Barcelona (Part II)

While in Barcelona we visited a couple of the many architectural works of Antoni Gaudí that are in Barcelona. I can really appreciate his work a lot more than Geary’s big titanium turd in Bilbao. However, much of Gaudí’s stuff resembles gingerbread houses. I still kind of like some of it.

Here is the Casa Milá…




The Casa Batlló...



I also get the idea that maybe the word gawdy was inspired by this guy.


Here is the Park Güell...





This park was going to be a housing development, but the guy who was putting up the money (Güell) died. Either that or he pulled the plug on the funding and died later (in either case, he's dead now). Work was abandoned and the entire site was turned over to the City of Barcelona which later made it into a park.

And finally the Sagrada Família (Sacred, or Holy, Family) Cathedral which is his masterpiece (and is still under construction).





We were going to go into the Sagrada Família late on Sunday afternoon but it was closing in about half an hour.

Monday we went up to Montjuïc and visited the Olympic Park and took the gondola ride up the hill.



There was a fantastic view of the harbor up there, but the sky began to look a little shaky.



There was a pretty cool little fortress at the top called Castell de Montjuïc, and we wandered around for a while.



The weather cleared up while we were there and I managed to get a couple of good pictures of the city and the harbor…



and then this ugly guy got in the way…



On Monday we also went to see the Palau de la Música Catalana which is this amazingly ornate music hall. It was one of the few things there that was not designed by Gaudí. Actually this is untrue, but there is a lot of his stuff there.



We missed the last tour by about ½ hour, and it was getting too late to head back to the Sagrada Família, so we decided to go the train station to take us back to Girona. We were spending the night in Girona because we had an early flight Tuesday.

In spite of not getting to see a bunch of stuff that I would have liked to, I was really impressed with Barcelona. I would definitely like very much to go back in the spring or autumn. The food there though, was not really up to par for what I’ve come to expect of Spanish food. I guess it was because we were in a rather touristy area. We did have a couple of decent meals off the beaten path, and one very good meal in Girona on Monday night (I had the confit of pig’s cheek and some fries).

I must say that the Paella I had Saturday evening was probably one of the worst I’ve ever had. Oh well, I guess no place is perfect!

Next time: My new car!

Here is todays Wordle...