BARCELONA - MODERNISM OF GAUDI: PARK GÜELL

The Park Güell is a beautiful modernist park, designed by the brilliant architect Antoni Gaudí (the architecht of La Sagrada Familia, La Casa Batlló, La Pedrera or El Palau Güell), and a perfect place to walk in a sunny day. From this natural environment, everybody can enjoy splendid views of Barcelona, as fantastic as those ones from Montjuïc Castle.


Park Güell

The main entrance to Park Güell in Barcelona

A mosaic in the stairway which leads to the Hipòstila Square of Park Güell

The Gaudí dragon fountain is at the entrance to the Park Güell. This dragon is adorned in beautiful coloured tiling and is one of the most famous images of this park

At the top of Park Güell is a terraced area where you get a fantastic view of the park and of Barcelona City


Here you will find multi-coloured tiled mosaic seats as shown in this picture. I enjoyed a lot admiring from here the beauty of this park and the fantastic views of Barcelona


I felt really comfortable sitting here in a sunny day admiring this fabulous environment designed by Antoni Gaudí


Gaudí preserved the spontaneous vegetation of the place that today constitutes a stretch of forest where Carobs, Oaks, Pines and Holm Oaks are abundant


Bird nests built by Antoni Gaudí in the terrace walls of the Park Güell. The walls imitate the trees planted on them

View of Barcelona from The Turó de les Tres Creus in Park Güell. This location was chosen to erect a large chapel, which was never built. I found the views of Barcelona from The Turó de les Tres Creus really fantastic


From this viewpoint of the Park Güell I enjoyed the view of three emblematic monuments of Barcelona: The twin towers in the Olympic Village, The Sagrada Familia and The Agbar Tower


Here you can see a walkway supported by twisting rock pillars that seem to be growing out of the ground like tree trunks


Although these are rather irregular in shape they look like strangely natural too


The Sala Hipóstila in Park Güell, which was supposed to house the garden city's market, is formed by 86 Doric columns


One of Gaudí's unique tiles in Parc Güell on the ceiling of Sala Hipóstila


Doric columns support the roof of the lower court which forms the central terrace of the Park Güell, with serpentine seating round its edge


I liked a lot this way under a curved roof and flanked by columns which looked like trunks


A really peaceful place inside the Park Guell in Barcelona


Another creation of Gaudi inside the Park Güell in perfect harmony with the environment


One of the two interesting buildings at the entrance of the Parc Guell

I also would like to give you some useful Information in case you want to visit this lovely park:

• Address: C/ Olot, 1-13.
• Opening hours: de las 10am until the sunset.
• Free tickets.
• How to get there: Bus 24 and 92, Barcelona Bus Turístic, stop Park Güell.
• Web site: www.bcn.cat/parcsijardins

Clicking on the next links you will find more pictures of the most important buildings designed by Antoni Gaudí:

• Sagrada Familia
• Park Güell
• Casa Milà (also known as La Pedrera)
• Casa Batlló
• Palau Güell
• Casa Vicens
• Col·legi de les Teresianes
• Casa Calvet
• Pabellons Güell
• Torre Bellesguard and Viaduct
• Crypt of the church of Colonia Güell
• El Capricho (built in Comillas, a lovely village in Cantabria)

Other modernist buildings you can visit in Barcelona are:

• Hospital de Sant Pau
• Palau de la Música Catalana
• La Boqueria
• Casa Fuster
• Casa Terrades or "Casa de les Punxes"
• Casa Thomas
• Casa Amatller
• Casa Lleó i Morera
• Casa Martí (Restaurant els Quatre Gats)

Besides, clicking on the next links, you will find other beautiful parks and gardens in Barcelona, like:

• Ciutadella Park
• Joan Maragall Gardens
• Pedralbes Gardens
• Laberint d'Horta Park
• Castell de l'Oreneta Park in Barcelona
• Collserola - Sant Pere Màrtir leisure area
• Collserola - Carretera de les Aigües
• Collserola - Pantà de Vallvidrera
• Torreblanca Park in Sant Feliu de Llobregat
• Can Vidalet Park in Esplugues de Llobregat
• Can Mercader Park in Cornellà de Llobregat

Finally, clicking on the next link you will find links to more beautiful and interesting places of Barcelona, among them, more interesting modernist buildings you can discover along the Modernist Route.

BARCELONA: TIBIDABO

One sunday morning we went to the Tibidabo, a hill on the top of which there is a funfair perfect for children and teenagers. So, Tibidabo is a fantastic place for children in Barcelona where they can spend a funny day.

From Tibidabo hill you will also enjoy fantastic views of Barcelona.  Tibidabo is actually one of the highest points in the city and the views of Barcelona and the surrounding areas are truly spectacular. Views as interesting as the ones from the Park Güell or the Montjuïc Castle.

Besides the journey up the mountain in the enchanting turn-of-the-century Blue Tram and funicular railway is hugely enjoyable.

Main square of Tibidabo funfair in Barcelona, really crowded as every sunday morning

This red carriage and the red aircraft give a colourful look to the Tibidabo funfair

Sagrat Cor church on the top of Tibidabo hill

Inside the Sagrat Cor church there are interesting paintings like the one of this picture

View of Collserola Tower, built for the Olympic Games, from the Tibidabo

Big wheel of Tibidabo funfair in Barcelona

Another picture of the big wheel. The building of the picture is a restaurant, always crowded

A train for children moving forward through the far west in Tibidabo funfair

View of Barcelona from the Tibidabo, where the Agbar tower, the Sagrada Familia, and the towers of the Olympic Village appear

Panoramic view of Barcelona from Tibidabo. In the foreground on the right, the Fabra meteorological observatory

Tibidabo from Sant Pere Màrtir in Barcelona



A closer view of Tibidabo and Collserola Tower

Useful Information:

- How to get there:

• Tibibus from Plaça Catalunya.
• FGC, stop Av. Tibidabo + Tramvia Blau (Blue Tram) or Bus 196 + Funicular del Tibidabo.
• FGC, stop Peu de Funicular + Funicular de Vallvidriera + bus 111.

- Phone: 932 117 942
- Web site: www.tibidabo.es
- E-mail: tibidabo@tibidabo.es

Finally, clicking on the next link you will find links to more beautiful and interesting places of Barcelona.

CATALONIA: PORT DEL COMPTE, BERGA, SOLSONA I CARDONA

In September the weather was still lovely, so we decided to spend a weekend in a really peaceful environment near Port del Compte ski resort. We also visited interesting places such as Cardona Castle, the old city of Solsona and the city of Berga.

Views from Cardona Castle

Thursday, 24 Setember 2009

Berga

A view of the Castle and the old quarter of Berga


In the background, the white building is the city hall of Berga


A painting about the Patum, which is the village fiesta of Berga


A typical narrow street of the old quarter

A tree-lined boulevard with the Calalan flag

Port del Comte

L'Avet, a rural hotel near Port del Compte ski resort. The Landscape was fantastic and the environment really peaceful. A perfect place to relax

Friday 25 Setember 2009

Port del Comte

We had a wide balcony to enjoy the warm sunlight :)

The environment was peaceful and the day was really lovely

We had driven only a few kilometers when we saw this fabulous viewpoint, perfect to take some photos of the reservoir of La Llosa del Cavall, which stores the water of the Cardener river

A closer view of the reservoir of La Llosa del Cavall

This is a picture of the typical environment of this area, taken from our car while we were driving to Solsona

Solsona

We have arrived at Solsona and this is the main entrance to the old city

The cloister of the Cathedral of Solsona

The apse of the Cathedral of Solsona

Another entrance to the old city of Solsona

Main Square of Solsona

A picture in one of the typical streets of the old city of Cardona

And now, we went from Solsona to Cardona, where there is beautiful castle.

Castle of Cardona

As it's easily imagined, the views from Cardona Castle are wonderful thanks to its privileged location on the top of a hill

And next, some photos inside this beautiful castle:

Gothic archs in Cardona castle

A view of the well-know salt mines of Suria from Cardona Castle

An overview of the external walls of Cardona Castle

A really well conseved bastion of Cardona Castle

This is the fantastic view of Cardona and surroundings from the Castle

Finally, if you liked these landscapes, clicking on the next links you will find links to other fantastic places in the Pyrenees of Catalonia, like:

• Aigüestortes National Park and La Vall de Boí
• Aigüestortes and Llac de Sant Maurici National Park
• Vall de Núria
• Castellar de N'Hug and Fonts del Llobregat
• Vall de Camprodon
• Camprodon, Ripoll and Setcases
• Medieval village of Beget
• Olot and Vall de'n Bas
• Santa Pau

• Andorra and La Seu d'Urgell
• Andorra Vallnord Ski Resort
• Andorra Vallnord Arinsal and Arcalís
• Andorra Grandvalira Grau Roig Ski Resort