October 24
Barcelona
[After lunch at Xalet de Montjuïc, we walked “next door” to the 1992 Olympic games diving venue. Bill vividly remembered the TV coverage with the spectacular views of Barcelona as a back drop!]
[Then again afoot, heading toward our final destination Barcelona . . . ]
[Park Guell . . . ]
[It was on a side street – and straight up hill. This was just a place to stop and catch our breaths . . . ]
[A nice little plaza area about halfway up the hill . . . ]
[A religious icon, I assume . . . ]
[Good ole Villa Carmen . . . ]
[Looking back down at whence we came. The little plaza area is just there on the right . . . ]
[The street just getting to the stairway was pretty steep . . . ]
[We’re almost there . . . ]
[And “there” . . . ]
[OK, let’s go in . . . ]
[You are here . . . ]
[And now walking in the park . . . ]
[Vegetation . . . ]
[The Super sits to determine our track . . . ]
[A “holey” tree . . . ]
[Looking back in the direction of the city . . . ]
[This is where we would return at dusk for a tour of the Gaudi Museum . . . ]
[Beautiful city vistas . . . ]
[Gaudi had his fingers in everything, so to speak . . . ]
[Oh no, it was decided we had to climb even higher (did I mention it was warm?) . . ]
[And from a higher perch . . . ]
[With the Sagrada Familia on the left side . . . ]
[Anne agrees about the warm climb, but at least it was mostly shady . . . ]
[Casa Trias e Domenech designed by Gaudi . . . ]
[Master of all he surveys . . . ]
[The Gaudi Museum on the right . . . ]
[And Casa Trias e Domenech closer upper . . . ]
[Evening the retaining walls were works of art . . . ]
[A rather unique columned walkway as we’re trending back down . . . ]
[I’m gonna guess a spire? Yup, for the museum . . . ]
[The walkway from below . . . ]
[Colorful vegetation . . . ]
[Colorful vegetation, part 2 . . . ]
[The Gaudi House . . . ]
[Designed by Gaudi – so students could cheat off their partner’s desk?]
[In the living quarters . . . ]
[The House’s garden . . . ]
[And exiting . . . ]
[It’s dusking – you had assigned times to be able to venture out here for the view . . . ]
[We made it!]
[This sitting area was all about the tiles . . . ]
[(Four tile photos by the Super)]
[Now we’re working our way all the way down where we encountered Captain American and his significant other . . . ]
[A whole bunch of columns which I suppose support everything above them . . . ]
[Approaching the park exit . . . ]
[(From the Super)]
[Fairytale Gaudi contructions at park exit . . . ]
[An iguana and the Super . . . ]
[With a gift shop in here . . . ]
[Here comes Bill as we rounding up everybody for the trip back . . . ]
[As I recall these represented a dragon’s spine, or some such . . . ]
[A final look around . . . ]
[Then from here it was a walk back up the hill to catch a bus . . . ]
[Last day in Barcelona. Anne said we covered 5.7 miles with 46 FLIGHTS OF STAIRS! I’m getting too old for this! Off to Madrid in the morning . . . ]
[(A final three from the Super)]
[DYK, obert in Catalan means open? I had no idea! We kept seeing obert signs all over Barcelona . . . ]
[But now adios to obert as we would be leaving Catalonia . . . ]
[Adios, Barcelona!]
Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs. ~ Susan Sontag
Up Next: Moving on in Spain
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