Parc Güell (Park Güell) is what happened when architect and artist, Antoni Gaudi, teamed up with entrepreneur, Count Eusebi Güell, in an effort to create a new and lovely, luxury subdivision in the Gràcia district of Barcelona. It is set among the sloped streets of Muntanya Pelada and is packed with luscious greenery like an English city garden. The views of the city from the park property are nearly as breath-taking and awe-inspiring as the art and architecture of within the park itself. The luxury estate neighborhood venture was a flop and now the park is a municipal garden maintained by the city of Barcelona.

Today is Toto Santos (All Saints Day) so Allita has the day off school. Since we had the entire day to do whatever we wanted, we decided to ride the bus to Gràcia and check out Gaudi’s park. It’s a spirited climb from bus stop on Traveserra de Dalt up Carrer de Larrard to the main entrance of the park. If you intend to visit the “Monumental Zone”, which is the area where all of Gaudi’s famous mosaics, the terrace and the long sea serpent bench is located, you must first acquire a ticket. We discovered today that the tickets are sold out generally two days in advance. We were invited to purchase tickets for Sunday, but we decided instead to walk around the rest of the park – the greatest bulk of the actual gardens and municipal park – for free. By the way, we were able to see almost everything in the monumental zone from the free areas but it was at a distance. Still, much of the monumental zone is currently being renovated so we didn’t feel like today was a good time to get the best view in any regard.

We walked through a park entrance at the end of Carrer d’Olot, wandered past the playground (Allita did stop and play for a lengthy period), up the slopes past Casa Museu Gaudi (the house where Gaudi lived within the park but was not designed by him), climbing the steep staircases to the Austria gardens and over L’escalinata del drac (the Dragon Stairway), further uphill to La Casa Trias, and eventually back down to the main entrance, exiting the same way we had entered. Everywhere we turned, we saw examples of Gaudi’s famous twists, turns, arches and curves. There was evidence of dragons and other reptiles, tree trunks, bird nests, Roman columns, and even viaducts and bridges in Gaudi’s construction of the park pathways. Seeing his designs in plain brick and rock, as opposed to colorful mosaic tiles, was quite a treat. For the first time, I was truly able to appreciate the appeal of the shape and creativity of his designs. Their neutrality created a subtle presentation often hidden among the garden greenery versus the almost Dr. Seus-like appearance of the gay patterns and whimsical arrangements obviously displayed in the monumental zone.

We left Parc Güell exhausted but satisfied, as did nearly every other visitor, I am certain. Today, we shopped a little, we ate a little and we climbed, hiked (a.k.a. huffed and puffed) and played a lot. Our time spent in Gaudi’s park was blissful and idyllic, even though it was slightly overcast with a brisk fall breeze in the air. The next time we return, hopefully the renovations will be complete and we will wander the mosaics and the museum to see the colorful side of Parc Güell up close and, perhaps, in the bright, warm sunshine of spring.