L'Espagne - Final Day

On my last day in Barcelona, I decided to go to Park Güell which is a garden complex designed by Antoine  Gaudi and built between 1900-1914. The land on which the park stands was purchased by a wealthy Catalan industrialist, Count Eusebi Güell i Bacigalupi. His initial idea was to create a private housing project on the hill El Carmel for wealthy residents to live away from the pollution and noise in the heart of the city. He hired Gaudi to design the infrastructure for the development. However, no one came forward to purchase the plots of land on the property. Only 3 homes were built on the property -one for the Güell family, one for his lawyer and Gaudi lived in the third. Finally, in 1922, it became a public park as it is known today. 

To get there, I took the tram north from Las Ramblas. On the way, I met a nice gent from New Zealand who was staying at one of the local hostels. Together (and I use that term loosely because he was way ahead of me) we made the steep climb from the tram to the high point of the park. There were occasional escalators to assist with the ascent, but you still had to put in a lot of effort. This is a picture of the street we climbed to get to the park.

At the Park's high point, you had a panoramic view of Barcelona and the bay. 

La Sagrada Familia is is the middle of this photo with the 3 cranes on top.

We wandered around the park for a bit and then found out that we had to pay to enter the "monumental zone" which included the tiled works and the main entrance. That required standing in a queue for the ticket and then another queue to enter the zone at a specified time. Once again, I was struck by Gaudi's designs. The main terrace on top is surrounded by this long, tiled bench in the form of a serpent. It is supported by the doric columns which open to the stairs leading down to the main entrance. You might want to take a look at the Internet for better pictures than I have here of the serpentine bench and terrace.

The columns and the tiled ceilings are found in the Sala Hipostila or Doric Temple.

The colonnaded footpath under the roadway viaduct was pretty cool.

These two gingerbread houses flank the main entrance. One is a gift shop and the other is ..... 

...the Casa del Guarda which houses videos and posters about Gaudi and his work.

There are some lovely gardens in the park. The house in this picture is the Casa Marti i Trias Domenech -  Güell's lawyer's home.

A photo of a tree in full bloom. 

Gemma had agreed pick me up at the Park so we could have lunch, collect my suitcase and get to train station around 3:45 p.m. On the way to the restaurant, we passed by a square filled with people dancing to some very catchy music. Gemma thought it might be a local dancing group. Everyone was having such a good time and it was really fun to watch. I think I enjoyed this serendipitous event as much, if not more than the Park Güell. Unfortunately, all the tables around the square were taken, so we couldn't have lunch there, but I did manage to take a couple of photos.

My time in Spain was just about over, but not before a nail-biting experience. I am definitely the type of person to arrive on time or early for just about everything, in particular, planes and trains. Gemma is not 

so much like that. By the time we finished lunch it was 3:35 p.m. We still had to go by moto to "my place" to pick up my suitcase and then get to the train station because my train was leaving at 4:20 p.m. Those two trips were going to take at least 45 minutes. Gemma drove at lightning speeds through the streets of Barcelona taking short cuts and blazing through red lights. I just held on tight and shut my eyes. I thought for sure I would miss my train especially when she stopped to ask for directions to the train station. We screeched to a stop as we parked the moto and she grabbed my suitcase and ran toward the station. I followed in pursuit pulling off my helmet and fishing through my bag for my ticket. The suitcase and backpack had to be xrayed and then I ran down to the platform. I made it to my assigned seat and car with 45 seconds to spare! It was just a little too close for comfort for me, but then again, I didn't have to wait around, did I? 

Once again, thank you so much for a fabulous week-end Gemma. I hope that you will come to visit us in Canada some day.