Hola Barcelona!


Come to Barcelona this week with Susi and explore the city with the most World Heritage sites in the word, sometimes called "Paris with palm trees". First we talk with Sr. Jordi Marti, Cultural Commissioner of Barcelona for an overview of Catalonia and its capital city. We take a gastronomical tour at the Via Veneto restaurant with its owner Sr. Pedro Monje and Chef Carlos Tejedor. Finally, we have a fantastic voyage with Sr. Jordi Bonet, Chief Architect through La Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi's last, as yet unfinished, masterpiece.







World Heritage Sites

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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) maintains a list of sites that are "of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity." These sites may be structures such as buildings or monuments, natural sites such as lakes, mountains, deserts, or forests, or even entire cities. While Barcelona has only two official "sites" they comprise nine individual buildings.

Two of Barcelona's structures that together make a World Heritage Site are the works of of Lluís Domènech i Montaner. The Hospital de Sant Pau and the Palau de la Música Catalana were added as one site in 1997. The hospital was built between 1901 and 1930 and features bold decoration and design while still functioning as a hospital to the present day. The Palau de las Musica Catalana is a music hall that was built between 1905 and 1908 to house the Orfeó Català choral society. It is a airy, steel-framed structure with decorations provided by many of the top designers of the time.

Antoni Gaudí was responsible for many of the most famous structures in Barcelona. Three of his structures, the Palau Güell, the Park Güell, and the Casa Milàbecame a World Heritage Site in 1984. In 2005 another four structures, the Sagrada Família, the Casa Vicens, the Crypt in Colonia Güell. and the Casa Batlló, were added to the official Site. La Sagrada Família is Spains’s most visited landmark and remains the only major church that is still under construction. When finished, the structure will include twelve towers representing the Twelve Apostles, each rising over 100 meters tall.

Of Gaudí’s other sites, the Casa Batlló is unique in that it represents the renovation of a pre-existing building that included new concepts in deocration and ornamentation. Casa Mila is an apartment block with a wave-like facade while Güell Palace is a stunning example of Catalan Art Nouveau architecture. The Crypt in Colonia Güell is considered to be one of the most admired works of the architect and foreshadow many of the features in the Sagrada Família.





Guests

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Jordi Bonet, Chief Architect
La Sagrada Familia


Dr Bonet has been awarded the Medal Creu de Sant Jordi of the Catalan Government and is the Architect Coordinator and Director of the Sagrada Família construction. He is also President of the Catalan Royal Academy for Fine Arts (Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi). Currently he is the General Secretary of the International Conference of the Catholic Scout Movement and a member of the Gala-Dalí Foundation

Dr. Bonet has designed and built a large variety of buildings, including housing (individual and block of flats), offices, factories, schools, hotels, churches, auditoriums, building restorations and planning projects. He is the organizer of several different exhibitions: "Gaudí" Paris 1961 and "Mil.lenium" Barcelona 1988 are two examples. He has also published four books: L’arquitectura al servei de la música (1986), Temple de la Sagrada Familia (1992), L’últim Gaudí and The Esencial Gaudí (2000). Dr. Bonet has given a large number of lectures around the world.







Pedro Monje, Owner
Via Veneto restaurant


Pedro Monje was born in Barcelona in 1973 and has always been linked to Via Veneto. When he was 11 years old he used to spend his summer holidays in the restaurant kitchen doing simple tasks and acquiring valuable experience and knowledge that he has always considered essential for a complete view of the restaurant business. He completed his training with several "stages" in the kitchens of Pierre Orsi (Lyon, France) and La Pyramide (Vienne, France).

He got a Master Degree in Business Administration and Management by ESADE, worked for four years in the Marketing Department of the multinational American food company Nabisco, and in 2001 he began to work in Via Veneto with the responsibility of managing director.

In his business and personal background he has also collaborated with the NGO Setem and has attended several business courses and seminars.

As far as gastronomy is concerned, he usually participates in different Spanish gastronomic forums and is member of several gastronomy associations, such as the Young European Restaurateurs. He is also a certified Sommelier after taking a two-year course organized by the Spanish Sommelier Association.







Carles Tejedor, Chef
Via Veneto restaurant


Carles Tejedor was born in Terrassa 33 years ago. He is a vocational cook, and despite being very young, he has an extensive professional background: he has worked in California, in the Savoy Hotel in London, and in the Restaurant Ristol in Terrassa (Spain) where he has become one of the most sound values of the new Catalan cuisine. His cooking is characterized by the use of the best market products and the most modern cooking methods and techniques. It is a fresh cuisine with intense flavours designed mainly for people to enjoy it.

Besides his innovative talent, Carles has a strong interest in making Catalan cuisine known all over the world.


Some of the latest events where he has participated on behalf of Via Veneto are:

• "Català de l’any 2006". (Catalan of the Year 2006) Preparation, together with the best-known Catalan chefs, of the banquet for Award Ceremony of the most relevant Catalan person of the year.
• Hong Kong 2007: Participation in the intensive course of Chinese cuisine and master class “Art of new Spanish Cuisine” on Spanish cuisine in the "Chinese Cuisine Training Institute".
• Canary Islands 2007: In collaboration with the publishing house Montagut, several courses on Via Veneto cuisine were held in October for hotel management schools of Tenerife and Gran Canaria.

Additionally, several dinners are held for the specialized press with our most representative dishes.