Park Güell

My first day in Barcelona was sort of uneventful. I landed in the morning and had to traverse the subway system and got off a few stops away from my hotel, with the express purpose of trying to get familiar with the city and the medieval streets that are narrow and not named on my map. I did this for a few hours just bumming around within the city with my heavy backpack. (to which I had to stop multiple times to rest) After a few hours I landed at my hotel and ditched the thirty pounds I had been lugging around on my back. The weather was fantastic, so I bounced back pretty fast and headed out to explore the city and just kind of bum around. (Basically, just a day to get familiar with my surroundings.)

The next morning, I had to figure out how to get to Park Güell. I had a 10AM tour set up and I had no idea how long it would take to get there. (I left at about 8:15AM) It took about an hour and half, so I was right on time when I showed up at 9:45 AM for the tour. I was not sure what to expect of this park, the tour was a good idea since the guide pointed out things I would have never noticed or saw. (This was not like any other city park I have seen before.)

Park Güell is a complex of parks and gardens in Barcelona located in the La Salut neighborhood of the Gràcia district in Barcelona. It is situated on the southern slope of the Turó del Carmel hill, that overlooks the city. I must say the view of the city was pretty amazing. I was not expecting that. In the late 19th century Barcelona commissioned architect Antoni Gaudí, (a leading figure of the aesthetic movement in Catalan modernism) to design this park. Construction took place between 1900 and 1914, and the park officially opened to the public in 1926.

The park was originally part of a failed housing development by Count Eusebi Güell, inspired by the English garden city movement. The name "Park" reflects this English influence. Only one house was ever built, it was built as a show home in 1904 and it remained unsold. Güell persuaded Gaudí to purchase it with his savings. Gaudí moved in with his father and niece in 1906. The house, designed by Francesc Berenguer i Mestres, became the Gaudí House Museum in 1963 and was declared a national monument in 1969. One of the main reason this park-housing development never took off is that it was too far from Barcelona at the time and no one wanted to live so far away since there was no tram to get from this housing development to the intercity.

What is sort of interesting is that this park fell into a sort of "disrepair" in the passing century and by the late 1980's it got a complete face lift and renovation which had everything to do with the Olympics being held in Barcelona in 1992. In fact the 1992 Olympic games really transformed this city from bring in beaches to its coast, to having the housing become much more expensive than in previous decades. (I can't believe 1992 was 33 years ago.)

At the end of the day this is what a park looks like when it is designed by a genius.