4/19/22 Barcelona in More Depth

Today we met the rest of the travelers on our Barcelona pre-trip. Then we took a bus up to Park Guell (pronounced who-AY) which we weren't able to get into yesterday. We had a guide who explained a lot of what we saw. 

This park was originally envisioned to be a private park for a housing development. The primary instigator was the 1st Count of Guell, whose father made a fortune in textiles. Guell had a huge house built at the bottom of the park grounds and hired Antoni Gaudi to design the park for the future home owners. In addition to the park, a model home was built. However, only one home (the White House) was built in the development and the park became public in 1926, 12 years after it was finished.

Gaudi is often considered either a genius or insane or maybe both. In Catalonia, the Art Nouveau era was called Moderniste. Gaudi and to a lesser extent, one of his professors, used nature as a primary source of inspiration. Gaudi observed that straight lines were not common in nature and focused on developing structures that use naturalistic forms. The pillars that support many of the roads and paths are sort of wobbly looking like real trees and are not uniform. He preferred curves and shapes that enabled people to gather and communicate. Since tiles didn't naturally form curves, he broke them and then used the pieces that formed the curves he desired.

The model house is along the entry
road but we did not have a chance
to enter it. It looked like a reasonably
sized residence for a family.

The next major area was designed to be an open gathering space with curved seating areas that encouraged small group interactions within the large public space.

The large public space with drainage in the pillars below

Seating groups in curved sections.

As we walked down to the lower level, there was decorative drainage and we were told that the pillars holding up the upper open area also held drainage pipes. It was designed to hold an open market for the residents, but none ever appeared.

The 'Cupcake' houses -- for the park caretakers

The only home built in the park as a result
of the marketing program.

These gargoyles are part of the drainage of the park above.

These pillars not only hold up the upper park, they have
hollow centers to divert excess water.

Even the ceilings lack straight lines and gain
decorations.

Going down to the lowest level, we came to the salamander on the stairway and the two cupcake houses, which were apparently inspired by the story of Hansel and Gretel.

The original mansion. This section is now a school.

One of the cupcake homes

The staircase salamander (or maybe
a dragon)

Both caretaker homes have elaborately
shaped and tiled roofs.

More of the organic designs to support
various levels

As we exit, we can see the park entrance
road and sign below. Note that the spelling
of park is the English version.

Next, we headed to other sights in Barcelona, several of which we saw the previous day, but today learned more about. We had peek views of Sagrada Familia on the way too.

The hospital we saw yesterday: Recinte
Moderniste de Sant Pau was  a multi-
building complex that served the poor.
Its functions have been replaced by a more
modern building located behind this.

The star atop the Mary tower of the
Sagrada Familia was recently placed.

Back at the hotel we had some free time where we went search of a local SIM card for a spare phone primarily to have data, mapping, and translation access while we venture around. We also used the time to explore. Then before dinner, Marcel led us on a tour of an old section of the city called La Raval, which used to be enclosed in the  old Roman walls.

Originally a convent, this building and
many others were converted to other
uses. This one left a remnant of the
convent. The large hole would have
a rotating container to place an unwanted
baby into and anonymously give it
to the convent. Many of these babies
died. The smaller slot is for donations.

This nunnery  became a hospital where Gaudi died. He
was so focused on Sagrada Familia that he no longer
dressed with care or paid attention to where he was.
He was run over by a tram and thought to be homeless
and was only recognized after he was brought here.

An opera hall

The owner of this building was very
intrigued with Japanese style and
added some to the structure.

This is an ancient union hall. The union dates
to 575 years ago, but the building is maybe
a hundred years newer. The art work was
created with 2 different colors of plaster. The
top coat was scratched off to make the
design.

The church of St.Mary of the Pines -- used
to be in a pine forest.

This figure is a caganer which is an
important part of any Barcelonan Nativity
scene. He brings good luck and joy and
leaving him out is bad luck. The shop has
hundreds of famous figures in this posture.
The action displayed fertilizes the ground.