Mediterranean - 18 May 30 2023 Barcelona, Antonio Gaudi's wild designs

 Our last day in Barcelona was spent touring with an independent company, Barcelona Day Tours,  with two important new goals visiting Gaudi's Park Guell, and revisiting the Sagrada Familia to see the inside. There was some overlap with the last two days, I plan to only include new info/photos here.

Motel One continues to be an excellent place to stay.  The rooms are small, modern, clean.  The staff is very helpful ordering taxis, suggesting restaurants.  Wifi is fast. The common areas are spacious and fun, and we sill love the roof top views.

Our ride picked us up from the hotel at exactly 8:40  to take us to the general meeting place where we met Marc, the tour guide for the morning and 8 other guests.  Tour started at 9am. We loaded into a 12 passenger van a started with a general tour of Barcelona.

Barcelona hosted the 1992 Olympics. Many of the sporting venues were held at Parc de Montjuic, a small mountain that overlooked the city of Barcelona and on the other side to our surprise the cruise port!

The Magic Fountain of Montjuic is a spectacular fountain with timed light and sound shows. But like all the other fountains here it was shut down to conserve water.  This one however opens up and performs 3 days a week, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  So sorry to miss it. 

Guadi's Park Guell was the next stop.  The park was originally designed as a 60 home development.  Guadi designed the common space and each homeowner could choose their own builder.  But only two of the home sites ever sold and one was to the Guadi family.  The other home is still privately owned and occupied on the grounds. Gaudi's unique designs are a big tourist draw.

Natural looking bridges/roads were installed.

The curved mosaic benches are bordering a large common space, a space that could be used for shows and performances. The bench design was surprisingly comfortable with lumbar support and unique water drainage (with collection the valuable water).

Large balls lined the pedestrian walkway, they represent a rosary.  Gaudi valued God and nature and combined the two where possible.

Road supports look like palm trees.

The ground was left unpaved to better soak up and drain water.

Common area with roof that was used to collect water, the water drained through the columns to a collection basin below.  This area was to be used as an outdoor market place.

Very little was straight or flat,  even the wall tiles were wavy.

Through Barcelona Day Tours we had 1pm tickets to see the inside of the sagrada familia, the largest unfinished catholic church in the world. Marc took us to the far side of the water to view the basilica.  It is the best  view of the building.  The cranes were moving today, and construction workers were high on the unfinished spires.   Gaudi was the prime architect for sagrada familia.  He actually lived there during the later years of his life (he never married). It was much easier for him to over see the construction that way.  Gaudi died in 1926 when he was accidentally hit by a tram at the age of 74.  He had worked on sagrada familia for  43 years.

The colors through the stained glass windows were stunning.

Marc described the east side as the nativity facade, the west as the passion facade, and the south side as the glory facade.  The north side is not yet finished, in fact construction hasn't begun yet.  It will be the main entrance, the photo below shows the doors for that entrance, facing in for now, with the Lords Prayer written in many languages, in fine print.

Here is the view into the bascilica from the front doors.

On the ride back to the hotel, I saw my favorite modern structure again, the Torre Glories, a 38 story sky scraper. It used to be known as the Agbar Tower.  It represents a water fountain that constantly changes it appearance.

We made it to the 2nd Zara store.  In fact the second location has one store for men and a second  adjacent store for women.  It is bigger than the Zara we visited yesterday.  And they are only a few blocks apart.  Anyway I had fun, Phil was very supportive holding my hat and bag while I found something new!

Drinks on the roof top (in new Zara dress).

An early dinner before we pack.  This restaurant was a 10 minute walk from Motel One.  Phil enjoyed a large steak, I had a salad, a cup or mushroom soup and an ox tail donut (unusual so I had to try it).

I have to go now and finish packing.  Our flight is tomorrow - at noon > Barcelona to Newark to Greenville SC.  We should be home in time for another dinner, which we should skip!  Its been fun putting together this blog of our trip.  I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have.

Till the next adventure....Mary Etta