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GLOBAL SHORT RENTALS

Le Comedy

The Only Team

Show, comedy and theatre room located right in the centre of Paris a few yards away from the famous Grand Rex.

Tracing the steps of the Romantic poets in Rome

Tracing the steps of the Romantic poets in Rome

Mónica Boixeda

To understand why there were so many poets, writers, artists and well-to-do people in Rome in the late eighteenth century, we need to look at the concept of the ‘grand tour’. In essence, this largely British, but also to a lesser extent French and German, phenomenon was something between an end of university holiday and a tour of initiation. It was assumed that anyone who wanted to be a gentleman (though there was also the occasional inquisitive lady) had to first take a long trip through Southern Europe. The final destination was Italy, but some travelled as far as Greece or Spain, and the French poet, Chateaubriand, even made it to Jerusalem. The intention of these young travellers was to complete their academic training by visiting the remains of the Roman Empire and seeing for themselves the great works of Renaissance art. They wanted to increase both their knowledge and their strength of character. The trip was long (depending on the debutante’s family, it could be from three months to two years), hard (the trip was made by horse or carriage) and uncomfortable (there wasn’t the basic infrastructure that travellers know today), but it was certainly exciting. Accompanied by a chaperone, these young people venturing into Europe were provided with letters of recommendation for the local nobility, who gladly welcomed these gentlemen and ladies into their sometimes dilapidated palaces. As a result of these trips, books of all kinds were written.  Of all these works, one that stands out in terms of its influence is The Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne, published between 1765 and 1768. The book was a vital guide for poets...

Blue Elephant

Mónica Boixeda

Thai and Indian cuisine restaurant in a beautiful location and high quality service.

Crystal Lounge Paris

The Only Team

One of the prestigious clubs in Paris with great style and very modern.

Carles Taché Barcelona

Mónica Boixeda

Founded in 1986 by Carles Taché, it´s been constantly given awards since its beginnings by contemporary art critics.

Maeght Gallery Barcelona

Mónica Boixeda

One of the homes of the emblematic Maeght Gallery in Paris, located in the best area in Barcelona.

The Temple of Augustus in Barcelona

The Temple of Augustus in Barcelona

Mónica Boixeda

In the first part of the entry on Barcelona hermetic, we referred to a chapter of the book by the Samoan writer Albert Hanover, Modelo de Espaldas (Behind the Model). As a game, with the number of God´s names according to the Kabbalah, there are about 73 seductive and sinking pages, which make up a strong maze of mirrors which is reflected, in an endless dance of masks among apocryphal and other realities well documented; the thousand and one faces of the Secret History of the Kabbalistic Barcelona (including its close relationship with Isaac the “blind” and the critical circle of Girona), alchemy, mysterious and magical, from the prehistoric dolmens and monoliths to the modern manifestation of Montesa Templar order, in motorcycle brand bearing the same name, through the Masonic Gnostic resonances octagons of the Eixample and the modernist architecture among other remarkable things. The same way, as throughout the chapter is particularly hard to distinguish on the other feature that is common to almost all the work written by Hanover, in which it is quite difficult to discover what information and characters are real and which are the result of the fable created by the author -noting the arbitrariness of any construction of meaning and the way we create and transfer what we call culture, if what we are reading is nothing more than a joke of gigantic and fantastic proportions, perhaps it did not constitute proof of its authenticity, because the texts are abundant in the East and West since ancient times considered the laughter, and its momentary collapse of the prevailing reality principle, as one of...