Barcelona: The Adventure Begins
Gruel Park Entrance: The marble pillars above, give way to rock structures that support much of
hillside. Photos in the attached album provide a better feel for the area.
Link Here for Full Set of Photos
With the population rapidly pushing toward 1.75 million, a history that traces back several hundred years, a football team that commands world attention and an architect whose works continues to define many aspects of the city, Barcelona has plenty to offer. Since gaining their freedom barely 35 years ago, Barcelona and Catalan Province have become top tourist destinations of the Eurozone.
Situated in the north-east part of Spain, the port of Barcelona hosts more cruise ships and cargo tonnage than any other single Mediterranean destination. When wandering around this carefree city it is hard to believe that it was only 1976 when the Catalonian people emerged from 40 years of brutal repression under the iron fist of the Franco regime.
During that dictatorship, the Catalonian people were not allowed to use their language or practice many of their cultural traditions. Each day, summary execution was a fact of life. Today, you can feel the sense of freedom as millions of tourists fill the streets, shops and resturants, or wait for their turn to view the classic works of art and architecture that fill the city.
Photo (Web): Catalonian rebels fight Franco’s troops. For decades, the whereabouts of thousands executed in Spain under Franco’s rule have remained a mystery. Now the exhumation of mass graves is reuniting relatives with their loved ones’ remains – and revealing the country’s dark history.
As had only a limited time to savour the sights and sounds, we purchased two-day “Hop On, Hop Off” bus passes for $34E (you can take one day at $26E and update the next for $8E if you wish). The Red (Central), Green (Waterfront) and, Blue (North and West) routes provide easy access to almost every major tourist attraction in the city.
Each of the city owned double decker uses with open top, has a quality sound system that provides an excellent running commentary in a dozen languages. It was lucky for us that we were travelling outside the peak tourist season, as there was plenty of room on the top deck and wait times at every attraction, even the most popular, was no more than a 10-15 minutes.
Almost every area in Barcelona boasts examples of the work of Antonio Gaudi, the most stunning of which is the Sagadra Familia monument, a towering structure designed in the form of a Basilica. This amazing work of architectural art has been under construction for over one hundred years and is not likely to be completed for another fifty. As for the few photographs posted, it was extremely hard to capture the splendour.
The second example of the amazing work that flowed from the mind of Gaudi’s was the buildings and walls in Guell Park. In addition to the flowing mosaic of the walls and rooftops, large areas of the hillside park is supported on pillars of either marble or rock in the style of that build in ancient Rome.
Antonio Gaudi was clearly a man who loved to design his works of art as places in which people could work, play, pray and love in a setting that helped them to break the bonds of the more mundane aspects of their lives.
Perhaps one day we will again have an opportunity to return to this wonderful City and Province.
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