2 glorious days in Barcelona! Sunny, warm, friendly, good
food—what’s not to love!
Our first day took us to Guell Park, designed by Gaudi. It
was to be one of the first planned urban developments in a park-like setting.
There were to be 60 houses, surrounded by this wonderful park. Only 2 houses
were built (one where Gaudi lived) and the project was abandoned in 1914.
Fortunately, the Gaudi design for the park remains. Picture 1 shows the
whimsical entrance, with 2 guardhouse-like buildings. Picture 2 shows Gaudi’s
lizard, covered in ceramic (one of many creatures populating the garden).
The next picture is one of the two houses completed—the one
where Gaudi lived in very Spartan quarters. It did contain some of his
furniture, which was very ergonomically designed.
Following a delightful lunch (and sangria), we went to the
Cathedral. Not everyone realizes that you can go to the Cathedral for free in
the morning and wander around, but if you wait until after 2:00, you pay 6
euros and get to wander around plus visit the museum, cloister and go up on the
roof! Needless to say, the roof beckoned. It contains scaffolding that has been
added for walking around (first picture) and the views of Barcelona are great.
The second picture shows an interesting perspective of the Sagrada Familia from
the Cathedral.
Once back at ground level, we visited the cloister, which
has contained 13 geese for 500 years—not the same 13 geese for 500 years, but a
constant 13. Most of the current flock is shown in the first picture. Legend
goes that the number13 is chosen
for St. Eulalia, for whom the Cathedral is named. She was 13 years old and was
tortured by Roman soldiers 13 times before dying. The second picture shows her
tomb in the crypt beneath the altar.
The following two pictures show that the Cathedral is
typical Spanish gothic in style and oozes gold leaf! The 3rd picture
(sorry, it’s a little fuzzy….) shows the altar, which we found fascinating. It
is supported by the capitals from 2 Visigoth columns from the 6th
century. These were found when building the Cathedral.
Our second day in Barcelona was a “rest Betsy’s foot” day,
so we just went out for lunch at a favorite tapas restaurant from our trip last
year. As the picture shows, there was sangria, chicken and ham croquettes,
Spanish omelet with tomato toast and fried green peppers—and more sangria!
Great time!!!
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