Güell Park and Gaudi

Barcelona; 10^th December 2009

On the tour of Barcelona, we were told about the city’s favourite son, architect Antonio Gaudi. This was the first I’d ever heard of him, but since then, I’ve come across his name and pictures of his work several times in my reading.

These are blocks of flats designed by Gaudi! announced the guide. Certainly they were different. Nature, it is said, abhors a straight line. So did Gaudi; the builders, glaziers and carpenters of Barcelona must have hated him.

But the bus didn’t stop. Were our remembrances of Barcelona to be confined to a few shaky photos and videos taken through a bus window?

However, we were on our way to the Güell Park, where some of the best of Gaudi’s work is to be seen. Indeed, Gaudi used to live here, in a pink, Portmeirion-ish house which is now the Gaudi Museum.

The park was conceived by a Spanish nobleman, the Conde de Güell, who wanted to build a ‘Garden City’ after the style of British garden cities such as Welwyn. But, he made it too exclusive; no public transport ran there from Barcelona and his prices just too high.

So, very few houses were built … some of them, the work of Gaudi, including two of the easiest seen, most quirky and most photographed. Another thing you can’t fail to miss is Gaudi’s aqueduct … though anything less like an aqueduct I have yet to see.

One of the main selling points of the park is the panoramic view of Barcelona, and one of the main challenges, getting good photographs without too many cranes in them.

To read more about ‘Costa Serena’, especially the excellent food, see

http://globalfoodie.com/2010/03/italy-floating-flavours-of-italia