Saturday 8th October 2016
After a wonderful night of rest – I slept with the balcony doors open and enjoyed the sounds of Barcelona by night, which was noisy but not disturbing – we caught the metro toward Park Guell. A short walk up the steep hill, we entered the Park and explored the Gaudi House museum in the grounds. The whole site had originally been designed as a community on the hillside intended for 60 homes each with a caveat that the owner could only built on one-sixth of their plot and the rest was to be dedicated to garden. Great concept, but it failed with only 2 homes ever being built. The house that Guadi lived in has now been converted to a museum and has a great display of his creative genius in all of the furniture he designed.
We enjoyed lunch before entering the paid section of the Park to check out the ornate features, fountains, columns, mosaics and buildings.
We took a tram back into the city to stroll Passeig de Gracia – home to many international brands – Gucci, Chanel, Hermes and the list goes on. It is also the home to many fabulous buildings and a couple of Guadi creations – La Pedrera or Casa Mila and Casa Batllo.
The night was young and we needed to shower and change to celebrate Brian’s 59th birthday. We walked down to the Port Vell area and the oldest restaurant in Barcelona – 7 Postes meaning 7 doors. We dined on paella – the traditional is meat and seafood but we also tried seafood and vegetable. It was a bit salty for our tastes, but that’s the way the locals enjoy it.
We found the Cat Bar (complete with a Ducati in the tiny bar area) and enjoyed a nightcap before once again wandering the lane ways to find our way home again
