wanting to see this, this is what we came here for, we get to where we think it is, there are no sign posts, the last one was a mile up the road saying we were on the right track, we are in a tree filled park, in front of us is a busy roundabout on the main Barcelona _Girona highway, in the centre of the roundabout is a huge enormous statue of a femail archer made of iron about as tall as Nelson`s column, we have seen her in the distance from the train from Barcelona, an old friend, it is not mentioned in the guide or map, in front of us is a hill, fenced off at the top with security gaurds, on our right, a car park with a fancy concrete wall, must be up there we say, and cross a busy road, climb the hill and.................... It is a sports arena and bloody farm, the security guys are for the private sports club. we clamber back to the busy road, and there facing us is is a huge sign saying " Clos Arqueològic" and pointing to the fancy concrete wall, "well I`m buggered, there it is " I say, and we cross the road and follow the wall around until we find the entrance, a sign informs us that after 9th September it closes at noon daily.it is now 4.30pm WTF ! if we had come here first, done the walk in reverse order, but no we followed the instructions, we had told the lady in the tourist office that we had only come to see the Roman Villa, she could have told us. so we went to a nearby supermarket, and bought ourselve a couple of bocadilos (filled rolls) and cans of beer and found another peacefull park and had ourselves a picnic, we were shattered. we then made our way back to the tourist office to hand back our "guides" and collect our passports, the lady recognised us and asked if we had found the villa, "yes " we said, "and it closes at 12 o`clock" "I know" she replied.
We are determind to return one morning,next week, get a local bus from the station and WE WILL SEE THE VILLA.