Casa Mila - a walking tour to "La Pedrera" - the Quarry. La Pedrera is the name given to the Antoni Gaudi designed modernist apartment building. We will continue a walk on through Paseo de Gracia past the Casa Batllo. This home is another excellent example of Gaudi’s avant-garde architectural style. Then to the Plaza Cataluña, and the Gothic quarter. Visit la Plaza de la Cathedral to see traditional Sunday morning "Sardana" dancing - a popular folklorique dance which symbolizes the unity and pride of the Catalan people. Free time for lunch on our own in the old port "Port Vell" area. An example of Barcelona's successful urban regeneration which took place prior to the 1992 Olympics.
Afternoon tour will be a guided tour of Barcelona that includes a visit to the Basilica of the impressive, unfinished Gaudi Masterpiece - La Sagrada Familia. Gaudi's equally exotic Parc Guell & Montjuic Hill which is home to both Montjuic Castle (a 17th Century fortress originally designed to defend the city from the Castilian army) and many of the buildings from the 1992 Olympic games - including the architect Calatrava's "Olympic Needle"
My Observations
WOW! I could write pages about all the architectural things we saw. Just Focusing on Gaudi's work would be lengthy. I bought 5 separate books during the pre-tour wander earlier in the week. All were on Gaudi and many of his noted works. I’ll let the links below give a better impression of what it is. Take time to try the links to the virtual visit tours of any I was able to locate and view.
It is great to have to option to just time to study the details without of tour time limitations or so many other visitors hindering access.
I’ll let you decide on my observation – WOW. I added more than my normal 4 or so links, realizing, I did not want to have you miss my impressions on the beauty of his efforts.
Here are internet links for highlights:
Antoni Gaudi http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/gaudi/
La Pedrera https://www.lapedrera.com/en/home
La Pedrera – virtual visit - 360 views https://www.lapedrera.com/Tour_Pedrera
Casa Batllo http://www.casabatllo.es/en/
Casa Batllo – virtual visit http://www.casabatllo.es/en/virtual-tour/
La Sagrada Familia http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/
La Sagrada Familia http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/vvirtual
Parc Guell http://www.parkguell.cat/en/park-gueell/origin-and-creation/
Parc Guell – virtual visit http://www.parkguell.es/tour/
Photo 1. Carol getting her eye-opening morning coffee watching traffic from our hotel balcony.
Photo 2. Our guide, Joaquin, is in the center. Luisa, the other RS guide is on right.
Photo 3. Our local guide provides Barcelona details about Catalan and local culture.
Click here for today's online photo album.
https://picasaweb.google.com/magwheel44/Day7Of2719Oct14SundayBarcelona
