We had another full day of sightseeing, walking and enjoying the culture of Spain! We started with a HUGE breakfast in our hotel...complete with made-to-order crepes! It was an amazing spread. I'm sure no one left hungry! I think we're all looking forward to it again tomorrow morning!
After breakfast, we boarded the bus and headed for town. We picked up our local guide, Aida, who could not wait to tell us all about her beautiful city! She started by telling us about the World Fair in 1929. She said, "Before we had the internet, we had to tell people about our countries in different ways, and the World Fair was a way to do that." So, when the World Fair came to Barcelona (Bar"th"elona, as they say it here), it was a huge event, and the city prepared for it much like cities prepare for the Olympics. She showed us several buildings that were designed for that World Fair. One of those buildings was the Mnac Museum and Palace, pictured below.
She pointed out many buildings along the way, but the most memorable were two homes built by Barcelona's favorite artist, Antoni Gaudi. She told us that he thought 100 years before his time, but it looked to me that he thought further ahead than that. Aida told us that Gaudi was a very sick child who lived a difficult and sad life. He spent much of his time reading and exploring nature. Therefore, much of his art is inspired by nature and religion.
I did not get the best pictures of these homes, so here is one from the internet. This is Casa Batllo, a remodel of a previously built house! It is also known as the dragon building. We could quickly see that he was no ordinary architect!
Next, we stopped at Park Güell which was designedby Gaudi. Below is a picture of the home he lived in within the park.
He built several other homes in the park which were inspired by Hansel and Gretel's gingerbread house!
The benches in the park were unreal! They were ergonomic and made with stone and ceramics and covered with beautiful mosaic designs.
Gaudi is also known for creating the technique of trencadis which was breaking old ceramic pieces and designing something new from them. I'm sure you are all familiar with this type of art, but who knew it was first created by Gaudi, the "first recycler"?
The park was beautiful, but we eventually got back on the bus and headed over to Sagrada Familia, a Catholic cathedral that has been under construction for over 100 years! It is set to be completed in 2026 - the anniversary of Gaudi's death. We have never seen anything like this building. Gaudi designed every little detail of it, even living in the cathedral for many years.
(Jose, the armadillo, resting on the model of the cathedral.
After our inner tour of Sagrada Familia, we said goodbye to our local guide, Aida, who agreed to take a picture with Jose, as well! :)
We walked down to the metro, and enjoyed some piano music by one of our students, Chandler, while we waited for everyone to come through the carousels. He was great!
I understand that Naomi also played on the piano earlier in the day while with a different group! We have such talented students!!
We drank from the fountains of Barcelona which are said to ensure your return one day! Why not? It can't hurt, right?
Then we had a tapas dinner which we were not super pleased with, but we enjoyedbeing together, nonetheless.
It was a day full of walking. We got between 17 and 18,000 steps. So, we are looking forward to our travel day on the bus tomorrow with a few stops to break it up! We're off to France!!
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