Gaudi's Parc Guell Barcelona November 21, 2009

What to do on a sunny warm fall Saturday afternoon in Barcelona? Visit Gaudi's whimsical Parc Guell in the Gracia area of the city. It is now officially a public park and well attended by locals and tourists alike, however it began as a real estate venture for a friend of Gaudi, Count Eusebi Guell, who planned to make the park into a model garden city community of some 60 homes, a market and a Church. It was never finished and was taken over by the city in 1926. The park spans several areas of woodland overlooking central Barcelona with wonderful views to the Sea. Neither of the two homes which exist today in the park were built by Gaudi himself, although one became his residence in the latter part of his life.

We began our tour from the top of the park, having had some difficulty in finding a place to park!
This is the first home we passed-note the fencework, which looks like twisted vines or branches, but is, in fact, carved stone!




















A close-up of the wall















Here we are about half-way down the hill within the park-look how far away is that first house!















Trees? No, just more unique stone carvings made to look like trees!















Walkway and mosaic-covered stone wall leading to the park's main entrance















The main entrance in the Carrer d'Olot has two gingerbread-style gatehouses. At the time of their construction, Gaudi was, in fact, working on sets for the opera "Hansel and Gretel" at the Liceu Opera House downtown. Perhaps just a coincidence?




















From the entrance gatehouses rise steps to the Sala Hipostila (marketplace)




















The second gatehouse-gingerbread style!



































The park's centrepiece is this tiled lizard, featuring a fountain in the middle of the steps. A popular photo op spot!





















Mosaics on the ceiling of the marketplace-four in all represent the seasons















An impromptu classical concert-well worth the CD I bought from them! Their rendition of Pachelbel's Canon in this spot was amazing!




















In the elevated square above the marketplace is a sinuous bench, said to the longest in the world (Banc de Trencadis). It forms the perimeter of the square and was designed and decorated by Josep Maria Jujol (1879-1949). The story goes that the workers were ordered to bring Jujol all the pieces of broken crockery and glass they could find for the bench! From here you can see the cranes working on La Sagrada Familia Church and many other landmarks in the city.















Leaving the park we saw some newly-planted rosemary bushes to serve as ground cover over time-love this Mediterranean climate!















Throughout the park on some 3 km of paths lie some of Gaudi's typical sculptures and figurines. Since we didn't find many of them on this first visit, we'll just have to go again!

Adios!