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Published: January 25th 2008
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Rob had decided that he needed more eating time For breakfast so we got up at half nine. It turns out we should be up earlier still tomorrow morning. Over breakfast we chatted to Lucas and Tiffany the couple we met last night, apparently their dorm room is full so we are more certain our luck is about to run out.
Park Guell is far enough away from our hostel to warrant catching a metro. First we couldn't figure out whether we were traveling through more than one zone, then we didn't know that you walk through the turnstile one over from where you put in your ticket. We did make it to the correct stop and got off in an interesting part of the city.
Park Guell was designed by Antoni Gaudi and was originally intended to be an enclosed city for the wealthy with 60 houses. Only two were ever created but other features of the park include a market, school and ceramic beach, all in their own unique style. The park is situated above the city and unusually you take esculaters up streets to get to the top.
The park itself occupies a large area
although the tourists and attractions are all in one area. We climbed up to three crosses where it was intended to have a chapel, but instead its just the monument and an impressive view of Barcelona. From there we walked to the front entrance where two houses look like gingerbread and are topped with extravagant cupolas. The famous lizard water feature was beautiful but impossible to get near due to the hoards of Japanese tourists. We sat on the ceramic bench and ate a croissant stolen from breakfast, however we were asked to move because a group of people wanted a photo taking on that very bench. One of the most photographed sections of the park is a comunal area that is placed upon the pillars of the central market place. We stood above it and watched as groups of school children played playground games as if they were in a school yard rather than a big touristy place. All around the edge of the area is a mosaic bench that snakes around the outside. We waited a while and found a section for ourselves. We sat and soaked up the sun whilst watching the police harass a few illegal
vendors that were pushing their wares on unsuspecting tourists.
We attempted to get into the museum that is based in Gaudi's old house, but they spotted the expiry date on our ISIC cards and we weren't prepared to pay full price for entrance. Instead we walked past the building up to the aqueduct which was pretty dull in comparison to the rest of the park. From there we decided that we'd had our fill of the park and would like to go and see Gaudi's greatest achievement- La Sagrada Familia. We looked at the map and figured out the direction and headed off through the maze of side streets. The area that the park is based in is supposedly an up and coming area, however it looked pretty run down and unloved.
We decided to pay entry into La Sagrada Familia whatever the cost so luckily for us the lady let us in with our ISIC cards for five euro. La Sagrada Familia is Gaudi's biggest single work and construction began on it in 1882. It is still unfinished and we heard that only fifty percent of it has been completed. We walked around it and marveled at
the complexity of the design and the beauty of the stain glass windows. We paid to go up the lift into one of the many spires and it was definately worth it. Not only could you see Barcelona in its entirety, but you got so close to the spires and the intricate designs that are hidden in features on the roof. We opted for a walk down one of the spires and were rewarded by the most dizzying descent we have encountered in our travels so far. We both loved this temple and we will visit it again hopefully when it has been completed.
We were both starving so we walked miles back into the centre of the city to find a vegetarian restaurant that we had read about. We opted for the set menu again and both had black bean soup followed by a selection of Indian foods. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Rob's eyes turn bloodshot after he bit into a pretty strong jalapeno pepper. We then both had a pretty terrrible pseudo chocolate cake to finish up. (Karob will never be as good as chocolate)
Back at the hostel we were both wilting and so we
got into bed for a nap. Unfortunately we had been joined by a few other people in our dorm room. We slept an hour or so until half nine and when the alarm went for us to get up we both decided we would be glad to just go to bed. So we did. One of the earliest nights in our traveling history and yet it was thoroughly enjoyed.
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Sagrada Familia
I don't think it'll be completed in any of our lifetimes, they just seem so laid back about doing any work on it! In one of the metro stations nearby there is a big poster on wall / ceiling showing the current spires and how high the main spires are meant to be. They dwarf the current structure. Personally i don't really like it.. but still think it's cool :)