Parque Guell
No, no moon photo today, but one from Parque Guell, which used to be free, but isn’t anymore. Oh well, it is really, I mean really, worth a visit.
Music in the Park
A musician in the Parque Guell. This park, a creation of Gaudi, used to be free, but not anymore. It is definitely worth a visit, you can book here.
Gaudi-esque
I confess, I don’t know anything about this building on Gran Via, except that it wasn’t built by Gaudi. Should anyone know more, please let me know. I would guess it is from the same time frame, around 1890-1915.
Palau Guell
I was asked about the spires on the header of this blog. No, they are not part of a church, they are on the roof of a private house, the Palau Guell, or Guell Palace. A private house with a difference, as it was built for Eusebi Guell by his good friend Antonio Gaudi.
Here is the entrance:
Now, the interior of the house is very dark and gloomy, hard to get a good shot without a flash or a tripod (forbidden). Here is what I could manage…
It gets a little lighter on the upper floors.
Many more of those spires on the roof, with a fantastic view over the old town.
Gaudilona and the Titanic
More of the fountain above
Sagrada Familia: the altar
Sagrada Familia, post 1100
Every few years, I like going back to the Sagrada Familia cathedral, to check out the progression of the work. Not sure I’ll be there to see it finished, as the dates quoted by different sources go from 2026 to… 2150. Don’t want to live till 2150!!!
Anyway, they finished the main nave 18 months ago, and I hadn’t been back since. It is VERY impressive! Will show you more on my next posts.
This is the ceiling of the main nave by the way.
Details
Gaudi’s genius. Beauty that goes well into details. Here are some from Casa Batllo, on Passeig de Gracia.
Casa Batllo
A few more details of Gaudi’s Casa Batllo, aka the bone house. It is one of Barcelona’s main tourist attraction.
To see more of Gaudi’s magnificent works, just click on the Gaudi label below.
I still don’t have much time to browse your blogs, but, as I am finally going back to work tomorrow, after 100 days of convalescence, I should, strangely enough, have more time.
2 new blogs coming up soon!!!
Straight lines?
Not many straight lines to be seen in this building! It is the Casa Batllo, on Passeig de Gracia, a house renovated by Antonio Gaudi. We will bring you more of this unique place in the next few days.
This is, by the way, post 500. We’ve come a long way.
Gaudi!
As my health is quite poor at the moment (gonna be fixed soon!), haven’t been out for a photoshoot in ages. Therefore, thanks to the guy or girl who invented the notion of archives!!!
So… This is just another of Gaudi’s amazing mosaics, to be found in Parque Guell.
Watery Wednesday
Another picture from last week’s fountain in Parque Guell.
The 92nd Watery Wednesday already! Have a look here!
Watery Wednesday nr 91
It is raining, which means that we have our very own watery wednesday here in Barcelona.
Photo taken in Parque Guell, A small fountain near the entrance, designed by Gaudi.
Please click here to see many more nice and watery photos!
Leaving the stone quarry… Dejando la Pedrera…
After yesterday’s stone bridge built by Antonio Gaudi, let us remain with this great man a while longer.
One of his absolute masterpieces was the Casa Mila, better known as ‘la Pedrera’ the stone quarry.
Owned by a bank, it used to be Rosario Segimon and Pere Milà’s home. A rather magnificent home. Built for them by Gaudi from 1905 till 1912.
It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Open to visits (10 euros, which is cheap for Barcelona), it also hosts a museum and modernism shop, and an exhibition center which is usually free of charge. We saw a very nice Maillol exhibition there last winter.
On the photo, you can see one of the somptuous gates.
Want to know more? Here is what Wiki says to it.
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Sunday Bridges: as Gaudi saw it…
Monsieur Louis la Vache has a thing about bridges. After being invited to join his meme, I thought: hmmm… Bridges in BCN??? Very few of them around.
Then I started looking… And you know what? I found some bridges!
Here is a particularly fancy one, created by none other than Antonio Gaudi (Barcelona’s architectural god) himself. It is situated in Parque Guell, and as you see, you can even have a picnic underneath!
We have been asked several times how we do it. Well…
First, the material. Mandy uses an old Fuji S3500, 4 MP. Rob uses mostly SLDR, a Sony @230, 10 MP, with several lenses, a Sony 17-55 mm, another Sony 55-200, and a 10 years old analogic 75-300 mm Minolta lens, with is usable on a SLDR and becomes a very nice digital 112 to 450 mm zoom (see the moon photos, for example).
Almost none of our photos are SOOC, straight out of the camera. We use a lot of enhancement programs, like GIMP, Artizen, some versions of Photoshop, Paint.net, Picassa, Raw Therapee, etc. We will go very soon into HDR, once we have a good handle on it (have a look at this one!).
We do not ‘cheat’, we simply think that these tools are really good, they do a lot to improve the quality of what we do. They are available, so we use them.
All we hope to do is a good quality blog, with good quality photos, a bit a humor now and then. And we truly hope you enjoy our… work? No, it is and will always be a hobby.
On the very first place in what we try to do is the intense satisfaction of creating a thing of beauty. This makes us happy, and that’s all we want.
Words, words words. Let us stop them and just enjoy some more bridge photos, here .
Weekend Reflections
Nature, reflected in the windows of this most beautiful and most organic looking building.
To see more weekend reflections, just click here.
Skywatch Friday
The Sagrada Familia cathedral seems to harbor a photo shoot for every opportunity, be it Eric Tenin, a normal post, Skywatch Friday… Let’s see what I can think of tomorrow.
Anyway, this is what you get when you bend backwards.
This is part of Skywatch Friday, as mentioned before. Please visit the other participants here
Heureux anniversaire, Paris Daily Photo!
5 years ago today, Eric started the whole thing called City Daily Photo Blogs. We, for our part, are happy to have joined much later, 307 days ago. Here is to you, Eric, even the Sagrada Familia Cathedral seems to be celebrating this special day!
Bon anniversaire!
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
Sagrada Familia
Some of the incredible and so organic stonework on the flanks of the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. I am almost enclined calling it needlework. Please click on the picture to see the finer details, it’s worth it!
Latest updates on Sagrada Familia and Barcelona. Although the cathedral wont be finished this century, the nave is almost finished and will be inaugurated in October this year by the Pope.
More info about it here, as usual.
Weather: it is absolutely freezing, day temperatures barely above freezing. The snow has gone, almost overnight. A lot of fuss for 2/3 inches of snow. But maybe not for the 70.000 people or so still without electricity, heat and hot water.
Organic biomorph
This is what is commonly called Gaudi’s masterpiece, Casa Mila, better known as La Pedrera, the stone quarry. A view of one of the staircases. More info here.
Visitors
To finish the series dedicated to Parque Guell, here are some of the visitors and musicians.
Stones
Thankful Dragon
For the invisible man we posted yesterday, it must be quite easy during summer: I suppose he just takes his clothes off, puts on some suncream, and keeps the hat, supposing, of course, that he really is invisible. If he isn’t, no big problem: enough people roam the streets totally naked in the summer in Barcelona. Legally.
Must be much more difficult for this Dragon Man, in his very fancy, and seemingly very hot costume.
And a warm welcome to Regina from Kilauea, Hawaii, our 250th follower!
Il fait 13-14 degres en ce moment, voici le meilleur moyen de rester chaud: se deguiser en dragon. Mais le pauvre va souffrir cet ete! Pour l’homme invisible d’hier, c’est beaucoup plus facile quand il fait tres chaud: il lui suffira d’enlever ses vetements et de garder le chapeau. En supposant bien sur qu’il soit vraiment invisible… S’il ne l’est pas, ce n’est pas tres grave, beaucoup de personnes totalement nues dans les rues de notre bonne ville en ete, tout a fait legalement…
Mosaic music
Underneath the Parque Guell’s main square, underneath the serpent bench, Gaudi built a very special kind of music room. Supported by 86 doric columns, the vaulted ceiling reverberates the sounds, and it is a good place for buskers and other musicians. The 2 photos above show some of the decorations on the ceiling.
2 more views of the columns themselves.
La salle de musique de la colonie Guell. Gaudi avait une excellente comprehension des regles de l’accoustique. Le plafond alveole et les 86 colonnes doriques forment une tres bonne caisse de resonance.Twisted
Tiles.
The Parque Guell, 17ha or 42 acres, was originally meant as a city. As every city, it has a main square, with a fantastic view over the city and the Med.
And there is a public bench. Just one. Well, it is the longest in the world, 826 meters, half a mile. The bench is in the shape of a sea snake, and decorated with broken tiles, in a technique known as trencadis. Here is a view of a part of it.
And some more detailled views of the tiles.
Quelque vues du banc de 826 m de long en forme de serpent de mer sur la grand place du parc Guell. Entierement decore de bouts de mosaique casses, il s’agit d’une technique nommee trencadis. Gaudi’s pet
I have a couple of days off, the weather today is awesome, so we decided to go to Parque Guell, on a photo shoot. Parque Guell, or Guell’s park, was built between 1900 and 1914 by Antonio Gaudi, and named after Count Eusebi Guell, Gaudi’s patron. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Well, the park is a fantastic place. We took over 230 photos, so we do have plenty to show you, a bit later.
Let’s start with the dragon, aka the lizard, aka the thing. You’ll find his picture in absolutely every single guide book about Barcelona. I was a bit reticent showing it earlier, as I didn’t really want this blog to be just another tourist thing. But it didn’t happen, so here it is.
You’ll almost have to queue to get a picture of the dragon alone, as EVERYBODY wants to be on a picture with it. Anyway, 10 minutes, and a bit a cropping to get to this. Enjoy!
Much more about the park in the next few days, or here, as soon as I choose and post something.
Tres beau temps aujourd’hui, nous sommes donc alles au Parque Guell, voir la bete de Gaudi. La bete, ou plutot le dragon, est partie d’une fontaine a l’entree du parc, et il faut vraiment faire la queue pour pouvoir prendre sa photo seul: tout le monde veut SA photo avec le dragon.Gaudi
Gaudi. A famous man, a famous name. I wonder if he ever imagined that so many things and places would be named after him… Gaudi Avenue, Gaudi this, Gaudi Hotel, Gaudi souvenir shop, Gaudi that. Hundreds, or maybe thousands of them.
Well, anyway, this, ladies and gentlemen, is the Gaudi tapas bar in the Barri Gotic. I love my bravas!
This is a bit of a test. I wonder if, by putting a famous name as blog title, it will get me many visitors from…outside. We’ll see.
I also added some music to this blog. Thank you for your feedback!!!!!
Gaudi
Another picture from Parque Guell. Gaudi made several of these round tile things, on ceilings. Quite amazing.
By the way, in Parque Guell, you will also find the longuest park bench in the world, over 800 meters, or half a mile, entirely covered with multicolored tiles, snaking it’s way through the park. I hope being able to post something about the bench soon.
Park Guell
No, this is not a gingerbread house!
It is one of 2 buildings at the entrance to Parque Guell, one of Barcelona’s 8 World Heritage Sites.
Designed and built from 1900 to 1914 by the Catalan architect Antonio Gaudi (of Sagrada Familia fame), and named after Gaudi’s friend, benefactor and sponsor Count Eusebi Guell, it was originally meant as a commercial housing estate… Would love to live in that kind of estate, Gaudi or Hundertwasser, doesn‘t matter!
To know more about it, please check here.
Nowadays, you can find the park‘s Gaudi souvenir shop in here, prosaically.
Anyway, enjoy the view. And be aware that it is a hard climb, should you want to go there! And bring your own drinks, as the 2 or 3 bars in here will ruin you!
Barcelona Daily Photo 
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