Silêncio

Barcelona

That night McNair, Cottman, and I slept in some long grass at the edge of a derelict building-lot. It was a cold night for the time of the year and no one slept much. I remember the long dismal hours of loitering about before one could get a cup of coffee. For the fisrt time since I had been in Barcelona I went to have a look at the Sagrada Familia – a modern church, anod one of the most hideous buildings in the world. It had four crenellated spires exactly hte shape of hock bottles. Unlike most of the churches in Barcelona it was not damaged during the revolution – it was spared because of its 'artitisc value', people said. I think the Anarchists showed bad taste in not blowing it up when they had the chance, though they did hang a red and black banner between its spires.

George Orwell in Homage to Catalonia
© Penguin Classics

Barcelona