Spain 2015: Bon Dia Güell

Despite the fact that Barcelona is the capitol of the Catalonia region of Spain and has a language all there own, my 7th grade Spanish is at least getting some use on this trip. It is amazing how much comes back to you when you are trying to communicate (unfortunately, Russian still tries to creep in.)

After an introduction to Antonio Gaudi yesterday at La Familia, I decided to tackle another Gaudi spot. This time it was the famous modernist escape - Park Güell. I had seen pictures of some of the Gaudi's mosaic tile buildings and dripping cement archways, but it is quite a different thing to see them in person. The salamander statue (some people call it the "dragon") was more popular than Micky Mouse - everyone wanted their picture taken with it! I really enjoyed seeing the mosaic medallions by all the columns and, of course, the frosting-like roof tiles.

I have dabbled a bit with some mosaic creations so it was even more interesting for me to see these amazing structures. It made me want to go home and smash up some plates and make a mosaic wall. The hike was once again a HIKE up San Francisco-style streets and staircases, with an occasional escalator thrown in. As unknowing tourists, we walked first up to a cross on the top hill for fuzzy views of the city, then descended into the actual park. I really earned my lunch of nachos and churros!

Even at 10:30am the visitors were abundant - many Japanese tourists, local school children and several Anglophiles like myself. It was a task to get a photo without someone else in it. The sky was hazy again, so most of the bright colors of the tiles didn't really come through in the photos. I spent over 2 hours there and could have probably relaxed on a bench for much longer, but there were more sites to see...