Post by Budleigh on Apr 29, 2009 17:34:45 GMT
In January of this year (2009) I went on the 2nd part of my honeymoon, a week in Barcelona.
Before going I, of course, read up up on the football scene and firstly ignoring the obvious (Nou Camp, Barca etc... which comes in part 2) I decided to concentrate on the city's second team in the Primera Division of the Spanish 'La Liga' and one that has an interesting history.
First off I checked out the ground and found the following picture of the Estadia de Sarria, the club's, now lost, ground from 1923 until they left in 1997. Checking Google Earth I was pleased to see that although the ground was long gone there was still part of the outline visible in the park laid out there now. A visit was in order.
Checking the fixtures confirmed that Espanyol were playing that weekend, on the Sunday evening against Almeria, although obviously not at the now defunct Sarria, but at the ground they were currently using before moving to their newly built stadium on the outskirts of the city. The temporary home was, of course, the Olympic Stadium used for the games of 1992 having originally been built by Franco in 1927 for the Expo of 1929 and ill-fated bid for the 1936 Olympics. Situated overlooking the city on the high Montjuic the ground holds just under 56,000 all seated.
We first visited the stadium on the friday morning on a site seeing tour of the Mount and entering it was easy, just a walk through the gate, and I took the pictures below. It was fascinating seeing not just the ground but the whole area of the games and is well worth a visit even if not to see a match.
Remembering I was on honeymoon the next stage of the footballing side of the week, a couple of days later, was fraught with a little difficulty, but I managed to convince the newly crowned Mrs E that she would enjoy a large coffee in a local bar reading the Sunday morning papers whilst I disappeared for a short while... 90 minutes later and i'd managed to grab a train, walk down a hill and take the pictures of the old ground (Estadi de Sarria as mentioned at the beginning of this post), as seen below. This ground is situated not far from the Nou Camp in the north of the city and at one time held 41,000, it's most famous game being the 1992 World Cup game between Brazil and Italy in which Paulo Rossi scored a hat-trick in the 3-2 win.
(A good montage of the ground can be seen at )
It was fascinating in that the layout is still visible, indeed the centre circle has been raised and seating placed around it and left in the park itself, whilst a block of flats has been built along the pitch on one side and the other side is still grass where the pitch had been.
Below is the raised centre circle, with benches on it. The flats to the right are built on the pitch along, and inside, the touchline
The flats, to the left, built as described above. Those at the very top, between the gap with the green coverings on the balconies, can be seen in the top of the photo in the old picture of the ground. Above the man's head is the raised centre circle
Looking diagonally across the pitch from the top, the flats to the left built on the old grandstand, the centre circle visible to the right, and the lower goalmouth situated on the gap to the right of the 'glowing' green building.
The sign giving the history of the ground placed beside the centre circle.
It was really quite strange sitting on the bench in the middle of the 'pitch' and trying to envisage that World Cup game going on on this very patch of grass whilst people where quietly out taking their dogs for a sunday morning walk and strolling across what was the goal mouth.
Anyway:
Late Sunday afternoon and the promise of an unhindered shopping trip with my credit card meant that the by-now very understanding young lady had worked out the meaning of 'giving each other space' and 'doing our own thing now and then' etc. So off up the funicular (no smut please!), and to the game, Espanyol v Almeria in La Liga.
It was a wonderful sight to behold arriving just as the dusk was coming down and seeing the lights to the stadium, and surrounding Olympic park, brighten the sky line.
The game was so-so considering it was between two of the teams at the bottom of the league and the atmosphere was pretty strange, 11,500 spectators in a 56,000 capacity stadium.
But after Almeria had taken a 2-0 half-time lead it began to improve after the break when Espanyol pulled one back.
Then with 5 minutes to go a text message to say that the now 'shopped-out' but expensively dressed wife had found a romantic, sexy little bar and restaurant and how long would I be? So taking my cue I hot-footed it out of the ground and started on my way down the hill back into the city to continue the real reason for the trip, only to hear an almighty roar. Yep, in injury time the home side had equalised.
Part two is to follow in which I visit the Nou Camp for a tour of the ground and a visit to the museum (how did I get away with it all!?)
Before going I, of course, read up up on the football scene and firstly ignoring the obvious (Nou Camp, Barca etc... which comes in part 2) I decided to concentrate on the city's second team in the Primera Division of the Spanish 'La Liga' and one that has an interesting history.
First off I checked out the ground and found the following picture of the Estadia de Sarria, the club's, now lost, ground from 1923 until they left in 1997. Checking Google Earth I was pleased to see that although the ground was long gone there was still part of the outline visible in the park laid out there now. A visit was in order.
Checking the fixtures confirmed that Espanyol were playing that weekend, on the Sunday evening against Almeria, although obviously not at the now defunct Sarria, but at the ground they were currently using before moving to their newly built stadium on the outskirts of the city. The temporary home was, of course, the Olympic Stadium used for the games of 1992 having originally been built by Franco in 1927 for the Expo of 1929 and ill-fated bid for the 1936 Olympics. Situated overlooking the city on the high Montjuic the ground holds just under 56,000 all seated.
We first visited the stadium on the friday morning on a site seeing tour of the Mount and entering it was easy, just a walk through the gate, and I took the pictures below. It was fascinating seeing not just the ground but the whole area of the games and is well worth a visit even if not to see a match.
Remembering I was on honeymoon the next stage of the footballing side of the week, a couple of days later, was fraught with a little difficulty, but I managed to convince the newly crowned Mrs E that she would enjoy a large coffee in a local bar reading the Sunday morning papers whilst I disappeared for a short while... 90 minutes later and i'd managed to grab a train, walk down a hill and take the pictures of the old ground (Estadi de Sarria as mentioned at the beginning of this post), as seen below. This ground is situated not far from the Nou Camp in the north of the city and at one time held 41,000, it's most famous game being the 1992 World Cup game between Brazil and Italy in which Paulo Rossi scored a hat-trick in the 3-2 win.
(A good montage of the ground can be seen at )
It was fascinating in that the layout is still visible, indeed the centre circle has been raised and seating placed around it and left in the park itself, whilst a block of flats has been built along the pitch on one side and the other side is still grass where the pitch had been.
Below is the raised centre circle, with benches on it. The flats to the right are built on the pitch along, and inside, the touchline
The flats, to the left, built as described above. Those at the very top, between the gap with the green coverings on the balconies, can be seen in the top of the photo in the old picture of the ground. Above the man's head is the raised centre circle
Looking diagonally across the pitch from the top, the flats to the left built on the old grandstand, the centre circle visible to the right, and the lower goalmouth situated on the gap to the right of the 'glowing' green building.
The sign giving the history of the ground placed beside the centre circle.
It was really quite strange sitting on the bench in the middle of the 'pitch' and trying to envisage that World Cup game going on on this very patch of grass whilst people where quietly out taking their dogs for a sunday morning walk and strolling across what was the goal mouth.
Anyway:
Late Sunday afternoon and the promise of an unhindered shopping trip with my credit card meant that the by-now very understanding young lady had worked out the meaning of 'giving each other space' and 'doing our own thing now and then' etc. So off up the funicular (no smut please!), and to the game, Espanyol v Almeria in La Liga.
It was a wonderful sight to behold arriving just as the dusk was coming down and seeing the lights to the stadium, and surrounding Olympic park, brighten the sky line.
The game was so-so considering it was between two of the teams at the bottom of the league and the atmosphere was pretty strange, 11,500 spectators in a 56,000 capacity stadium.
But after Almeria had taken a 2-0 half-time lead it began to improve after the break when Espanyol pulled one back.
Then with 5 minutes to go a text message to say that the now 'shopped-out' but expensively dressed wife had found a romantic, sexy little bar and restaurant and how long would I be? So taking my cue I hot-footed it out of the ground and started on my way down the hill back into the city to continue the real reason for the trip, only to hear an almighty roar. Yep, in injury time the home side had equalised.
Part two is to follow in which I visit the Nou Camp for a tour of the ground and a visit to the museum (how did I get away with it all!?)
