The City of Escalators

continuing on from my last post…

Kelsey and I woke up at 7:30 on Saturday morning, but of course, we didn't actually get up until 8. We grabbed breakfast at the hostel, then were on the metro heading to our first stop at 9.

chink chink chink…errrr. -Sagrada Familia- 

Our first stop was right outside of the famous cathedral, La Sagrada Familia. Now there were two different reactions to this building when we walked up to the outside. The asian girls in front of us started screaming excitedly like girls do, while Kelsey and I just said "what". This thing was amazing! I've seen pictures of it before, sure, but man. The detail is ridiculous.  

We didn't go inside because it cost more than we wanted to pay. In fact, everything in Barcelona was more expensive than I thought it would be surprisingly. But no big deal- the outside is the big part. Antoni Gaudi took over the design and building of it in 1883, but died before he could see it completed.  The entire building actually wasn't finished until the mid-1980s. And when we were there, it looked as if they were still building on the sides. It was beautiful

Across the street was a little lake and garden area where we sat for a little, then walked down the street to something we saw on the map, but didn't know what it was. The Plaza del Toros Monumental. 

It was a gorgeous building, with mosaics on the sides. There were a lot of stars of David, so we thought it might be a temple, but when we got to the front, we realized that this was where the bull fights happened! It makes sense because of the shape of the building, but we do not understand the stars. Nevertheless- so cool!

From there we took the metro a couple stops over to see the famous Gaudi houses.

…errrr. - Paseo de Gracia -

We got off at our stop and started walking down the main street until we came to the first house, Casa Amatller and Casa Batllò.

This is Casa Batllò - so cool! The design is so strange, yet so intriguing. There is mosaic all over the face of it, and the roof is supposed to resemble the back of a dragon. But, like before, it was too expensive to get in, so we were happy just gawking at the outside. 

We walked down a little more until we came to Casa Milà, or La Pedrera, as it's better known. 

It was built in 1905, and was meant to have sculptures on the top dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but it was never completed. The design of the building are meant to make it look like waves going back and forth. Pretty coolio. 

We walked around the street some more and saw a few more Gaudi buildings, then we hopped on the metro to get to Park Güell. 

…chink chink errerrr. - Vallcarca -

From 1910 to 1914, aristocrat Eusebi Güell commissioned Antoni Gaudì to build a garden for the bourgeoisie on one of his estates. It's amazing! There are a few houses at the entrance, then staircases and mosaics and fountains and winding paths and green. So much green. Here are some pictures!

the entrance

mosaic covered fountain up the stairs

Hundred-Column Hall

ceiling of the Hundred-Colum Hall

cool plaza and benches on top of the hundred-column hall - funny story about the benches. When Gaudì was designing them, he had a naked man sit and make a mold in order to get the perfect form. hee hee...

the Washerwoman's arcade- I'm not really sure how he made this, but it looks just like rocks piled up and twisted. It's like its dug into the walls because on the top are paths to the top of the hill. However he made it, it was stunning!

This is a panorama from the top of the hill:

You could see from one end of the city to the sea!

After we spent a good hour and a half at the park, we got on the metro again and went to Cituadella Park.

…chink chunk choonk…errr -Cituadella Villa-Olympica-

Now going to this park was sort of a last minute decision, but BOY were we glad we went!!

This was probably my favorite thing we saw while we were in Barcelona. Inside the park was an open area next to a gorgeous waterfall called Plaça de la Cascada. This fountain was built in 1881 by Josep Fontserè and Antoni Gaudì. It is a copy of the fountain by the same name in the Longchamps palace in Marseilles, France. Whatever it copies, it is stunning!

The water was the perfect kind of blue-green, and the gold of the statues stood out even more because of the fantastic weather. This picture definitely doesn't do it justice.

Also within the park there is a zoo, more gardens, a greenhouse, geology museum, zoology museum, lake, the Catalan Parliament, and the old Governor's Palace. It is a very big park.

From there we walked down a long road towards the Arc de Triomf. The roads were lined with palm trees and it was just perfect. That's the thing I really enjoyed about Barcelona - even though it was a big city, it still had that "beach town" feel to it. Everything was really relaxed and open. The streets were really wide and the atmosphere was just so casual. And the great weather helped too!

After we reached the Arc, we stopped in a bakery and got water and pastries (YUM), then took the metro to get on the gondola (?) to get to Montjuïc Mountain.

…chinkalink…err  -Paral-lel-

Now looking at the map of this mountain, there is so much to see its ridiculous. But we decided to at least see the castle before getting dinner. Instead of paying to take the gondola, we decided to just walk up, and I'm so glad we did because it wasn't even that far away! It was just very steep…

So we got to Montjuïc Castle, and I understand why, when reading about the history, it had be conquered so many times by different people. You could see everything from the top! It was right on the water, and overlooked the entire city! Even more so than the top of Park Güell! It was awesome- looking out, you couldn't tell what was water and what was sky.

Later, after we enjoyed a dinner of tapas and sangria, we took the metro to the other side of Montjuïc Mountain to see the Magic Fountain. ooo….

To get there, you have to walk down a long street lined with a long pool of water that shoots up the water every few feet. Then at the end, up the stairs is the Magic Fountain, and behind that, up some more stairs, you are at the bottom of the Palau Nacional de Montjuïc - the National Museum of Art of Catalonia. The museum has a huge fountain running down the front of it, and looks more like a place than an actual museum. I'm tellin' ya, people centuries ago did not think small.

Anyway, the fountain runs from 7 to 9 and every, say, 10 minutes has a new show. Music plays and the fountain changes colors and shoots water everywhere! It really is a sight. Here's a picture from in front of the museum. It's not the greatest quality because I had to take it with my iTouch because my camera died:

ooooo…….ahhhhh……

So we wanted to go to the top of the stairs to get to the top of the fountain of the museum, and what did we find waiting for us? An escalator. This is why I have dubbed this city the City of Escalators. They were everywhere! Earlier when we went to Park Güell, we had to climb up this ridiculously steep hill and halfway through, we could either take the stairs or an escalator! Outside, just randomly in the street. It was hilarious! Thus, the city of escalators….

After we saw the fountains, we went back to Las Ramblas and got a drink, then back to the hostel to get some sleep. The next morning we got up early, threw some clothes on, and went down to the beach to see the sunrise:

It was the perfect ending to a great weekend.