Adventures in Spain: Day 2
Parc GüellThe Back story What is now a park was originally part of a commercially unsuccessful housing site, the idea of Count Eusbi Güell, It was inspired by the English Garden City. Güell wanted to build an idealic comunity with fresh air, distance from facotries, and beautiful views for sixty luxury houses.
Annnnnd yep that is the same person that paied for Palau Güell mansion earlier (The house with the wooden organ pipes that we saw on the first day) but the housing development was uncessuful and one of the resons the Güell family is no longer rich as it was a massive investment failre and the land was sold to the city to become a park bearing the Güell Name. The land only had two houses build on it Our first stop was one of the two houses built in Parc Güell !
It was originally a a show house that did not sell... So Guadi bought the house in 1906 and lived in it until about two years before his death (when he moved into his work shop at Sagrada Familia) The home was built by Francesc Berenguer . It is now the Gaudí House Museum and It contains several original works by Gaudí and his collaborators. We walked about the park and saw so much wonder
We spent two or three hours just wondering around the Gracia district of Barcelona eating pastries and tapas and drinking all the coffee in the 70 degree sun. It was everything we needed after the chaos of the first two days of trying to get on local time. The following coffee shopts were in the area and of course I stopped and sampled all!
Sweet Breakfasts’ 6/10
El Noa Noa 10/10
Syra Coffee | Gràcia 8/10
Then we headed over to La Pepita for a much anticipated tapas lunch. This restraunt was packed with people and the reservations we made were definitely a necessity.
Casa ComalatAs we wandered the streets of Barcelana we came across this magnificent house that was inspired by Gaudi’s Cassa Battio Salvador Purpurull was the archatect. We found out that Casa Comalat is private property and tourist visits are not permitted. The few pictures of the inside have put this house on my list of places to visit if it ever has a public showing!
Casa VicensCasa Vicens was built as a summer residence; it was designed by the 31-year-old Gaudí for Manuel Vicens i Montaner, a broker-dealer and factory owner. It was the first significant commission of the architect. The house is composed of different forms than those we are used to seeing in other buildings designed by Gaudí. The specialists are considering this building as a part of Gaudí’s Orientalist period
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