Spain Day 3 Barcelona July 16, 2015

Today's 3 destinations were all planned at home and the tickets were bought on-line. Two of the three destinations are known for their long lines and we decided to skip those lines as much as possible. I made two copies of every voucher or ticket, just in case of problems, and made sure those copies were divided between two people.
I will admit, that when the alarm went off at 6:15, I began to question the wisdom of trying to be in one of the earliest admissions groups for our first visit. My husband was dismayed to find that while our room had a CD player, it did not have a coffee maker. His attempts to find coffee in the hotel were to no avail. While it always irks me a little that he gets coffee for free in the room, I was quite happy that I'd found orange juice at the grocery store the night before. That, pastry and half my fruit cup satisfied me, while he had yogurt and pastry.

We met the daughters in the lobby at 7:25 and by 7:34, we were on the L4 to Passeig de Gracia. Once there, we reversed last night's long walk to the L3. At 8:04, we were off at the Vallcara stop. We had less than 1/2 hour until the time on our ticket for entrance to Anton Gaudi's famous Park  Güell. The clerk last night had been surprised, when Google showed 1 hour for the entire trip from the hotel and a good half hour from the Metro. She knew it had taken her a very short time from the Metro. Perhaps she hit the area later in the day. For we found that our path took us up a very steep hill, with many, many steps. There were escalators and none were working, until we reached the last short one near the top.

This climb was very difficult for me. it wouldn't have been great even if my knee hadn't been giving me trouble. However, my younger daughter took me in arm and got me to the top. There, across the road, we saw a set of metal stairs. More stairs! A British couple had come up behind us and were fairly disgusted by the climb as well.

Unfortunately, the stairs weren't at the side entrance of the Monumental Zone, where we needed to be at 8:30. A winding path leading downhill lay before us and we could at least see our destination. I was grateful, that we didn't have to make our way to the main entrance to enter. We made it with 2 minutes to spare! The guards did have to call about our tickets, but someone came and scanned them, handed us maps and in we went.

We decided to start our tour right where we were, rather than making our way to point A. This meant that we had only a relative few steps to climb to the terrace and then all the other steps were down. After the climb up the hill, this seemed pure brilliance.

We learned that the park was originally intended by a guy named Güell to be a housing development with triangular plots of land. Right there, you know it's going to be a quirky place.

Before coming to Spain, I definitely equated Gaudi, his architect, with "gaudy". But, as I walked around the Monumental Zone and studied the details, I warmed to him. The area where we started was the area of the porticos and viaducts. This area, made of rocks, which made it seem natural, still had things like helicoidal columns, which are definitely not natural. I found them fascinating and the one made to look like a washerwoman was very cool.

I think I became sold on Gaudi, when we reached the serpentine bench on the terrace or square. First, it was beautiful. It is covered with trencadis work, for which Gaudi used broken pieces of used tile. Such colors! You'll see basic designs and, when you get up close, you can see the designs in the broken tile pieces. And second, it was cool-literally. If you sat on it, especially any part not facing the sun, there was a delicious coolness. On this hot day-it reached 87, but felt worse- this was wonderful! I hated to get up. We did use it for lots of photos, of course.

Looking over the bench, not only could we see the city and La Sagrada Familia,our next destination, but also the administration lodge and the caretaker's residence for the park. Oh. My. Goodness. Dr. Seuss had to have taken inspiration from these whimsical buildings, which featured colorful trencadis work, as well. Wow, just plain wow!

We went down through the gardens to reach the Marketplace below the terrace. Postcards later showed us that the rosettes in the ceiling didn't just have flat tile pieces, but also half-bottles, broken dishes, hooks and more. Too bad we couldn't tell that in the relatively dim light under there, but they were pretty. The Doric columns here are slanted, which really messes with the classical feel they should lend to the place.

Leaving the Marketplace, we found ourselves at the top of the entrance stairs and above the lizard or dragon, that is the symbol of the park. It is very difficult to get a picture of him without an unknown tourist also in the picture. Believe me, I worked at it.

My daughters and I decided to join the line for the caretaker's house, but my husband could no longer live without his coffee and he headed off to the cafe. The only restrooms we could find were by the cafe, so my daughters and I took turns holding the places in line, so that the others could use the facilities-which were air conditioned!! The house was interesting in shape and the rooms were painted a vivid blue. It no longer looked like a house, but rather was a museum with exhibits on the park, when it was built, Gaudi, etc. Since we had chosen not to pay to go into the Gaudi House Museum, this was our one chance to see the inside of a house.

The shop was crowded, but had some interesting items, including a miniature terrace bench. No matter how hard I tried, I could not convince myself not to buy it. It is only a couple of inches long and I don't know what they intend for you to do with it, but I couldn't resist it. Besides postcards, I also picked up the Pocket Series book on the park. I hope to learn all manner of things that we missed on our ramblings.

At 10:35, deciding we'd pretty much seen what we wanted to and wanting to stick to our schedule, we left via the main entrance. This afforded us a few more good photos.

On our way to the Lesseps Metro station, we stopped in a souvenir shop for a mug for my husband and more postcards, as well as pins, for my collections. This hill was not as steep or long, and, besides, it was downhill. We walked along a fairly busy street at the bottom until reaching the station at 11:10.  It was an 8 minute trip on the L3 to Diagonal. There, we found a much nicer passage than the one we'd traversed earlier in the morning, which we followed to the L5. We were on the train by 11:25 and out at La Sagrada at 11:28. It was definitely easier than walking all the way from Park

We had to find lunch before our 1:00 ticket time. We walked down the street, checking out possibilities, and finally chose Baviera Restaurante. I mean, come on, how could we not choose a Spanish restaurant called Bavaria? Due to the heat and because I love it any way, I ordered gazpacho for 5,95 euros and we had to try the German Salad for 3,95. It had a lot of mayo and cut up hot dogs.

My husband got  mediterranea pizza for 8,90 and the older daughter ordered a cured ham sandwich for 4,85 and potatas bravas for 4,25. The younger daughter got a frankfurter for 3,95 and Spanish omelet (which is really potatoes) for 4,25.

Cold Coke, Coke Zero and Fanta in bigger bottles were more refreshing than usual. The food was very good, but we suddenly realized we had no time for dessert. It was 12:45 and the restrooms were less than adequate. We finally flew out of the place at 12:55.

Our problem was that we not only had tickets to get into the cathedral La Sagrada Familia at 1, but our tickets to go up the Passion Tower, which was on the opposite side of the cathedral from where we were, were for 1:15. We got lucky, in that they saw how long the line was for 1:00 and took those of us at the end to a newly opened line, where we quickly had our bags searched. We then had to get in line for our audio guides. We hurried through the church, as much as decorum would allow, and got in line for the elevator, only for my husband to be turned back to put his backpack in a locker. After a bit of confusion, he managed to join us in line.
The view up above was magnificent. We had a wonderful view to the sea and to the mountains, even if there was a bit of haze. Gaudi's masterpiece has always struck me as looking a bit like a drippy sand castle. But, up here, we could see details of the work that is still in progress almost 90 years after his death and I was impressed.

So much color and so much detail, even though you won't be able to see the detail from the ground.

We had wisely chosen the ticket that let us ride the elevator back down. Later, we heard about some clarinetists' wives, who had had to walk down and they did not like that at all.
The outside of the cathedral is meant to tell the entire story of Jesus. We'd entered on the Nativity side, but decided that, since we were on the Passion side, we'd start our tour there. These sculptures that will tell the entire Passion all the way to the Ascension were not designed by Gaudi and many evidently find them too modern. They are quite different from Gaudi and I can see why people don't like them. I like them, but not here. They don't fit with the style. Gaudi felt that future ages should have a chance to leave their mark, but this doesn't work here for me.

The inside of the church, oh the inside! It is Gaudi with light:

The stained glass in each area has colors representing themes and how I wish I'd written them down! I know, they were said on the audio guide. I've searched the internet and, of course, I can't find them. The man was crazy for symbolism. Four of the columns have the four Gospel writers' symbols. Each tower represents and apostle. You can talk all day about how the columns look like trees and his hyperboloid structures, which are cool to the former-geometry teacher in me. But these windows are amazing. The upper ones have no color, because who can compete with God?-That much I remember.

These windows and this interior made me fall in love with Gaudi. God bless his soul! He was going totally old school in creating a magnificent church for his Lord.

The church was incredibly noisy, not just from all the construction work outside, but also from the people who couldn't seem to recognize that this is a consecrated church. At least, there is a roped off area in front of the altar, where one can sit and pray or contemplate.
We headed outside to the Nativity side. Now, this side looks like Gaudi.

There isn't a surface that is plain. The side does do a good job of teaching the story of Christ's birth and early years.
We did a quick look through the museum under the church, before going to the restrooms and shops, one on either side of the church. There were some things on one side and not the other. So, I'm glad we did both. We exited on the Nativity side and went across the street for more pictures, before hopping in a cab at 3:55 to our next destination, Fundacio Miro.
We took the cab not only due to a time crunch-our next ticket had an entrance window beginning at 4- but also because the museum is up on a hill and only buses go up there. We'd chosen Miro over Picasso, because this was Miro's home town and we figured we'd see plenty of Picasso in Madrid. We arrived at 4:12, paid the driver our 12,65 fare, which my older daughter rounded up to 15, and got out to see Miro's very modern museum.

I loved the building. It reminded me of the Bauhaus style. It was a little difficult to figure out where to take our voucher to get our tickets, but we soon found ourselves strolling through a very modern visiting exhibit. Then, we got our tickets stamped to actually enter the Miro galleries. Maybe it was due to a day rich in symbolism and design, thanks to Gaudi, but we found a lot of Miro's stuff difficult to get into. I can't include photos of these, because this is one museum that doesn't let you take pictures indoors. We couldn't even take pictures of the Alexander Calder Mercury Fountain that was behind glass outside, but you could only see it from inside. We thought it was really cool and had a lot of discussion about whether it really was mercury, since that element is so dangerous. But it really was mercury!
We loved the view from the roof and enjoyed some of the sculptures we found there. No one stopped us from photographing those.

The temperature in the museum was a relief from the heat of the day. We did learn a lot about Miro's life. I simply decided that the stuff by him that I liked, was stuff that wasn't in this museum.
The shop was pricey, but I found some cards and pins. We then found a seating area to hash out what to do next. We'd planned to go to the fountain that had a colored light show. It was relatively nearby, but the show didn't start until 9 and it was now about 7. We couldn't find much around the fountain that would occupy us, so we looked through the guidebook for ideas. We decided to take a taxi to go look at Gaudi's Casa Battlo.
In under 15 minutes and for just 8,20 euros, we were delivered across the street from the building. It was closing soon, but we took pictures of the outside. It cheered us up after the relative grimness of Miro.

By 7:40, we decided it was time to eat. So, we strolled down the street looking for a likely place. We chose Tapa Tapa, where we had good food, but incredibly poor service. We had to ask for silverware. We ordered things and then they didn't come, so we had to ask someone else. We didn't have just one server.
While the older daughter had a Coke, the rest of us split a liter of sangria for 17,00. Once again, we chose a variety of tapas to sample widely: 3 cheese croquettes 3,60; beef fillet brochette 5,95; lettuce and goat cheese salad 3,95; fuet de vic (Catalonian sausage) 4,85; crispy shrimp 4,95; 2 Catalan creme brulee @ 4,30; hot chocolate coolant 4,30; and chocolate sin with orange sauce  4, 30.
Since this was our last night in Catalonia, we were glad to be able to have some specialties of the province. And those desserts were to die for!

When we left at 9:15, we headed back up towards Casa Battlo to catch the Metro. We were rewarded with a really lovely evening view of the house. The lights really livened it up.

At 9:20, we were on the Metro and had that long walk through the passageway again. At 9:45, we were out at Forum. My daughters can now check off the Barcelona Metro on those things depicting Metros of the world. We ducked into the Diagonal Mar to see if anything was open, but no luck.
By 9:55, we were in our rooms packing for tomorrow's departure. It had been an incredibly long, packed day, but we really enjoyed it. We're leaving Barcelona with a very good impression of it.