Park Güell

Count Eusebi Güell was a religious man and a politician who shared many views with Gaudi, and who comissioned many of Gaudi's works.
One such idea of Gaudi's was to create an exclusive, out of town urbanisation, as a parallel to the uptown Pedralbes area. Built between 1900 and 1914, the original plans contained various plots of land for sale, constructed around a central plaça and ornate private entrance. This entrance and plaça was where work commenced and is the most spectacular to this day.

Güell was apparently enchanted with the English gardens and also wanted to re-create this idea in his home of Barcelona - hence the English spelling of "Park" to this day.
Gaudi himself built a house there while he was working on the project, where today lies a museum. Unfortunately the idea didn't take off, and despite going up for sale, the only building built in the park had no bids and Güell himself moved into it. One remains a private property (already there before the park was built), but the park fell under the realm of mother nature, and became quickly overgrown and desolate.
The Catalan Government decided to take charge of the park, and began the clean up process and declared the park a public park.
As is typical with many of Gaudi's architectural triumphs, many natural elements are visible throughout the park, as well as elements and icons of Catalan nationalism. The central plaça comprises of a curved bench in the shape of a sea serpent, surrounding the open plaça, and supported by pillars which lend fantastic acoustics to the modern day buskers or classical guitars.

The entrance features two fairytale houses, striaght out of Hansel and Gretel as well as the famous dragon fountain and beautiful iron gates. Visiting the park is a real escape from the city, as noise from traffic is almost inaudable and views down to the Mediterranean Sea offer perfect picture postcard opportunities for the avid photographer. Prices for 2014 are 7 € for a general enntrace, and 4,50 € for children.
Our Barcelona Gracia Attic Apartment is located very close to Park Guell, and also has stunning views of the city, too.
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