Another item from our "things to do before leaving Catalunya" list was a visit to Park Guell, a funky park designed by Gaudi in the north of Barcelona. We'd heard it was a honeypot, so we had an "alpine" start, leaving the house at 5am to catch the early train! Whilst getting up at such an ungodly hour is never pleasant, it was well worth the effort as we pretty much had the place to ourselves for an hour at first light :-)
The rest of the day was spent exploring more of the city, wandering around some of the different quarters and indulging in some quality people watching! A good but tiring day - walking in the mountains with a heavy rucksack seems easy in comparison! Anyway, some snaps. As always, all Ali's work!
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| The sun hitting the mosaic seats of Park Guell's "Greek Theatre" nice views over the city and out to sea! |
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| Incredible curves... |
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| Painstakingly detailed mosaics... |
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| Stone walkways in the "Laundry room" sector... not many washing machines around though? |
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| The dribbling Lizard that adorns the entrance! |
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| A formidable guard or warm welcome? |
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| The impressive "Hypostyle Room" originally designed to be the estate's market. Still functions as one today with all the peddlers! |
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| Ingenious market stall! |
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| Funky flowers! |
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| The scene at 10am and the reason we got there early!!!! Pretty much all the mosaic seats covered by tourist bottoms and peddler's wares! |
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| Every wall around the entrance is just covered with funky mosaics! |
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| He even decorated the outer walls! |
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| Not everyone welcomes the visitors... |
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| We went to the famous Sagrada Familia, but the crowds, traffic, scaffolding and cranes meant that Ali refused to take its photo! |
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| More of Gaudi's handywork at Casa Pedrera... |
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| The curves close up... |
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| Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria (the market just off the Rambla). Stunning colours, sights and smells! |
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| Muchos fish! |
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| Muchos prawns! |
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| A rainbow of chillies... |
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| Muchos fruit. |
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| Muchos ham. |
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| Mmmmmm muchos chocolates... |
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| Anyone for a marzipan hamburger? Or flip flop? |
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| Good people watching at the City Hall... |
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| The dogs, apparently! |
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| Ending the day at Ciutadella Park and the Catalan Parliament Building. |
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