Park Guell in Barcelona, Spain

Dear Family and Friends,

Sunday, Chuck and I went to see one of Barcelona's top tourist attractions, Park Guell.

First let me give you a little history of Park Guell.  It was constructed between 1900-1914. It was not built to be a public park.  It was actually designed to be a private residential housing development.  The idea was to have a place outside the city in a the nature.  A garden city.  The person hired to design this project was Gaudi, who also designed the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia (Sandcastle church), another top attraction here in Barcelona.

For whatever reason, after designing the park like development and building a couple of spec houses, no one bought into this concept.  After many years, the family of the developer, Eusebi Guell, gave the park to the city of Barcelona.

The first picture is of the fence that is on the outside of the park.

This whimsical house would have been the guard's house, it is located as you come in through the gate.

 

 This is the main entrance into the park.

As you can see, Sunday was a very popular day to visit.  I suggest that if you want to know more about this place go to http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/gaudi/park-guell.html    This site has a link to many pictures.

This dragon greets you upon entering.  Maybe he is supposed to be the defender of the neighborhood.

Looking down the stairs to the house that now houses the tourist shop/book store.

In this pavillion, would have been the market.

The ceiling is decorated with mosaic tile designs.

The top of the pavillion has a large courtyard area surrounded completely surrounded by benches in mosaic tile.

Here is Chuck on sitting on the ceramic tiled bench. 

We stopped for refreshments under the palm trees.

 One of the spec houses that never sold.

It was a very nice day for this tour.  All I can say is that I am glad we did this trip when it is not high season.  The park was absolutely full of people.

More tourist attractions later.

Love,
Nancy