21 November 2012
We're back in London, in a hotel with a fast internet connection. Time to catch up.
Jack and I were on our way to Parc Guell, which was supposed to be a housing development but turned into a public park instead. Antoni Gaudi designed the house at the foot of the park, and the architecture within.
Stairs are cut into a wall to the left of the park's main entrance:
The front gate is at the foot of a long, broad flight of stairs with paths that lead from it at intervals. To get away from the crowd, we veered to the right. We zigzagged our way up.
This wall was designed to mimic the aloe leaves and to host pigeons. Later you'll see a picture from a distance, with pigeons. Remember the pigeons. A pigeon will figure prominently in a later post.
At this point, I wondered if Dr. Seuss studied Gaudi, or vice versa.
A view of the city from halfway up the hill:
Pigeonholes:
A monk parakeet screeched from within a palm:
There is much mosaic going on in Parc Guell:
A broad plaza ringed with an undulating mosaic bench overlooks the city.
The house at the foot of the hill:
The city as seen from the plaza, with Sagrada Familia in the middle left (the one with the construction cranes):
The outer edge of the bench is mosaic and gargoyles:
Now all of those mosaic trinkets in the tourist-trap gift shops made sense: lizards, bulls, owls, flamenco dancers, big ones, little ones, magnets, figurines.
We walked back down the hill and hopped the subway over to Sagrada Familia. This is the cathedral that Gaudi pushed aside all other work for. He died before it was complete. It's still not complete, but construction continues.
I'm an atheist. I have no reason to be inside a church. This place is different. This is one wacky-ass church. Gorgeous, though.
Burnaby!
Sweet flyin' Jesus!
Light coming through he stained glass windows reflects against the pipe organ:
Gaudi built a schoolhouse to accompany the church.
It's impossible to take it all in. Click and zoom for details.
This is what Sagrada Familia looks like from a cafe across the street:
Back near the hotel, we stopped in a wine shop. Here is Jack in his element:
We met a friend, a Canadian expat who has been living in Barcelona for over 20 years, for dinner. We walked through the Gothic section of town to get to the restaurant. On the way I spotted wooden bikes hanging in the window of a fancy hotel. They were just for show, not for sale, our friend explained.
Anyway, Jim, I'd have taken better pictures had I been able to go inside. These are through glass.
The next morning, I looked out our hotel window to the Roman wall. Two cats sunned themselves there, oblivious of the pigeons, the pigeons oblivious of them.
We took the subway to Passeig de Grazia, a wide boulevard where two more of Gaudi's buildings are easy to see without having to pay to get in.
This isn't Gaudi, but it's still out there:
Casa Batllo, designed by Gaudi:
La Pedrera:
More not-Gaudi coolness:
In the afternoon we took a train to Bilbao. We'd have to be up early the next morning for a bus ride to Haro, in the Rioja region of northern Spain. That'll be in the next post.
1 comment:
Love the architecture!
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