Port Visit: Barcelona's Park Guell

Gaudi's famous salamander made of mosaics at Municipal Garden

Another major landmark that you have to see in Barcelona is Park Guell located on Carmel Hill. A Spanish entrepreneur, Eusebi Guell, who made his money in the industrial revolution in Catalonia, commissioned Antoni Gaudi to design the park, which he did from 1900 to 1914.

Gaudi lived in this house (1906-26) which is now a museum

Parc Guell was officially opened in 1926 and in 1984 was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Originally the park was meant to be a commercial housing project but it was unsuccessful: the land was basically a rocky hill with few trees and vegetation, but the location was away from smoky factories, hence the air was relatively clean.

Guell had hoped to build 60 lots of luxury housing here that were fitted with modern technology, and he tried to initiate buyer interest by moving there himself into an existing country house called Larrard House in 1906.

Entrepreneur Guell lived here in Larrard House

However, in the end only two houses were built -- one as a show house, the other for sale, but no one was interested in buying them. So at Guell's suggestion, Gaudi bought one of the homes and moved in with his family and father in 1906 and lived there until 1926.

The house contains original works by Gaudi and is now a museum called Gaudi House Museum. Unfortunately we didn't have time to go inside.

However, we did wander around the colonnaded footpath under the roadway viaduct and heard some flamenco music being played and saw some musicians along with a flamenco dancer.

Benches are shaped like a sea serpent at Municipal Garden

We also sadly missed the Municipal Garden, made famous by Gaudi's colourful mosaic salamander called "el drac" or "dragon". This part of the park also requires paying an entrance fee. I visited this part of the park over 20 years ago and I was blown away by how creative Gaudi was with the long bench that is shaped like a sea serpent. 

Port Visit: Barcelona's Sagrada Familia

The back of the cathedral has some many decorations

Trying to take in Barcelona in less than 12 hours is impossible. Even trying to do the highlights well is a difficult too.

The front of the church (not my picture!)

We had our best intentions, but literally only had a taste of the Spanish city.

Since we were a group of eight traveling together, my uncle arranged for a van for us, but we actually got a full-on tour bus instead. How that happened is strange, but it was like our very own hop-on, hop-off bus.

Our first destination was Sagrada Familia, the famous cathedral designed by Antoni Gaudi that is still being built. Construction started in 1882, but by the time he died in 1926, only one-quarter of the building was completed.

Construction continues...

The project kept going through private donations, but then construction was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, and building started again in the 1950s. Now with computer technology, construction has speeded up, and the Roman Catholic cathedral is expected to be completed in 2026, the centenary of Gaudi's death.

The original inspiration for the Basilica Sagrada Familia came from Josep Maria Bocabella, founder of the Spiritual Association of Devotees of St Joseph. He visited the Vatican in 1872 and wanted to build a church.

During the Civil War, Gaudi's workshop was destroyed by Catalan anarchists and so the designs now are based on reconstructions of plans that were burned in the fire as well as on modern adaptations.

Admission into the cathedral (15-22 euros for basic tickets, and can go up as much as 40 euros) is what funds construction, which probably explains why there are so many people there and tickets sell out quickly.

The ceiling of the cathedral that I couldn't see unfortunately!

We didn't get a chance to go in, so we could only admire it from the outside. It covers one giant block and there's so much to see from every angle. I tried sketching part of the facade and even then it was had to squeeze in all the detail. The spires had figures on them as well as words, every little bit had some kind of decoration that was not necessarily symmetrical.

The place is still literally a construction site, with cranes moving materials around as the rest of us watch. It's as if they are putting on a show for us, that they are building this thing...

Same with the beautiful colours reflected inside...! Next time!

In any event it's an excuse to come back when it's finally completed... though Wikipedia says while the main construction will be completed in 2026, the decorations may not be completed until 2030 or 2032...

Port Visit: Palma de Mallorca

The Palace of L'Almudaina (left) and La Seu cathedral (right)

Our next port of call was Palma de Mallorca in the Balearic Islands in Spain. We had a short shuttle ride to the main attraction, La Seu, or Palma Cathedral, a massive cathedral near the water, and it was built to look like a ship moored at the city's edge.

The beautiful nave of the cathedral

When James I, King of Aragon conquered the area, the mosque on that site was turned into a cathedral with construction starting in 1300 and didn't finish until 1601. James I wanted to make a statement with the church, that Christianity had established itself here. And it is a grand statement.

It's a Gothic cathedral complete with flying buttresses and has one of the largest rose windows in the world, known as "the Gothic eye". Its nave is also one of the highest in all the Gothic cathedrals in Europe.

After an earthquake struck in 1851, parts of the cathedral had to be rebuilt and was overseen by architect Antonio Gaudi.

Inside it's magnificent -- one is filled with awe seeing the light bouncing off the stained glass windows and creating a kaleidoscope effect with colours. It's absolutely beautiful. You feel so tiny in the cathedral and at the same time in awe of the beauty of the place that's quite eclectic.

Everyone is drawn to the nave, which has a kind of hanging chandelier, perhaps designed by Gaudi, with a string of lights supporting the crucifixion of Christ at the top, and below more strings of lights.

Our delicious seafood paella for lunch

To the right is an area that's been completely designed by Gaudi. It looks very organic and hardly structured. On the left it looks like the sea, with fish looking like they are coming out of the wall, while the other walls have various textures and sculptures covered with splattered paint. Was it a rush job or deliberately done like that to contrast with the orderliness of the cathedral?

Next door is the Palau de L'Almudaina, originally an Islamic fort that was converted into a residence for Mallorcan monarchs at the end of the 13th century.

It is very grand and solid inside, thanks to the Moorish architecture, while the walls are filled with Flemish tapestries and paintings. Some of the rooms are very grand (though probably cold in the evenings). One dining hall has a series of arches holding up the room, with a massive carpet on the floor and the windows overlook the sea.

The tomatoes (left) and mushrooms (right) were huge!

The palace has its own small chapel too, intimate, and even the vestments are on display in glass showcases. There is also a small courtyard complete with a fountain.

Afterwards we wandered through the streets in search of a bite to eat and found a small place that actually did a decent seafood paella, thought it took a while for it to be prepared.

Nearby was a food market, but many of the stalls were closing for the afternoon already. Of the ones that were still open, the produce looked amazing -- the tomatoes were massive together with the mushrooms, while the seafood, such as oysters looked delicious.

The elegant Parliament building

On our way back to the shuttle, we stumbled upon the Parliament building, a beautiful ornate building with the Spanish, Catalan and EU flags flying out front.