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So much has been written about Antoni Gaudi and his association with Barcelona it’s nearly inconceivable to venture to that pearl of the Mediterranean without at least passing a little time admiring the slinky extravagances of the architect’s fanciful imagination. But Barcelona is chock-full of strange shops, bars and restaurants that’ve been going about their business since before Sr. Gaudi picked up his first pencil. There also are tons of great Barcelona Apartment Rentals to explore the town just like the great designer used to.

At number eleven Carrer de la Princesa, a painted be-turbaned head glares out from the curve of an enormous blue question mark. Below it a glass display case holds playing cards, puzzles, wands and intricate explanations of the illusionist’s art. This is El Rey De La Magia, founded in 1881 and the oldest magic shop in Spain.

Just before Gaudi began work on the Segrada Familia, Joaquin Portagas became charmed with the world of illusion. After a trip to South America where he learned some new tricks and techniques, he made a decision to take a fulltime step into the magic world and opened El Rey de la Magia, a brave step at a point when just a few people understood and practiced the illusionist’s art. At that point sorcery was mainly performed on street corners, in markets and bars – it wouldn’t become actually popular till the 1930′s, when it ultimately entered the theatres and became a major spare time interest.

In the shop, and the little museum of magic nearby, posters returning to the early years of the previous century advertise the famous wizards of the day, numerous them dressed in flowing Chinese robes. The bright costumes were seen as awfully exotic when they first appeared, and besides – there had been lots of space to cover things!

In 1933 the first magic group in Spain was started in Barcelona, the Asociacin Catalana Illusionistas – and met in Quatro Gats, the same caf where Picasso, Joan Mir and other artists, writers and poets would meet. Wizardry was seen by many as an element of the humanities in those days.

By the point Jos Maria Martinez usurped the store the wizardry business had been declining for numerous years – there had been even talk of changing the property into a bar. At that point he and his spouse, Rosa Maria Llop, were pro actors but included magic in their specifically produced performances, something they still do today.

Magic is now an an incredibly well liked spare time interest again, and even though most people like the very grand David Copperfield-type illusions, it’s still the close-up, more intimate stage performances that folk really like. And you do not get much more close-up and intimate than the performances held at their miniscule theatre, where toddlers to grandpas goggle in awe at the ‘magical ‘ Sun. shows. Why not lease some Apartments in Barcelona to practice your own magic tricks in the town?

The theatre is part of a museum of historical sorcery props ( where you can see Rosa’s grinning head mysteriously suspended in a glass case ), but in the workshop below, Jos Maria works creating new tricks for customers world wide, though in the world of magic nothing really changes.

Fundamentally sorcery is outlined by a few rules – levitation, changing color, shape or place, and breaking something apart and putting it together again. Even if you’re chopping somebody’s head off you still need to put it back again or where is the magic? There isn’t – it’s then known as murder!

The most significant thing in magic is making the truth of something that doesn’t exist. That boils down to system, you need to focus the public’s attention where you want it. One of the most difficult illusions to do is levitation because it need roughly 4 mins to line up, in full public view, and 4 mins is a very long time for a sorcerer to stand on stage and do nothing.
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