Barcelona: The Final Day of Our European Vacation

Although we are looking forward to getting back to California and home, we made the most of the last day (Tuesday, June 16) we have in Europe.  After breakfast, we went to the Picasso Museum.  The collection focuses on Picasso's early years of apprenticeship and youth and also includes works that reflect the influences of the French artists he met in Paris while he was in his twenties, some works from his Blue Period, sketches and paintings of his personal interpretation of Velazquez's Las Mininas (which we saw at El Prado), and ceramic pieces.  The development of his style from classical and realistic to Cubist and abstract is illuminated by the collection.  Katya and I were impressed with the great skill and talent evident in the works he executed in his teens and twenties, but his later works do not appeal to us.  We particularly did not like his interpretations of the masterpiece Las Mininas, nor did we think that Velazquez would appreciate them either.  The beauty of the palace which the museum occupies was the most appealing part of our visit to the mueum.

Although we did not rush through the museum, our visit took less time than we anticipated, so we had a couple hours until our scheduled visit to the Sagrada Familia.  In the morning, the skies were clear, so we walked to the waterfront, past the Cap de Barcelona, a large surrealistic sculpture created by Roy Lichtenstein for the 1992 Summer Olympics.  The Moll d'Espanya is a former working wharf that is now a nice place to walk.  At the end is the large and shiny edifice Maremagnum, a shopping and eating complex.  Passing that, we came to the Rambla del Mar, a floating wide wooden promenade connecting the end of Moll d'Espayna and the Maremagnum with the mainland.

Sailboats at Port Vell 

Floating sculpture a seen from Rambla del Mar

Rising high into the sky at the land end of the Rambla del Mar within a large plaza is the Mirador de Colon, a tall, decorated column with a statue of Christopher Columbus on top, dramatically pointing out to sea.  Strolling past this, we came to the Rambla, a wide boulevard with a pedestrian promenade between the traffic lanes.  Vendors and sidewalk cafes on are both sides of the promenade.  The Rambla is crowded and noisy, and we cannot understand why it is an attraction.  We turned right into the Barri Gotic after a few block and found pedestrian streets which led to the much nicer Avenue Portal de l'Angel.

Christopher Columbus monument

Continuing past the areas we had explored yesterday, we entered the neighborhood of L'Exiample, which was developed in the 19th and 20th centuries.  We had tickets for 1:45 p.m. for the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia.  Arriving a bit early, we walked around the exterior.  Some of the facade can be seen, but since the cathedral is still under construction after over 130 years, scaffolding and netting obscure parts of it.  The helix shaped spires, some topped with colorful representations of fruit, can be seen among the cranes that loom over them.

Nativity Facade of the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia

The Sagrada Familia was designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi.  There is absolutely nothing like it anywhere else.  The forms of the structure, both inside and outside, are organic.  Gaudi, a deeply religious man, believed the contemplation of nature and its forms to be a way to understand God.  Animals and plants are integrated in the ornamentation.  Inside, the columns branch out as they near the vaulted ceilings, resembling trees.

Nave of the Sagrada Familia

Like everyone, we were astounded when we first entered the sanctuary.  The large stained-glass windows bath the interior with light and color.  The sheer size of the santuary is also awe-inspiring; it can hold 8000 people.  Utilizing parabolas and hyperboloids in the design, Gaudi created intricate geometric patterns in the ceilings high above the nave, aisles and apse.

Light from the stained glass windows 

Colorful stained glass windows

Stained glass windows and green light cast by stained glass

Below the main floor are the crypt, where Gaudi is buried, a large chapel, and a museum explicating the development and design of the church.  While the models and displays are interesting and informative, we actually preferred to just appreciate the wonder of Gaudi's masterpiece of architecture without understanding it.

After our visit to the Sagrada Familia, we walked further northwest (Unlike Katya, I am able to use the position of the sun during the day to help determine which way we should go to reach our destinations.) through L'Exiample.  Quite hungry, we were on the lookout for food and found a cafe pleasantly and simply decorated in white and purple, with brightly colored Turkish cushions on the benches where we sat.  We enjoyed sandwiches while we rested our feet.  It began to rain while we were there, and there was intermittent but never heavy rain the rest of the day.

Katya in her new outfit from H&M, waiting for lunch

After our late lunch, we continued on, and up, to Park Guell (yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site), designed by Antoni Gaudi.  The area was developed around 1900 and intended for use as exclusive estates for well-off families, providing them with fresh air and wonderful views of Barcelona and the sea below.  Because of lack of proper transport to the mountainside and other problems, the project developer Eusebio Guell halted work in 1914.  The Barcelona City Council acquired Park Guell in the 1920's from his heirs and opened it to the public.

Some of the park is still free to the public, but, in order to preserve historic structures reflecting the modernisme style of the early 20th century, access to the Monumental Zone is restricted, with a limited number of people allowed to enter at various times of the day.  We had tickets for entrance at 5:30 p.m., but, after a strenous climb, we arrived about 45 minutes before that and used the spare time to explore higher levels of the park, which include covered paths and gardens designed by Gaudi.

Park Guell, with the house where Gaudi lived and a view of Barcelona

Exterior decoration on Gaudi's house

Inside the Monumental Zone, the forested hillsides open up onto a grand plaza and gardens.  We entered at the gate by the roughly oval-shaped esplanade of Nature Square.  This level area was created by carving into the hillside and creating a colonnaded structure under part of it.  The esplanade ws meant for open-air shows, and during the first few decades of the 20th century (before the Spanish Civil War), cultural and sports events were held there.  The area is famous for the colorful, undulating bench on its perimeter, covered with tile-shard mosaic and cylindrical pieces of pottery.

Undulating bench of the esplanade and the Austria Garden

Detail of undulating bench, Porter's Lodge and Barcelona

Undulating bench, Austria Garden and Gaudi's house

After following the in and out curves of the bench all the way around the esplanade, we entered the Portico of the Washerwoman, a curved and buttressed covered walkway leading to the gardens of a former farmhouse, the Casa Larrard (which is now a public school).  One of the columns gives its name to the walkway, as the rough-hewn stones create a caryatid of a woman with a basket of laundry on her head.

Washerwoman caryatid

Curved ramp leading from the Washerwoman's Portico

This long portico ends in a spiral ramp with helicoidal columns.  This ramp ends at the former Casa Larrard, which was acquired along with the surrounding property of the farm by Eusebi Guell for his estate development.  The Guell family lived in this house until the City of Barcelona purchased Park Guell.

Past the house, we came to the main entrance to the estates, protected by iron gates designed by Gaudi.  On either side are two small, gingerbread-like buildings, built in 1901 and 1903, that formed the porter's lodge for the estates.  Their curvelinear forms use the Catalan vault style of construction, which utilizes several layers of tiles.  The roofs of both are decorated in tile-shard mosaics (trencadis), a technique that Gaudi loved.  He often used broken pieces from demolition sites and cast-off objects.

Architectural detail, Porter's Lodge

Across from the gates is a monumental flight of white steps ascending to the Hypostyle or Columns Room under the esplanade.  Along the double flight of stairs are various sculptural, mosaic-covered features including gargoyles, a fountain with the shield of Catalonia and a colorful dragon.   The Hypostyle Room has 86 striated columns.  Although the inner column are perpendicular to the floor, the outer columns slope inward toward the roof, more like buttresses than columns even though they are identical to the other columns.  The ceiling is formed of small domes or vaults, some decorated in rather surrealistic style.

Dragon on the monumental stairs in Park Guell

Ceiling of the Hypostyle Room

The last part of the Monumental Zone of Park Guell that we enjoyed was the Austria Gardens (so-called because trees were donated by Austria).  Yellow, orange, red and purple flowers created bright areas of color in the sloping, terraced garden, matching the vivid hues of the mosaics of the walls, sculptures and roofs of the structures in the park.

Outside of undulating bech and lilies in the Austria Garden

Gaudi's house and the Austria Gardens

Austria Gardens

Feeling fairly exhausted, we left Park Guell and walked to the nearest Metro station, which was much further away than we anticipated.  Rain began to fall again.  We just wanted to get back to the hotel to rest.  Finally, we made it to a Metro station and took trains to the stop for Parc de la Ciutadella, which our hotel is across from.  Unfortunately, we were disoriented when we came above ground.  The woman I asked for directions only spoke Catalan, so communication failed and we ended up taking a very circuitous route to our hotel, a walk that took us over a half an hour.  (Had we turned right--derecha--instead of going straight--derecho--when we exited the Metro station, we would have only walked about four blocks.)

But we made it back and have enjoyed the last couple hours relaxing in our elegant room.  We must get to sleep soon.  We need to get up around 6 a.m. in order to pack and have breakfast before catching a taxi to the airport around 8 a.m. for our 10:35 flight to the States.

We have had a wonderful trip AND we are ready to go home.