Park Güell

     We went to Park Güell today, which is a garden complex with architectural elements designed by Antoni Gaudí.  If you don't know who Gaudí is, I suggest you look him up; he's kind of a big deal around these parts.  The park was originally part of an unsuccessful housing site, the idea of Count Eusebi Güell, for whom the park was named after.  

     We apparently went the back way and did not take the entrance designed for regular tourists.  That climb is not for the faint of heart; you take two escalators which is nice, but then you climb up a 45° angle hill to get to the park.  And you're not even at the top yet.

That's not where the climbing ends.  We then entered the park through the back entrance and walked the path up and around until we reached the "top" where we found this:

So you climb to the top of this stone staircase and this is what you see:

     The thing that is hard to explain to people and will constantly challenge me when I get home, is that pictures and descriptions never do these places justice.  I will never be able to describe in words how the depth of the city laid out before you can take your breath away. Or how you get butterflies and chills every time you look up and see a flawless ceiling with colors and textures swirling and playing together.  These are the things you cannot explain, the things that no one else can understand unless they have stood where you've stood.

Lauren, Anna, Me, Bri and Marissa <3

We could see the main terrace from our vantage point so we started to head towards it.  We stopped a few times along the way to embrace nature:

Warning: The Spaniards give you dirty looks as if you're doing something sacrilegious if you climb the trees.

The main terrace has a long bench in the form of a sea serpent.   The curvature of the benches encourages a social atmosphere and Gaudí's bright mosaic patterns are what part of what defines this city.

     From the benches, you can see two houses.  Neither one was designed by Gaudí, but he and his family lived in one - which is now the Casa Museu Gaudí (Gaudi House Museum).  There are moments when things hit you and you think "I'm here, I made it".  This was one of those moments:

     Once you catch your breath from the beauty of the view, the Hall of Columns is at the bottom of a ramp, off to the right.  We considered not going in because we didn't realize what it was, but I'm so glad we did!

     As you leave the Hall of Columns, you can see another iconic Barcelona landmark: the main steps and Gaudí's multicolored mosaic dragon.

At this point we were at the main entrance, so we could either exit the park or continue to explore.  Since we had missed a significant portion of the actual park, we decided to wander for a bit.

Everything was lush and green, yet perfectly maintained.  And then we happened upon this:

Not the most exciting thing, admittedly, but exceptionally beautiful.  We bought some really creative artwork from an artist and then continued to wander.  

     We climbed up the steep side of a hill (which we're pretty sure was not meant for climbing), only to discover that on the other side of a wall running the length of the hill...were stairs.  Oops.  We climbed some more stairs and found a flat area where many people were seated on benches, playing with their dogs.  We were all exhausted and by that point we had spent probably a good three to four hours there, so we headed home for the day.

     There's a reason why Park Güell is a Barcelona/Spanish icon.  It lives up to the hype and far exceeds it.  It's something that can be done in an afternoon (we did it) or can be stretched over the course of a day if you wanted to take your time.  If you can't climb Tibitabo, this will also give you an excellent view at a manageable climb.   If you are in Barcelona for a few days and can only do a limited number of things, I absolutely recommend visiting Park Güell.   You will not be disappointed :)