Date: August 12, 2018 – August 13, 2018
Location: Barcelona, Spain

On August 12, 2018 we said bye to Pete and Jen as they flew back to the United States and we took a train to Barcelona, Spain.

After we dropped our luggage off at the Airbnb we took a walk to La Rambla. La Rambla is a pedestrian street in the center of Barcelona. We walked it on a Sunday and did not see any street performers out.

Antoni Gaudí was born in 1852 and studied architecture in Barcelona. Gaudí’s works have a one-of-a-kind style that was influenced by his passion of nature and religion. The majority of his work is in Barcelona and millions of people visit his work each year. In 1885 Eusebi Güell commissioned Gaudí to build him a house in the center of Barcelona. 

That house is known as Palau Güell, Gaudí’s first major work. We did the audio guide tour of the house. The two iron doors at the front of the building were designed in a way that from the outside people could not see in but from the inside of the house you could see out.

This is a model of the house.

This is the roof of the central hall. It is a dome that lights the space with small openings and a large open area in the center.

The house has many windows. This is the bay window with a bench designed by Gaudí that adapts to the rounded shape of the window.

On the roof, Gaudí made the chimneys into sculptures.

Each one is decorated differently.

There are 20 chimneys on the roof.

Many museums in Barcelona are free on Sundays. Sometimes it is only the first Sunday of the month or only during off-peak season.

During our stay, Barcelona City History Museum – Museu d’Història de Barcelona – was free Sunday afternoon so we made a visit. The majority of the museum is underground as you walk through Roman ruins and archaeological sites beneath the street. The round areas in the picture below are where the wine was kept in the days of the Romans.

After the museum we saw the Barcelona Cathedral, La Catedral. The gothic cathedral was completed in 1420. At the time of day we were there the cathedral was closed to visitors.

On the way back to the Airbnb we went through the square, Plaça de Catalunya.

August 13, 2018

Park Güell

Around 1900, Eusebi Güell purchased a large property that was in a zone known as bare mountain. Güell’s plan was to have 60 luxury houses built on only 1/6th of the land and the rest be private gardens and walking paths for the residents. To create this, Güell hired Gaudí to design the area. The area was named Park Güell. 

Only 2 of the planned 60 houses were built; no one wanted to buy a house in the location, as it was far from the city and there wasn’t transportation to the city at the time. Gaudí did not design the houses. In 1904, the show house was put up for sale and Güell convinced Gaudí to buy it. In 1906, Gaudí, with his family and father, moved into the house and Güell moved into the Larrard House, a large house that was already on the land when Güell purchased it.

Gaudí lived in the house from 1906 to 1926 when he moved to his workshop at La Segrada Família. The house is now the Gaudí House Museum, Maison-musée Gaudí.

The museum shows furniture designed by Gaudí.

The majority of the Park Güell is open free of charge to visitors and there are nice views of the city and out to the sea.

There are views of La Segrada Família as well. We visited La Segrada Família a couple days later and you can see more pictures of the impressive church in the La Segrada Família post.

This is below a road in a public area of the park.

Inside the monumental zone there is a fee to enter. You can see mostly all of the area from a distance without paying the fee.

This is one side of the Hypostyle Room. It is a covered space that could have served as a market for the estate.

There are 86 columns inside and the ceiling is made up of small domes.

Above the Hypostyle Room is a ceramic bench that goes all around the upper square.

Half of the upper area was being restored when we were there. This is a picture taken from outside of the monumental zone (the no fee area).

Here is the view from the edge of the upper area.

The stone work on the edge was really elaborate too.

As we were leaving the upper area we saw Antoni Gaudí! Well, someone dressed up like him giving a tour. It looked to be a good impersonation though.

Here are the Austria Gardens, again with a lot of stone work.

In front of the Hypostyle Room is the Monumental Flight of Steps. There are many details on the steps.

Here is the view of the main entrance taken from the top floor of the gift shop that is in the porter’s lodge.

This is the porter’s lodge that is now the gift shop.

Park Güell was really cool! I like how colorful it was and all the interesting shapes.