One place we had been told about before heading off to Spain, was to make sure we try and get to
Park Guell, nestled in the hills surrounding Barcelona. it is quite a well known park, designed and created by Antoni Gaudi, for
Count Eusebi Guell who financed the project.
We caught a bus there, which dropped us off at a foot of a very steep hill. It was hard going, pushing a 12 kilo toddler in a stroller up a steep hill, but doing that for 10 minutes was well worth the effort. I knew it would be something special when we saw the entrance sign...
I'm always one for arriving somewhere early, especially on holiday, to avoid the rush of the tourist masses and I, for one, was most pleased to see that the park was practically empty at 9:30am. Through the gates we looked up at a lot of ceramic architecture - it was wonderful.
Tiny little buildings, looking like something out of a fairy tale. I swear this building in the photo below looks like it is made out of gingerbread!
Work began on the park in 1900 and was meant to like an English style village, aimed at Barcelona's elite. Gaudi designed and worked on the project for 14 years and when it became apparent that the project would never sell, work was abandoned. In 1918 the local government purchased the property, finished the work and it opened to the public four years later. I'm glad they did.
The place is pretty spectacular. And pretty special too. I felt privileged to be somewhere where a man, before his time, had planned and worked with a different vision. An artist I learnt a lot about 20 years previously whilst at university. (We kept saying that if we had chosen to visit Barcelona in 2008 instead of Venice like we did, and therefore named Lily that as her middle name, she would've been called - without a doubt, Lily Gaudi.)
 |
| What three gorgeous girls! =) |
The ceramic and mosaic work is truly awesome - I'm pretty sure all four of us were impressed. This bench below, is noted as being the longest in the world and if you saw it for yourself, you'd see why. I'd actually vote it as being the most prettiest too. It was very inspirational.
The house below, was once Gaudi's home. Bit unusual that for a man who designed all his works on the curves of nature, it had a lot of straight sides (on the outside!) It now serves as the park's museum.
The view from the walkways was amazing. I'm so pleased we went. I have a post coming up about the most spectacular Sagrada Familia (the building being constructed in the photo below), and to see it from this height and distant was fabulous....
One of Gaudi's most famous ceramic pieces is a mosaic gecko (or dragon as some people say it is), which I was keen to find, knowing it was housed in the park. If only I initially realised that it was housed near the entrance, I would have steered there first before all the tourists came wandering in. Instead I took a quick snapshot (to prove to myself that we did actually see it) with a lot of annoying strangers touching the creature. I'm a bit pissed at myself for not seeing it before everyone else.
 |
| I do like that blonde headed chick's dress though! |
I'm so glad we took the time to visit the park and considering it was free, was even better. We spent about 2-3 hours there, wandering the paths leading up the hillside but we could've easily spent a couple more to explore. Will do so next time. *wink wink*
