Park Guell (Gaudí, part II)

This weekend I walked up to the Park Guell, one of the most well-known Gaudí attractions (second only to Sagrada Familia, which I have been to twice, but am not ready to comment on just yet).

Guell, Gaudí’s most loyal patron, intended to create a community of 60 or so houses. But the project was a flop, and the city took the land over as a park. A fantastic place to waste a Saturday afternoon, I thought, so off I went.

The first thing you see when you go in are two bizarre stone-and-tile buildings that look like gingerbread houses on acid.



The main stairwell is guarded by a tile lizard (I won’t put a picture – I’m sure you’ve seen it), and opens into a hall of columns (originally intended to be a market). These columns support the main courtyard with its snaking mosaic bench (said to be patterned after the indents of a human body in plaster). Off to one side is a grotto-like passageway carved out beneath the main pathways:







The best thing about Gaudí is the details. He makes these wild fantastical structures, but it’s the little extra touches I like – a ceiling mosaic, a hidden detail or an unexplored corner:



After an hour or so of gawking, I left most of the crowds behind and headed up a series of meandering paths (both intentional and unintentional) that twist and turn through the rest of the park. I wandered for 3 hours, accompanied by a soundtrack of Elliott Smith and Sacha. I even momentarily conquered my fear of heights to shimmy up the narrow staircase of the torre de tres cruzes and look over the city, and I spied on a young musician who sat among the trees and sang in French and Italian.

There’s lots more to see in Park Guell (I didn’t go into the house or the museum), but that will be for another day…

In more me-related news

People have asked how things are going on the work front. It’s going well – much better than I expected – but I’m going to hold off on the details for now. Call me superstitious, but I’d rather not talk about the possibilities until they are confirmed.

But suffice to say there have been some pleasant surprises, which gives me some hope, and still more determination.