Monday, July 18, 2016

Barcelona {Day 4; Park Güell and Palau Nacional)

We decided to walk to Park Güell on our fourth day in Barcelona.  It was a bit of a walk and mostly up hill, but more on that later, but I love this city so much and walking though the neighborhoods and finding street art so I didn't mind one bit.  Here's a look at our fourth day in Spain.
I had to stop and take a photo of this beautiful building. I love the Art Nouveau movement so much and there are tiny pockets of it still preserved in Barcelona.
and then also graffiti.  It's like a treasure hunt when I find these hidden artworks.
More flowers on the street.
and remember when I mentioned up hill and said more on that later, this is what I was talking about escalators instead of stairs because so steep!
And for those that didn't know, Barcelona is home to many anarchists and separatists so there are lots of images and notes addressing oppression and tourism.
When you first enter the park from the side you'll see signs like this.  I've been here a few times and the first time there weren't many tourists, nor did you have to pay to go on the balcony, but with so much popularity and greed the park is now heavily monitored and more like a tourist destination than the community space it once was.  While in this particular case, I was a tourist, I like to think I'm respectful of the Barcelona community.  I have mixed feelings about this park, I love it so much but at the same time feel like I shouldn't be supporting somewhere that's been deprived of its community.
We played on the playground near the main entrance and the girls had a great time climbing the rope ladder and sliding down this tall slide.
We bought tickets to come back in the afternoon to go to the balcony, and after playing for a bit we worked up an appetite, so we walked down to one of our favorite hole in the wall bars.
Husband accidentally ordered a liter thinking it was more of a pint, don't worry though he finished ALL of it.
from the bar you can see the kitchen and bar, this is literally the whole place.  It's small and there are a few tables deeper into the bar, but this is where the food is made and served.  It's very intimate, and the staff is funny, they mock anyone uptight and expecting an american bar, and to be honest it's pretty entertaining.
After our food husband paused to document yet another bike.
back at the park we waited for our entreance time.
but our bubble guy was there so that kept the girls busy for a minute.
and then nap time.
and we still had more time to waste so we walked back out for an espresso and found an ice cream shop for the girls.  They also had these giant lollipops! 
And then back to the park we walked,
This is the part I hate about the park, I like that the balcony isn't too crowded but I hate that they've commercialized a community space.
After the park we decided to check out another area I'd never been to; Fountain Montjuic, too bad we didn't check the time, mixed reviews left us stranded without a show but it was still worth the view.
We found the fountain, but Palau Nacional was closed,and the fountain wasn't running, so a mojito consolation prize it was.
After our looong day, we headed back to our apartment and made some pasta at home.  Another day in Spain coming up this week along with a peek at Paris and Luzern.



No comments:

Post a Comment