We headed to a local tapas bar to try some local fare before continuing on our Gaudi day. This Spanish tapas bar reminded us of the old milk bars we used to go to back in the fifties. When we walked in a long high counter with row of revolving bar stools greeted us. Behind the bar were shelves of every type of drink one could order and people were enjoying food served at the counter. We however, were ushered to the back of the 'restaurant' and seated at a wooden table. A set of cutlery upon a paper serviette was the only decoration on the bare table. We felt like locals and ordered a freshly squeezed orange juice and a Spanish sausage served in very crisp bread roll. The and the orange juice was 100% sweet -there's nothing like an orange that's ripened under a Spanish sun. The bread roll and sausage was very filling and satisfying. I can still recall the flavours and Spanish atmosphere of our tapas visit as I write today.
I referred to this day as "a Gaudi day" for us and that's what it became as we planned to visit other sites where Gaudi's works can be seen. Gaudi has left his mark as a master architect all over Barcelano for he not only created La Sagrade cathedral but he also designed the modernist house La Pedera, which the locals refer to as Casa Mila and he created a huge park , Parc Guell. We planned to visit both of these sites for the rest of the day.
We had bought our tickets on line so we caught a subway train across town before boarding a bus which drove us high into the hills around the city where Parc Guell has been established. It covers a huge area across the hillside. We had planned to walk there, not knowing the topography was so hilly but the bus trip is free and is included as part of the park entrance fee, so we were grateful for this.
Park Guell began in 1900 when Eusebi Guell acquired a large property at the base of one of the mountains rising from the Barcelonian plains. It was virgin land with splendid views over the plains to the sea. Guell engaged Gaudi to plan an estate for well- to- do families within the large parcel of land. Guell wanted to create a selective residential estate so he set very strict guidelines: the estate was divided up into 60 triangular plots, only one-sixth of the estate could be built upon and the buildings were to be devoted to residential use only.
Gaudi was up for the challenge and he set out to provide creative and practical solutions for the steep topography of the estate. He overcame some of the steepness of the terrain by planning a complex system of viaducts, pathways and steps for easier access. Gaudi z. also used these structures to provided demarcation lines between plots so there was no need for fences or walls between private homes.
We entered the park via its main entrance through a beautiful set of high ornate iron gates - our first sample of Gaudi's ingenious creativity. These gates had been brought from a Casa Vicens, an early work of Gaudi's. We knew then that we were in for a treat.
We took a slight uphill path to a levelled area where we entered an amazing Gaudi creation. A high curved portico corridor backing onto a retaining wall, above which an access roadway had been built. The portico 's feature was a curved corridor of buttress collumns made from raw stones. Each columns' stone covering gave the appearance of woven material. We were spell bound by this arched walkway and stopped for some time to try to understand how everything held together.
We continued along an upward path admiring forest trees from various countries and pretty flowered borders along the trail. Quite a few people were also enjoying the beauty of this beautiful estate. After climbing a few steps our trail passed over a viaduct with a pretty bubbling brook rippling downwards.
Then as we rounded a bend on the pathway and we stopped in our tracks for in front of us stood an even more impressive Gaudi structure. High on a ramp above us was the weirdest stone structure of inward leaning columns with delicate goblet-like stone adornments on top. We walked up onto the ramp and through the goblet adorned corridor and entered a new section of the garden. Again we were astounded by the whole geometric patina of this thoroughfare corridor created in raw stones, defying gravity.
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