Gaudi, Part Two: Parc Guell

Park Guell, another of Gaudi's architectural treats. It sits atop a large, steep hill at one end of Barcelona.And still, you have to hike up higher to get to the terrace.It does a phenominal job of marrying nature with structure/function for design. Among the lush foilage, there are Gaudi buildings, but also statues and columns carved out of stones and other natural materials. It makes it look as though the park was always there, naturally made by elements.Well, except for the Gaudi buildings. They add some extra wimsy to the whole park. At the terrace, we stopped for a picnic. Mark and Tricia had packed an amazing lunch of turkey, basil, and cheese sandwiches with veggies and fruit. YUM! The produce was really fabulous in Barcelona. Really. Don't miss the Barcelona market blog entry.

If the weather had cooperated and the clouds had parted, we would have had a spectacular view of the city. Instead, we had to feast our eyes on the kids, the tourists, and the crazy swirving, mosaic bench that went all the way around the terrace.
At the mouth of the Hellenistic-inspired columned temple, there was a mosaic statue of a "dragon". The dragon is very important to Barcelona, as we learned from our Opera House Tour. I'll save the details of that for the Opera House entry.