Category: Portugal/Spain, Fall 2018

After visiting the Park Guell we had tickets for Casa Vicens, a short 15 minute walk from the park. Our tickets were for a specific 20 minute slot, so figured “here we go again, I’m going to be elbowing somebody out of the way before the day is done!” Imagine my surprise when we walked in and we were practically the only ones there!

I asked the lady at the front where the tourists were, and she said “don’t say anything, we don’t want it ruined like the rest of the city”. She further explained that Casa Vicens was a private residence up until 2014, and had just opened as a museum in November 2017, so nobody knows about it yet (particularly not the throngs of self-obsessed “selfie zombies”). Wow…what a welcome surprise! I think there were maybe 20 other people the entire time we were there.

This was Gaudi’s first home as an architecht, so his style was a little more restrained than in later projects. It still has a very distinctive Gaudi style. This is the view from the street.

Manel Vicens was a stockbroker, and he commissioned a young 31-year-old Gaudi to design this as his summer home. It was Gaudi’s first home design, and he took advantage of the opportunity to design something special.

The fence along the front has this palm leaf design since there were palms planted in the garden area. He wanted the fence and the house to mimic the garden area, an idea that showed up in other areas of the house. The top of the fence also appears to make an excellent security system. Maybe somebody should show this design to Trump?

This is the exterior of a covered porch area. Just gorgeous! Not sure what the story is about the Dreamcatcher in the fountain, but it works for me!

On the inside of the porch is this stunning ceiling. More fan palms. It nearly looks like sky filtering through the palms, but that’s just a painting. Really beautiful woodwork as well.

The next 2 photos are of the Smoking Room. Not much for smoking….but still a very cool room! I just love all of the colors. No way I’d let somebody smoke in there though!

This is the ceiling of the Domed Room. This is supposed to be a simple sitting room. Around my house every room not the bedroom is a “sitting room”. I’m not real big on standing around.

The next 2 photos are the Blue Room, where I’m assuming Mr Vicens went when he was sad. Really love the blue colors and the detail work on the ceiling.

Last but not least, the roof area, where Gaudi liked to really ramp up his artistic skills.

Part of the permanent exhibition of the house are lithographs of documents that Gaudi drew up as The Architect. I love his signature. Artistic people always have the best signatures.

This was our last Gaudi themed visit. There is a lot more Gaudi to see, but time is running short on this trip. Next up, Montserrat. It may be a couple of days late, as we fly home tomorrow at zero-dark-thirty, and the internet in this Airbnb has not been cooperating.

Park Guell is another of Gaudi’s gorgeous masterpieces. The Park began in 1900, when Eusebi (I can’t say I’ve heard that first name before) Guell hired Gaudi to plan and create a large property for rich families on the hillside that Guell owned. He figured to strike it rich with a bunch of mega-mansions that had views over Barcelona all the way to the Mediterranean.

There were to be 60 plots for houses on this land, and a couple of houses were built, but in the end the project didn’t pan out and construction halted in 1914. The City of Barcelona purchased the property in 1922 and opened it as a public park in 1926. A portion of the park where most of Gaudi’s works are located is called the Monumental Zone, and requires a ticket to enter. The tickets are in half hour increments to cut down on crowding, but it was very crowded regardless. I don’t think Barcelona has an “off season” anymore. Still, this place is gorgeous and well worth the visit!

The upper area where we first entered is surrounded by these beautiful benches, and they are actually very comfortable….more so than any other park bench I have ever sat on….since they are actually designed around the human body. Why is this such a hard concept?

A path that led to the lower areas had this wave formation. Very interesting….like standing inside an actual breaking wave.

One of the support columns.

I love the design of the support columns, almost looks like intricate golf tees.

This building, designed originally as the Porter’s Lodge for receiving visitors to the estate, is now the gift shop.

These broken tile surfaces are everywhere. Gaudi never let a piece of tile go to waste!

This is perhaps Gaudi’s most famous statue. Is it a lizard, a dragon? Who cares….you can buy a smaller version in pretty much any tourist shop in Barcelona. This statue is on a stairwell in the park. It was a selfie extravaganza! I had to wait to get a shot without somebody leaning up next to it.

Just below this lizard is another one, only much less famous. Perhaps because you can only see the head? The water from the first lizards mouth feeds the water in the second lizards mouth….notice the same drool pattern?

This is a very cool and comfortable little bench just above the lizards.

This is the view from that bench. I amazingly had maybe 3 seconds without being blocked by selfie takers!

This shot is from just above where we were seated, Truly a gorgeous little spot.

Even the signs for the park are ornate. They are spread out across the exterior wall and each one was very differnt.

This was a special place to visit. I can see why the locals love it so much. The rest of the park outside the Monumental Zone didn’t have a lot of the bright colors, but the Gaudi influence was evident everywhere along the landscape. Next up, Casa Vicens, Gaudi’s first house project.