Fri 18.Feb.11
Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain
Whee! A Greek island this ain't, not least because nobody
understands Greek.
Welcome to Spain!
![default alt title default alt text](pix/2011/p2161405.jpg)
Here we are in the big city, in a pension on the second floor --
European
counting: ground floor = zero -- of an old multi-story building
in a central district called Barri
Gotic (Gothic Quarter).
![default alt title default alt text](pix/2011/p2161421.jpg)
Park Güell, my first must-see attraction, is about 20 minutes walk
uphill from the nearest Metro station. This is a modern-looking part of
town.
An honest to goodness escalator in the
sidewalk for a particularly steep block! A godsend. (Where was it's
counterpart on the climb out of the Metro station? Out of order, I
think, perhaps because they are constructing a new station for a new
line.)
![default alt title default alt text](pix/2011/p2161411.jpg)
Bocce Ball!
Been years since I last saw old men playing bocce ball in a park, I
think in Madrid or southern France. Maybe Italian Switzerland.
Anyway, it is a good heart-warming
sight. I wonder what they call it here? Probably not bocce ball - that sounds improbably
Italian for Spain.
Park Güell
(Pronounced "way". "Park Way", as in what you drive on.)
![default alt title default alt text](pix/2011/p2161485.jpg)
The park is a celebrated, exuberant, playful masterpiece from the great Catalan
architect Antoni Gaudí.
Even in mid-February, a sunny day draws a big turnout, and rightly so!
This place must be a zoo in high season.
![default alt title default alt text](pix/2011/p2161559.jpg)
Admission is free - this is public space at its highest!
A recurring theme is the smooth segue between natural and
artificial, blurring the usual sharp distinction, mixing features of each.
![default alt title default alt text](pix/2011/p2161461.jpg)
![default alt title default alt text](pix/2011/p2161537.jpg)
Oops!
We are at the end of the page.
Let's putter along here on the Park Güell (so to speak) until I get the next post together.
Contents Copyright 2012 Jeff Bulf