A Second Trip into Barcelona.
The National Palace of Barcelona.
The next day I took Peter out to the park for breakfast again, then afterwards I took him back home. I had decided to venture into Barcelona again. I felt more comfortable about doing so this time as I was on the same R4 line I had used from Sant Joan Despi. I was just two stops further away, but at least I felt like I knew what I was doing.
This time I bought a return ticket to Arc de Triomf. I wanted to revisit The Park of the Citadel, because I remembered liking it on our earlier visit.
The Arc de Triomf itself was a little disappointing as it was being renovated. The Arc de Triomf is a memorial arch built by architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas as the main entrance to the 1888 Barcelona World Fair.
The Arc de Triomf.
The Arc de Triomf.
On the walk from the Arc de Triomf to the park I passed several monuments. One honours Francesc de Paula Rius i Taulet, who was the mayor of Barcelona at the time of the 1888 Universal Exposition. I also passed the Palace of Justice.
Monument to Francesc de Paula Rius i Taulet in Barcelona.
Antoni Viladomat i Manalt, a Catalan Baroque painter.
Palace of Justice.
The Park of the Citadel is a beautiful place to wander around. It's the largest green space in Barcelona, but its history has not always been idyllic. In 1714 King Felip V destroyed a significant part of the Ribera Quarter of Barcelona in order to build a citadel here. The Citadel represented everything the Catalan people were opposed to, such as: The Bourbon rulers and the government in Madrid. Later on the Citadel became the site of a prison for political prisoners. The much loathed citadel and prison were later razed to the ground and a park was built in their place.
Nowadays inside the park there is a zoo, the Catalan Parliament, The Museum of Modern Art, The Zoological Museum and the Museum of Geology.
The first building I saw when I entered the park, was the Castell dels Tres Dragons or Castle of the three Dragons, which houses the Zoological Museum.
Castell dels Tres Dragons.
Castell dels Tres Dragons.
Nearby there's a cast iron and glass pavilion called L'Hivernacle, which houses many plants. A little further along the wooden and brick Umbracle houses many shade loving plants.
L'Hivernacle.
L'Hivernacle.
The Umbracle.
One famous place in the Park of the Citadel is the cascade. This was designed by Josep Fontsère and the then unknown architect Antoni Gaudi. The cascade has many statues of dragons in it. Unfortunately, like so many places in Barcelona, it was being renovated, so it had no water in it.
The Cascade.
The Cascade.
Dragons.
Near the cascade there's a statue of a mammoth.
Mammoth.
Mammoth.
It started pouring with rain when I was visiting the Park of the Citadel I wasn't bothered as I had brought my cagoule. I was delighted to see many beautiful green birds enjoying the puddles in the rain. I believe these were parakeets. Later I realized that many people had tamed these birds. They kept placing them on tourists so they could take a photograph then charged them for doing so.
Pigeons and parakeets.
Parakeets.
Parakeet man
There are also lots of statues in the park. My favourite is the fox and the stork from the Aesop fable.
Fountain of the Children.
Fox and stork
There are lots of monuments to famous Catalan people. One is to General Prim who destroyed the hated citadel.
General Prim
This is the Monument to Lleó Fontova, a Catalan actor.
Goddess by Catalan artist Josep Dunyach.
Joaquim Vayreda, a Catalan painter.
The Monument to the Catalan Volunteers.
There's a beautiful lake in the Park of the Citadel. It's possible to hire row boats here. Some of the trees around the lake were turning autumnal.
Autumnal colours by the lake.
Autumnal colours by the lake.
Boats on the lake.
Selfie by the lake.
There are museums in the Citadel Park and the Catalan Parliament building, which also houses an art museum. There's also a military church.
Museu Martorell.
Military Parish Church.
Military Parish Church.
Palau de la Música.
The Catalan Parliament.
There's also a zoo. I walked past this, but didn't go inside.
Zoo
Of course there were beautiful flowers, too.
Flowers.
When we visited Barcelona before, I absolutely hated the Sagrada Familia and swore I never wanted to see it again. Yet it's one of the most famous buildings in the world, so I decided I had to go back. My objections before were that it was a building site and surrounded by cranes, but I had read that this building may finally be finished in 2026, so I decided to give it another chance.
I decided I would walk there using Google navigation to guide me. I passed some nice buildings on the way, but on the whole the walk wasn't that interesting.
Hostalin Barcelona Diputación, a guest house located in Barcelona, Spain.
the Casa Ramon Franquesa.
Fountain I passed on my walk.
When I arrived at The Sagrada Familia though, I was glad I had come. It was much more beautiful than I remembered it and there was only one crane still working on it.
Construction of La Sagrada Familia or The Basilica of the Holy Family began in 1882. It was originally the project of architect, Francesc de Paula Villar, but Antoni Gaudi took over in 1883. He changed the project into a more ambitious one involving five naves, a transept, an apse, an exterior ambulatory, three facades, and eighteen towers. The towers are dedicated to the twelve apostles, the four evangelists, the Virgin Mary and the tallest one to Jesus Christ. This one will be topped by a cross that will reach 172 meters in height.
Gaudi dedicated forty-three years of his life to building La Sagrada Familia. He died in 1926 having been run over by a tram. It is hoped that La Sagrada Familia will be finished next year to mark the hundredth anniversary of Gaudi's death.
I've never been inside La Sagrada Familia. To go in it's necessary to book quite a while in advance. It's not possible to just turn up and buy a ticket.
La Sagrada Familia.
La Sagrada Familia.
La Sagrada Familia.
Another angle.
Detail.
The statue is of "Miliu," a character created by José Torres Vilalta.
After looking at La Sagrada Familia, I took a train to Espana Station to see the Plaza de España. Somehow we managed to miss this on our first visit to Barcelona.
Plaza de España was built during the 1929 International Exhibition. At 34,000 m² it is the second largest square in Spain. There's a fountain here, which was designed by Jujol who designed all those buildings in Santa Joan Despi. There's also a shopping centre called Las Arenas which is housed in a former bull ring.
Fountain and Arenas.
There are two towers which look like the towers in Saint Mark's Square, Venice.
Venetian towers.
Venetian Towers.
Venetian Towers.
Venetian Towers.
The square is very beautiful, especially when observed from the hill next to it.
Looking down on the square.
Looking down on the square.
Selfie.
There are exhibition centres, trade fair centres, cultural centres, lots of fancy buildings.
The Fira de Barcelona, one of Europe’s biggest trade fair institutions.
Palau de Congressos de Catalunya
CaixaForum Barcelona, a cultural center
In one area I noticed restaurants had been set up for October fest
October fest.
A short walk away, overlooking the square is the National Palace of Barcelona which nowadays houses the Art museum.
I think there are fountain shows in this area in the evenings.
The National Palace of Barcelona.
The National Palace of Barcelona.
The National Palace of Barcelona.
The National Palace of Barcelona.
Selfie.
That evening we went out for dinner in Molins de Rei. We had a lovely meal consisting of a pork dish and thinly sliced pieces of pork. I felt sorry for the waiter/ owner though as he seemed to be run off his feet and doing everything by himself: serving, cooking, cleaning up and the restaurant was packed.
Peter in the restaurant.
Pork sandwich.
Pork dish
Next day we left Molins de Rei. It wasn't easy to get a free now to come for us, but thankfully one came eventually. We went to Barcelona Sants Station to catch a train to our next destination - Zaragoza.
This featured blog entry was written by irenevt from the blog A Trip To Spain..
Read comments or Subscribe
