Barcelona is of course synonymous with Gaudi, the architect famous for his fantastic (in the proper sense of the word) designs. He is the main reason most people come here – the Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, and his numerous Casas are all huge drawcards.  After reading horror stories of 2 hour queues, we planned ahead and bought skip-the-line entry tickets for Park Guell today, and for the Sagrada in two days time.  As our slot for Park Guell was 4pm, we had time for some introductory Gaudi – there are several of his buildings only two metro stops away.

It was late morning by the time we slept in, tackled the shower, the washing machine, and some other jobs.  We headed for the Block of Discord, a group of Modernista buildings on the Passaig de Gracia. We figured we could walk from one to the next in bout an hour, and end up back home for lunch.

Emerging from the metro, we saw a horde of tourists, cameras aloft. We had clearly found our target.  We joined them in admiring the windows, balconies, gargoyles, grotesques, mosaics and other details of Casa Battlo and Casa Amattler.

Casa Battlo

Window detail

The balconies look like Venetian masks

Mosaics on the exterior wall

Adjoining Casa Amattler

Balcony detail

Grotesques

Suddenly the sky darkened considerably, and the first rain drops fell. It was soon bucketing very Discordantly, with thunder and lightning as an accompaniment. Everyone ducked for cover back inside the shelter of the metro station.

Deciding not to wait out the storm, we returned home for a change of clothes and a new plan.  The rain eased enough for us to venture out in search of a supermarket. Fortified by lunch, we readied ourselves for Park Guell.

After taking three different metro lines to travel four stations, we felt like old hands. The stations are very hot, quite crowded, and BIG. Each one seems to have a complicated interchange with lots of stairs or escalators.  It’s a quick but tiring way to get around.  We duly found the Park Guell shuttle bus, which took us up the hill and dropped us at an entrance.

Park Guell has two sections – the free section, where you can wander at will for no charge, and the Monumental Zone, where all the Gaudi is. Both sections have plenty to see. Everyone heads for the Monumental Zone, which is ticketed.  It wasn’t nearly as crowded as I expected – while busy, you could move around with ease, and I didn’t see any queues. Unfortunately although dry, the sky was dull so we didn’t get the planned-for afternoon light that brings out the colours.

Your first look is like seeing Disneyland for the first time – like nothing you’ve seen before.  We emerged from a set of stone steps onto the plaza, which is surrounded by the iconic undulating tiled bench. It has great views over the main entrance, the porters’ lodges, and the city, including our first sighting of the Sagrada.

Looking down over the park entrance and city beyond

We made our way down slowly, under the Portico of the Washerwoman, down the spiral balconied ramp, and into the entrance area.  The two porters’ lodges flanking the gates look like crazy gingerbread houses.

Portico of the Washerwoman

Not the Washerwoman

The Ramp

Porters’ Lodge roof, or gingerbread house

The Monumental Steps feature three famous mosaic sculptures, including the salamander.

Mad mosaics

Snake head fountain

Salamander’s mouth

Salamander’s foot

The steps lead to 86 columns which support the plaza and bench above.  Some of the columns are disconcertingly angled!  Finally we popped out into the Austrian Garden, and back up more steps to the plaza.

Doric columns. Not all vertical

Austrian garden

Dressed for a day of sightseeing … I think not

It’s all too hard …

The free section of the park has a myriad of paths, ramps and stairs, leading to several high vantage points. We hadn’t realised we would have such an extensive view over Barcelona – from the hilltop we could clearly see its size, and pick out some of the landmarks that we’d be exploring in the next few days.

Part of the free zone

City view

Sagrada view

Gaudi’d out

Of all the concerns I had with my vestibular issues pre-trip, Barcelona and Park Guell had worried me the most.  Happily, my head coped much better than expected with the abundance of visual stimulation that I inflicted on it today, and I’m ready for the rest of the week.