We awoke after a great night’s sleep to another gorgeous day here in Barcelona. After breakfast we met our guide for our tour of the city, Jose Soler of Pepito Tours. If anyone ever needs a guide and tour, Jose is the person to get. This was our fourth time using his services and each time has been great.
Our first stop was the Gaudi house, Casa Batilø,, also known as the Casa del osso or House of the Bones, on the Passeig de Gracia in the Eixample district. Gaudi is perhaps Spain’s most famous architect. His buildings are fanciful and totally unique. There are two stories about the house. One says that it represents Carnevale and that the balconies are masks and the mosaic decoration on the building is confetti. The other story says that the house represents St. George (the patron saint of Barcelona and Catalunia) slaying the dragon, rescuing a princess and presenting her with a single rose. I like the latter story myself.
After stopping by Gaudi’s most famous house, Casa Mila, known for it’s wavy walls, we rode up to the hills above the city to the Parc Guell. This is a lovely park originally designed to be an upscale housing development by a wealthy Barcelona textile owner. He commissioned Gaudi to design the houses and roads through the area. Unfortunately, he was ahead of his time. The area was too far out of town and only two houses were built. Upon the industrialist’s death his heirs sold the area to the city and it was turned into a park. Now Barcelonans can enjoy the imaginative walkways which include columns like the one which looks like a woman carrying a basket on her head.
From the park we went down to the Sagrada Familia Church. This is perhaps the best known building in Barcelona and the iconic symbol of the city. It too is a Gaudi creation. Begun in 1884, it is still incomplete. Nevertheless Pope Benedict is arriving here today to consecrate it tomorrow. The Church will when it is finished have 18 towers with the highest planned for approximately 550 feet. It turned out to be quite magical being here this weekend because of his visit. Later in the afternoon after our tour was finished we walked through the Plaza de Catalunia and encountered several thousand young people carrying yellow and white banners and having a mass dance in the square to celebrate their “happiness at the Pope’s visit” as a young man told me.
Next stop on our tour was Mont Juic, the hill overlooking the harbor. This is the site of the 1992 Olympic Stadium, a couple of museums and the most unusual cell phone tower we’ve seen. The tower was built for the Olympics and looks more like a work of art than a cell phone tower. Jose told us an interesting story about the lighting of the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony. The stadium is very large and seats 55,000 people. To light the flame, a champion archer shot a flaming arrow across the stadium from the opposite side. It must have been spectacular!
Finally, we ended our tour with a visit back to the Gothic Quarter. We saw the oldest synagogue in Barcelona rediscovered in modern times and we went in a building which houses three column on their original foundation which were part of the Roman Temple of Augustus.
So today we saw 2000 years of Barcelona history. It’s truly a beautiful city and much more than just a stroll up La Rambla.
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